Update #28

Good evening and hello all,

Felicia and myself met with Dr. Wong this morning to discuss the results of the CT scan that I had last week Monday. If you recall the last visit we had with him you may well remember that he (that is Dr. Wong) told us that the mass in my abdomen might possible be dead cancer or scar tissue and now this scan showed that is indeed the case. Dr. Wong said “it looks to be residual garbage or tissue” that is left over from the cancer I had. This last scan showed that the mass is still shrinking and that all my affected organs look to be normal size. At one point Dr. Wong would still like to see that mass removed so I will be getting CT scans every three months until the surgeons think I can have the surgery without it being life threatening or affecting any organs. Dr. Wong has come to the conclusion that the mass must be “residual tissue” because the mass is still shrinking on its own without treatment and because I am physically doing so well. Dr. Wong hardly recognized me and the nurses we met up with only knew who I was because they saw Felicia. In the next little while though I will be referred back to Dr. Bard to have a different surgery to remove the testicle where the cancer originated from because that is still cancerous.

 This is better news then we could have ever hoped for and though we still have some things to get through and possibly some surgeries yet we are so very much thankful and happy about all this. We thank our heavenly Father that He has so richly blessed us! The doctors can try and take the credit and can say that it is what they did through their knowledge and the chemo they prescribed but in the end we know that our Father has granted this and that He has answered all of yours and our prayers in the way that we had asked.  So let us remember to thank Him for all of this and also ask for continued healing and strength.

Rob and Felicia 

Update #27

Dear all, it has been pretty much exactly 4 months since Robs last chemo treatment and we have totally enjoyed the break from all the doctors appointments! Rob has steadily been doing better healthwise and we can almost say back to his old self. :) Now has come the time to have another test and see where things are at. Rob had a CT scan yesterday and we are eagerly awaiting results mid next week! Please pray for Robs health that the scan results may show positive news. Thank you ever so much.

Update #26

Good evening all,

I can’t speak for the parts of the family living in other parts of the country or continent but here in Manitoba we had a beautiful pre-fall/almost end of summer day. It definitely feels like fall is on the way though. Anyway, I’m sure you all know that we met with Dr. Wong today to get and discuss the results of the PET scan I had on Friday. I think most of you have heard the news in some form or shape by now but we figured we should just send out an email anyway. I’ll try keep to what the good doctor told us, it won’t be a verbatim quote but here it is: Basically with the type of cancer I have or that it has grown into it “lights up a PET scan like a Christmas tree” but my PET scan didn’t show that. Where the cancer originated it shows up really good on the scan but the tumor in my abdomen doesn’t show what he expected, “I thought I would see something much worse than this.” He really doesn’t know what is going on inside of me, “when he looks at my CT scans he sees a very large tumor and that doesn’t look good at but then he looks at my “clinical presentation” (how well I look and feel and how well I am doing) and that just doesn’t fit with he would expect looking at my scan so he “somehow has to put the two together.” He is not sure where to go from here simply for the fact that he really doesn’t know if the tumor is cancerous or not. So his plan for now is do nothing at all until December and then have a CT scan, see where things are at then and go from there. We asked him to clarify what nothing meant and by nothing he means no chemo till after the CT scan. If the CT scan in December shows that the tumor has grown chemo will most likely be the way to go again. If it shows the tumor is still the same size as the last CT I had in July another scan will probably be scheduled for in another three months and the same also for if the tumor has shrunk. Also, if it is about the same size or shrunk, the doctors will most likely look at removing the original tumor. As you can see/read, there is so much to be thankful for. Dr Wong said today “you were desperately sick when I first saw, I didn’t think you make it but now you are doing so much better” God has been so good to us, He has granted so much, he has given me more days on this earth then I thought I would have. There are times when I thought I was not going to be able to celebrate our 2^nd wedding anniversary together with my wife but he was granted that. There was days that the doctors told Felicia and family that I might not pull through, days that I don’t and can’t remember. There was nights in the hospital when I would wake up struggling for every breath and praying to God that I would make it through the night. So thanks be to God and Him alone that I am where I now am! I am not out of the woods yet, the doctors can’t and won’t make any promises, there are many unknowns and as Dr. Wong agreed with today, “this is now a wait and see game.” We know though that God does know what is going on and what the future holds for Felicia and myself and we also know and confess that God hears and uses the prayers of His people so we ask you all to continue to pray with us and for us that God may continue to use the doctors and whatever other means He so desires to heal me. We don’t know what God’s full purpose is in all of this but we pray that He will accomplish His plan through my sickness. We do know that God has drawn us closer to Him in all of this and that He has made us realize our complete dependency on Him and that no matter what He is bringing glory to His name and that He is furthering His kingdom.

