Magnify The Lord

"I will bless the LORD at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make its boast in the LORD;
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.
Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
And let us exalt His name together." (Psalm 34:1-3, NKJV)

It has been another good day for us; Michelle woke feeling much better than the last two mornings, though she did not sleep all that well. As the swelling has slowly diminished the discomfort at the surgery site has increased, which made it a bit difficult for her to sleep last night. That said, Michelle has done wonderfully today.

She was able to take a shower, walk down and up the stairs into the basement a couple times, and even went for a very short drive with a friend to get some fresh air which is the first time she has ventured out since the surgery last Friday. Of course, she also took a long nap right in the middle of the day; exerting energy really wears her out still. That is to be expected though and, besides a couple of times of feeling a little light-headed, she actually felt more like herself today.

As the Psalm above says, let us exalt His name together for His great goodness to us!!! He is good all the time, all the time He is good!!! We love you... - Steve and Michelle -

Blow-dried Hair!

Yes, that is correct... working together Michelle and I actually blow-dried (is that the proper way of saying it???) her hair today. It was one of the first big steps of "normalcy" she has taken since the surgery, so praise the Lord for that!!!

It's 9:50pm as I write this; it's the first opportunity I have had to update you all. Today started off a little rough, with Michelle seemingly a little worse than last evening. She was real light-headed/woozy and just not feeling too good. I'm not sure, thinking back, that she came out of the bedroom until after 9:30am to 10:00am. In talking tonight, the way she was feeling was kind of like the "hangover" from chemo, especially when she had to take Neupogen to boost her white blood cell count; pretty achy starting down in the lower back and working up into her head. Makes sense, I guess, her body is working overtime to heal. As the day moved along she began to feel better and this evening she was back to where she was last night, seemingly even a little stronger overall, though still dealing with the back and head issues some. All in all, we think it was a good day, so be encouraged...

We heard from the surgeon today regarding the pathology report from the surgery. The short of it is that the pathology of the tumor was entirely the same as the biopsy done a few weeks back and very similar, if not the same, as the pathology from 2001. The best news was that there were large margins of good tissue with NO sign of cancer and the extra 1mm of tissue taken from around the area incised was completely free as well; all that to say the cancer seems to be completely localized and there is no sign of anything outside of the incised area, nothing at all even questionable. That is a HUGE praise and a HUGE answer to all of your prayers! God is indeed faithful!!!

I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am personally for all your prayers and words of encouragement. They have not only been a source of strength for Michelle but for me as well! I thank God for each of you daily; even those of you who rub in the fact that you are already playing golf or reminding me to do the laundry! I have received some of the most precious prayer e-mails that I will always remember and never delete; I want to pray like some of you when I grow up! Continue to pray for Michelle's healing and that each day more normalcy will be realized in our lives; don't forget to pray for our kids who have to put up with me as their teacher, that is definitely not my "calling"! More than anything, continue to pray that the Lord would daily use us as a vehicle of displaying His glory and grace, not just in the good times but even more so in the "bad". Blessings, grace, peace and love to you all... - Steve and Michelle -

No Steps Back

Good (Monday) Evening...

Phew, what a day! Whoever said stay home moms who home school don't really work was out of their minds!!! For the record, I never said that but even I was surprised today by the amount of work I had to do between breakfasts, shovelling snow (again!!!), school, lunches, a little more school, dinner, etc., etc., AND making sure Michelle was doing ok.... WOW! Busy, busy, busy! BUT, it has been a good day for the Venable family! All the above was accomplished, of which the most important was the taking care of Michelle; unless you are growing children, in which case food takes a close second!

Michelle has done better today than yesterday. She was able to eat well and even get up and about a bit more, as well as sitting up about the same amount as she was laying down throughout the day. Presently she is resting her eyes which is code-word for dozing! Overall, it was a day of steps forward with no steps back. Her swelling is about the same as yesterday, even showing up in a couple of new locations, such as her lower back; strange, I know. Still, things are looking good on that front. She still has times of being swimy or feeling woozy in the head but it is definitely getting less frequent; it will just take time. She does at times go through short periods of "throbbing" or "feeling her heartbeat" in her head, but nothing that stays; again, probably just normal side-affects of the surgery. She hasn't taken a pain pill since yesterday evening which is great!

Tomorrow we will call the surgeon to make an appointment for the removal of stitches, probably about 8 days or so from now. Hopefully when we call he will have the pathology reports back from the surgery which will confirm they took enough tissue surrounding the tumor; pray that the results will come back confirming that as the case.

