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."