Rob and Felicia

Update #25

This was written last night:

Good evening all,

As most of you know, today Felicia and I had an appointment with Dr. Wirtzfeld, the surgeon whom Dr. Wong sent me to. Well, we didn’t hear what we wanted to hear, basically Dr. Wirtzfeld told us that because of the size of the tumor it is not possible to operate. When they operate they  take out everything and a margin of healthy stuff if they can, otherwise it is pointless to have the surgery. As she described it to us, the mass is almost completely wrapped around my kidneys and up against my spine, so she would have to remove both my kidneys and part of my spine at minimum. Kidneys alone might not be so bad, I would be on dialysis for the rest of my life but so be it, but then I couldn’t receive chemo anymore so altogether she feels that it would be quite detrimental to my health and of no benefit to have surgery. She also told us that her colleagues in Toronto would be of the same opinion as her.

So here is where we know we are at: In the next couple of weeks Dr. Wirtzfeld along with Dr. Wong is going to send me for a PET scan and wait and see what the results of that scan are. As I mentioned in an earlier email, there is a small possibility that the tumor is scar tissue, maybe some of it, maybe all of it, maybe none of it is. Maybe it is all cancer still, we don’t know. What this PET scan might show is that it is still cancer or maybe scar tissue but it could also show nothing new. As Dr. Wirtzfeld said to us, cancer tumors are alive, they feed off your blood system and your nutrients and that is quite often why cancer patients don’t feel well and slowly go downhill in their health. But I, on the other hand, am slowly gaining more physical strength, I am feeling better now than I have in almost over a year and that is what is why Dr Wirtzfeld and Dr. Wong are sending me for this scan. In the meantime, the tumor is still slowly shrinking from chemo (or is it scar tissue slowly being reabsorbed by my body?) so the plan is to keep going on with chemo as long as I can handle it or it stops working and then find something else that works and then keep on going again.

We can ask why, and we do. Why, Lord, did you send this to us, why us? Why this? But we do know why, that His name might be glorified throughout. The Lord has a plan and purpose for all of us, we don’t know what His plan is for us right now but we trust in Him, our help is in the name of the Lord the maker of heaven and earth. So we ask for your prayers and support in the coming days and weeks,

Rob and Felicia

Update #24

Hello all,

Hopefully all of you are in good health and enjoying this beautiful summer day.

Once again I write another update after a day of visiting doctors, getting blood drawn, filling out forms and trying to remember all that we have been told today. First thing this morning we met with Dr. Wong (I think I should start calling him Dr. Wight) who is my oncologist. Both he and his nurse, Erin, were very happy with how I was doing and how well I looked, Dr. Wong told us he was quite happy with the way things are going. The tumor in my abdomen has shrunk a little more but not by much and a couple of lymph nodes in my chest are still slightly enlarged and kidneys are also still slightly enlarged. Dr. Wong would like to go ahead with chemo again; I still will not be getting the Vincristine drug due to the ongoing tingling and numbness in my hands and feet.  As of tonight we still do not know when my next round of chemo will be.

Going forward from here, Dr. Wong would like to talk to a surgeon here in Winnipeg about the possibility of surgery and if that surgeon doesn’t want to do the surgery because of the large size of the tumor in my abdomen then Dr. Wong would like to send me to Toronto. Dr. Wong feels that surgery is probably the best option here because the tumors are not responding well to the chemo but more just holding them at bay so to speak. Based on how I am still gaining weight (may it be ever so slowly), still have a very good appetite and how well I feel overall Dr. Wong has a suspicion that the tumor cancer cells may be inactive. If that is the case, surgery is a very good option; however the only real way for the doctors to confirm if this is indeed the case is if they operate on it and remove the tumor to send it for pathology tests.

Moving on a couple of hours we met with Dr. Bard, my urologist who put my kidney stents in last October. That appointment was a follow up of those kidney stents, which are typically changed or replaced every 3 to 6 months but can last up to one year. So on September 16 of this year I will have surgery to either replace them or remove them, Dr. Bard isn’t sure yet which will happen because he hadn’t seen my latest CT scan results yet. But either way the surgery is only a very routine surgery/procedure and I will be back home again the same day.

So, at the end of the day, after getting blood drawn twice, walking all over two different hospitals, seeing countless nurses and a couple of doctors, that is all we have learned. Well actually, that isn’t all we learned, today again we were remind of how faithful our Heavenly Father is, when we were talking with Dr. Wong he told us that he was surprised I was still alive. God has granted us so many blessings in the past year, that I was even able to receive treatment and that God blessed all the treatments, I responded well to them, I was able to leave the hospital, I could again live in my own home with Felicia again and that now He has even given opportunity for surgery now.  How can we not give thanks? Of course there has been hard days, days in the hospital when everyone didn’t think I would make it, days that I can’t remember; days when we struggle with the whys and the uncertainty of life but every day again we are reminded of God’s continued care for us children. We could read in Psalm 68 today “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.” And as we confess in Lord’s Day 1 “He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head” but then we have to continue on with that “indeed, all things must work together for my salvation” and also believe what we read in Romans 8 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”We confess this is from Him, Lord’s Day 10 discuss the providence of God “...He still upholds heaven and earth and all creatures, and so governs them that ...health and sickness... indeed all things, come to us not by chance but by His fatherly hand.” We know that God is refining us; He has our ultimate good in mind, our eternal salvation.  We don’t know what God all has planned for us in this and what His purpose is in all this but one thing we do know, He is drawing us closer to Him. He is teaching us that our life is not our own, not one little piece of it. He wants us to look to him for all things, body and soul. He wants our praise and adoration. And so as we also read in Psalm 68 “Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth, sing praises to the Lord, to him who rides the ancient skies above, who thunders with might voice. Proclaim the power of God, whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the skies. You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the God of Israel power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!”

Rob and Felicia

Update #23

Good afternoon all,

As most of you know I have had chemo this past Thursday(round #16!) so I am in the midst of recovering from that. I have a CT scan scheduled for this coming Tuesday morning and the follow up appointment for that  with Dr Wong won't be till two weeks from then on August 6th. Because of that I am getting an unexpected little break from chemo which we are quite looking forward to. Also on the same day as the Dr Wong appointment I have another appointment with Dr Bard. Dr Bard is the doctor is who put my kidney stents last October. We aren't 100% sure but we are assuming it is just a follow up on those, most likely to see if they need to be replaced maybe even removed. In all this we have seen how our Heavenly Father has looked after us and provided us with the strength and courage to keep moving on. So now we also ask for your continued prayers on our behalf that God will continue to bless the work of the doctors and that the CT scan this coming Tuesday will show that the cancer is still responding to the chemo. 

We have seen quite a few faces in the last couple weeks that Rob had not seen in a very long time! We are very grateful to say that Rob has been to church a couple of times and could also be involved for the entirety of a family wedding that just took place last week. Exciting steps forward! Thanks to everyone again for all your encouragement! 

Rob and Felicia

Update #22

   As of yesterday Round 14 is now completed. Due to a symptom that has been getting worse in the last number of weeks, Dr. Wong has decided to drop one of Rob's chemo drugs which has been causing neuropathy in his feet and hands. Rob has been experiencing loss of feeling in his feet, mainly his toes as well as tingling in his fingers. These feelings may possibly be restored, however they also may not. So while there is a chance of getting that back, or at least not making it worse Dr. Wong feels it is best to just drop that drug for now. We of course are happy that the doctors take this into consideration, but also hope that this means that the chemotherapy will be as effective as it has been! Of course this is the doctors decision and we know that he is doing the best for Robs treatment.
   Rob has been feeling quite well during the off week of chemo and we hope that one of these Sundays soon we will have an opportunity to go to church together. That is a day that is much looked forward too! We thank you all for your continued prayers for Rob's healing. Our God is a awesome God.
 

    

Update #21

We got the results of the CT scan today! We are very thankful to share that the tumours are both shrinking! Dr. Wong was very very pleased with results and told us that we need to go out and celebrate! We are so happy with the way Rob has been feeling lately that we were quite sure/hoping/praying that was an indication of what was going on inside his body too. The plan is to continue on with 4 more rounds of chemotherapy and then again reassess with another scan after that time. We are in this for the long haul and continue to rely on our Heavenly Father for all that we need for healing and hope in our day to day lives.

Update #20

Round 12 is behind us! We are very thankful how well Rob is doing, this is the first time ever that he walked in AND out of the hospital to the car on his own! A sign that his strength is building up! He also started driving last week too for the first time in 7 months and wow does that ever give a taste of independence back. Also gives an indication of how he's feeling...
Rob now has a date for his CT scan; next week friday. Hopefully this will give us some positive results; we ask for your fervent prayers that our God will grant His healing mercies to Rob. We have no idea yet when we will hear results but it likely won't be for a week or two after the scan.

Psalm 31:24. Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.

Update #19

Dear all,  

Round 11 has come and gone and things have been steadily moving along. Rob has been doing very well; we almost dare to say that there has been a constant improvement after each round of chemo in regards to how he's feeling and the strength he's been gaining! Each round comes with the typical tiredness, nausea, lack of appetite, etc for a couple days but even with all that he's gained a bit of weight in the last month and has a slight bit more energy! 

We are very much enjoying the switch to Boundary Trails and the fact that we are in our own home. Next round of chemo (in two weeks) will come with a CT scan again, and we are hoping for positive results but like always this is in the Lord's hands and we will take what comes. 

There really isn't a whole lot of other news. As can be quite routine with chemo patients Rob has gotten quite a number of blood transfusions in the last couple months. With every transfusion there are about 5 or 6 people who have donated, so now in about total there are about 35 - 40 blood donors who have enhanced Robs health. If you ever wonder while you're donating if you're actually helping out any one, know that you are. If you ever wonder whether you should take the time to go donate blood, please know that you are helping save someone's life! If you wonder if I'm getting paid for advertising for Canadian Blood Services, I'm am; my husband is improving :) 

Update #18

Dear all,

We're coming up to chemo round #9 this week. Rob is scheduled to go into hospital tonight and have his treatment tomorrow. Things have been going really well, Rob has enjoyed a short burst of energy in between his last few treatments and we can honestly say that after every treatment so far he is improving in physical strength. So thankful!

We met with our doctor this week to hear more about the results of the CT scan that Rob had two weeks ago. Dr. Wong is extremely happy with the way things are going, the scan showed that the cancer has not progressed at all, that it is stable. We asked again about the possibility of surgery and Dr. Wong said that the tumor would have to shrink a significant amount yet before that is an option. Of course while we would have liked to hear that the tumor has shrunk significantly, the doctors are happy with how its going and we are too.

People often ask us how many more rounds of chemo there will be and like we explain every time, we simply don't know. The doctor doesn't know, and we don't know. The plan is to continue with this treatment until the cancer has shrunk; and if at one point they detect that the tumor isn't responding to this chemo, they will switch it over to a different regiment of drugs and keep going. As you can imagine, the not-knowing of any type of time frame can sometimes be harder to deal with than to know. We ask for your prayers that in this we also may put our complete faith and trust in God's promises and that He will continue to give us peace and strength for the journey yet ahead.

Another step forward for which we are thankful is that we have completely moved back to our house! If all goes well and as planned, we are switching treatments over to a different hospital closer to home. Rob will still remain under the care of our doctor here at St. B, but in a effort for us to be more self-sufficient we are going to be seeing more of Boundary Trails Health Center which is closer to home. Rob has chemo every 2 weeks, and so he is knocked down and out for pretty much a full week after his treatment. By the time he builds back his energy a little bit, he only has a couple of days to enjoy before it is time to head back in for another treatment.  We are looking forward to being able to be at our home for this whole time period then, especially as we are looking at a indefinite amount of chemo treatments to come. We are appreciative of all the people who would like to pop by for a quick visit, please be patient with us! We do miss seeing everyone, but since Rob has only such a short time while he's actually feeling okay, the visits are kept to a minimum for now.

We are still so thankful and always encouraged by all those who think and pray for us. God has indeed been merciful to Rob, answering the prayers of all those asking for some healing. We ask that you will please continue to remember him in your prayers, for we know that God hears them and has blessed us. In all things we know that He has a purpose for us, and we pray that that purpose might be fulfilled and that in due time Robs health may be restored to him.

Update #17

Family and friends,

Very close to 5months ago I started a blog and wrote about the path God has placed us on, well we spent the past weekend in our own home for the first time since that first blog post. God indeed has been merciful to us to allow us to go home together even if it is only for the weekend (although it was a long weekend, from Friday to Tuesday). It has not always been an easy path these past 5 months with its many ups and downs yet through it all God has watched over us and given us all that we stood in need of. We do not know when this specific journey of health concerns will be over but we trust in God and His unfailing promises He spoke in His word that He will neither leave us or forsake us. He is indeed faithful, no matter where this path continues to go, we will put our trust and hope in Him alone.

Thus far our faithful Father has blessed the work of the doctors and I continue to slowly feel better and gain more strength back. I am scheduled to go back to the hospital on Wednesday night and will receive another round of chemo on Thursday and the plan is to leave the hospital again on Friday sometime. The plan was last time I was admitted for chemo that I would have a CT scan but that never happened so Felicia and I are hoping that happens this week so that at least we will have a better idea of where things are. There is not any other news to share at this time. We continue to ask for your much needed prayers as we continue on this path, prayers for strength but also for healing.

Update #16

Dear family and friends,

 The last round of chemo went very well and Rob came home the next day. And now so quickly the next round is coming up in this week ahead. We are very thankful with how things have gone, Rob has been blessed with good health and we are praying that this continues so chemo may not be pushed back. In the meantime we are enjoying the ability to have a routine at 'home' and enjoy being in the midst of a family environment. Rob and I even had the opportunity to enjoy our first date again in 4 months, we took a drive out to a local park together! We could not have been more thankful that this opportunity was available to us again, we are so grateful for how far Rob has progressed and look forward to getting out a bit more as Rob builds up his strength.

Chemo is scheduled for next week thursday, 5 days from now. There will be a change made with one of the 3 drugs that he is receiving; one will be switched to a different kind of drug that is less toxic to the heart. Rob will also be having another CT scan done with this coming treatment so we are praying for good results this time as well. Dr. Wong mentioned that if the tumor has shrunk again, it may be time to start thinking about talking with the surgeons. This is another step forward and we ask for your prayers as we look ahead to this possibility. We realize there is no guarantee about any of this, but Rob is in the care of the Great Physician and we have the comfort and peace that He is working for our good.

Time goes so fast to us, which may be a surprise for you to hear. The days and weeks whip by, even so that it only just sunk in for Rob that he was in the hospital for 4 months, which is a third of a year! There have been so many hard days, yet we can see in it all to so many blessings!

Phillipians 4: 4-7
⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Update #15

Dear family and friends,

We are so thankful to let you know as of Monday that Rob is discharged out of hospital! After both his chest tubes came out the only issue left was for him to gain enough strength to be home. We decided to test-drive it first, so Rob got out on a day pass both this past Saturday and Sunday and things went so well that he got discharged on Monday! After 76 days of being in hospital since his last time out the hospital, without even so much a whiff of our fresh Manitoban winter air, this was quite a welcome blessing.

His next chemo treatment  is scheduled for next week wednesday. This will be a 2 night stay in the hospital and will be #5 of this treatment. We are so thankful for how things have progressed and that we can be at this point in our journey. We are enjoying our time with Rob's parents in their home; while for now we have no plans, we look forward to the possibility of going to our home in Carman in the future.

We thank our God for the wonderful progress with Robs health and we continue to look to Him for a blessing yet on Rob and pray that his body may keep responding to the chemo and he may regain more strength. Thank you all who continue to remember him in prayer, we appreciate that more than you can know.

Psalm 136: 1-3

1  Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.    His love endures forever.2  Give thanks to the God of gods.    His love endures forever.3  Give thanks to the Lord of lords:    His love endures forever.

Update #14

Dear family and friends,

Weeks pass by before we know it and its high time for another quick update! It has been 2 weeks and 1 day since Robs last chemo treatment, which he received right after the last update. Rob was very tired and feeling quite nauseous for pretty much a straight week after the treatment. But since then there has been some significant progress happening for which we are so grateful! His physical strength is really coming along and after not walking for over a month, he is now almost ready for the Boston Marathon! (Well, not quite but we are very pleased with progress! :) Other great news is that his left chest tube came out last wednesday. This really sped along his mobility, and now actually today after an x-ray they told us that they are taking out his right chest tube as well! Yay! This is indeed an answer to prayers. We never cease to stand amazed at how far Rob has come from being so sick, and yet when we think of all the prayers that have gone to our Heavenly Father we are reminded of Who is in control. What a comfort and such a reason for thankfulness!

As I write this Rob has almost completed another round of chemo today; things have gone that well that Dr. Wong is comfortable continuing right along with this same type of chemo every two weeks. The plan is that he will have 6 doses in total of these drugs (today will be number 4) and after that if all goes well after that to switch to a different combination of drugs for further chemo.

It is our prayer that things keep improving in the next couple days, the doctors have mentioned the 'home' word and we are hoping this comes speedily! We will wait and see how this round of chemo affects Rob but are quite hoping that at least he can get a day pass by this weekend.

Someone passed along this verse to us written by Helen Steiner Rice - says it so well:

"It fills me with you just to linger with You
as my soul You replenish and my heart You renew,
for prayer is much more than just asking for things -
its the peace and contentment that quietness brings.

based on Zephaniah 3:17  "The Lord, your God, is in your midst...
                                       He will rejoice over you with gladness,
                                       He will renew you in His love."

Update #13

Dear family and friends,

Praise God for His wondrous works! We received wonderful and encouraging news this week! Rob had a CT scan done on Tuesday, the first one of the tumour in his abdomen since being diagnosed with cancer. We were a little apprehensive of the results but we hoping and praying for positive results. Our doctor came in on Wednesday and told us that the scan shows that the tumour is reduced by more than 50%! Wow! We didn't know what to expect, but this again reminds us of the power of prayer and even more so the power of our Almighty God!

Chemo is scheduled for Monday again and it makes us happy to continue on with that. Rob did so well with his last treatment and it is our prayer that this time too the side effects will be minimal.  The doctors are really pushing now for Rob to increase his mobility and strength so they can send him home. There is no target date yet as Rob still has the chest tubes in, and we are all hoping that with this next chemo treatment his lung drainage function may improve and the tubes be removed. The medical team thinks this is a realistic expectation as it did improve after the last treatment, but there is no guarantees. We ask for your prayers in that regard as this will greatly help Robs mobility too.

Rob is feeling much better these last two weeks, which we are all so thankful for! There are still so many unknowns but God has been so faithful and merciful to us and we continue to trust in Him as we go forward day by day. 

Psalm 118: 28-29: 

You are my God, and I will praise you;  you are my God, and I will exalt you. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,   his love endures forever.

Update 12

Good morning,

Just a little update or news about my health we thought we would share with you.

On December 31st, a few days after my last round of chemo I began to have trouble breathing and had to be put on quite a lot of oxygen. After some X-rays were done its was determined that I had accumulated a substantial amount of fluid around my left lung causing it to collapse, thankfully in my right side the fluid around my lung had drained to the point where it was almost back to normal. Yesterday morning (Tuesday) at 8:00 I was shipped off for some more chest X-rays that my doctor ordered. The goal was to try and get to the bottom of why I had fluid around my lungs. What the X-rays showed is that on my right side the fluid is completely gone and on the left side there is still a little bit of fluid at the bottom and side around my lung but "significantly better" then before. So now the Doctor's plan of action is to clamp both chest tubes for the next 48 hours and deal with any symptoms as they come (shortness of breath, need for more oxygen...) and then send me for follow up X-rays on Thursday to see if the fluid has accumulated again and if it hasn't they might look at removing the chest tubes. In the words of the Doctor "it looks like the chemo might be doing its job". I am most likely to go for a CT scan later this week and that will show for if the chemo is doing its job.

Well this is great news to hear and we give thanks to our Heavenly Father that we also will not know anything for certain until the results of the CT scans are in and we pray that God will have blessed the work of the doctors and allowed the chemo to have its desired effect. When we first started this blog I wrote about God leading us down different paths in life and how those paths are not free from pain and suffering but yet how through it all He gives us the comfort of His word that He is always near us, that He can sympathize with us in every way because He has suffered in every way. That truly has been such a comfort for us, we live day by day in that knowledge and look forward to the next day knowing that we are in the palm of His eternal fatherly hand.

Rob and Felicia