Once again, thank you for all your prayers. Please continue to pray for Michelle's healing, for her to begin feeling "normal" again as soon as possible, for all of us as we make the adjustments while she is healing (such as the kids having to put up with their dad as "teacher"!), as well as those pathology reports. All our love... - Steve and Michelle -

"Show me Your ways, O LORD;
Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day." (Psalm 25:4-5, NKJV)

Sunday Evening Post

Hey, almost sounds like the name of a newspaper, magazine or something? (see title) I know, wrong day of the week!!! I trust you all have had a blessed Sunday, worshipping the Lord...

Well, I just got in a bit ago from my second go 'round of shovelling snow. It's been a very busy day to be sure, between the snow, fixing meals, making school DVD's, etc. I thought Sundays were supposed to be a day of rest!!!

Michelle seems to be doing better as the day goes on. She has eaten well and, yes, we did get that shower in. AND, no, I didn't have to blow-dry her hair; good thing! Spent the afternoon fixing our dinner. We had a turkey in the freezer so I had pulled it out on Friday and cooked it today. So, turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy, etc. for dinner. I know, you all are amazed at my growth in the area of domestication! Michelle ate a full meal; WoooHooo!!! Of course, now she is sleeping it off!!!

All in all, it has been a good day. Her swelling has stayed down, though there is still quite a bit, and her fever has not gotten higher than 99.3, so we are rejoicing on that front. She still has some occasions of being swimy in the head which causes her to feel a little nauseous, so hopefully by tomorrow that will be gone. She definitely gets pretty wiped out by to much activity/moving around but that's to be expected.

That's the latest... keep praying for Michelle's healing and recovery, your prayers are working. Pray for a great night sleep for both of us; pray for me as I play the role of substitute teacher tomorrow (maybe you should pray for the kids!); pray that tomorrow will be an even better day than today! As you pray, meditate on Psalm 8... our God is a great God!!! We love you... - Steve and Michelle -

Quick Post

Just a quick post to ask you to continue praying... Michelle's temperature is normal and swelling is about the same as early this morning. Right now, she was thinking of taking a shower but became really weak and shaky. I'm sure it is just the effects of having surgery, etc., so no need to get concerned. Just pray that the Lord would strengthen her and ease off these "bumps in the road" of recovery. Blessings and I will be back soon... - Steve -

It's A New Day

Good morning! First, let me apologize for not posting another update later yesterday. By the time I got Michelle to bed I was pretty tired and just couldn't bring myself to picking up my laptop. I trust you will each forgive me...

Michelle slept well last night, having taken a Darvocet around 7:30pm last night and then again around 11:30pm. She seems to be doing pretty well this morning; the swelling is slightly down and her temperature is down around 99 so, once again, the Lord is answering prayer! She had some yogurt and granola for breakfast while I went out to shovel snow!!! Oh joy... two inches of really wet snow; no need for a workout today!! So no, Larry, Steven and I have not got out for a round of golf yet, thanks for rubbing that one in!! (see "comment" on yesterdays post from Larry Jr.) While you're at it, why don't you just give me a paper cut and pour lemon juice on it!!! (Mad Max from Princess Bride) Or, as Steven said, "Luckyyyyyyy!" (Napoleon from Napoleon Dynamite) By the way, Sarah, Steven, Trip and Lauren's math team, Cornerstone Home School Math Team, won their regional contest beating the second place team by almost 400 points! Praise the Lord for that! They now will go on to the state competition in April where they finished second last year by a scant 16 points; they have vowed to win this year...

Okay, I promise to post again soon; I think Michelle just may get ambitious and try to take a shower. Hope she doesn't ask me to blow-dry her hair, I still haven't figured that one out even though I have three girls; four counting Michelle!

It's a new day and we're thankful for God's mercies, which are new every morning!!! Things are looking really good; exalt the Lord for His incredible love, His enduring faithfulness and overwhelming goodness! We will sing His praises in the morning and all day long... join with us. We love you... - Steve and Michelle -

Early Evening

It's about 4:30pm here and I wanted to give you a quick, brief update. Michelle struggled through the morning with on again, off again nausea; felt a lot like car sickness for those of you who can relate. We purposefully held off on her Darvocet (since 7:30am) to see if that was the problem. By 2:00pm she was able to eat a little chicken, potatoes and mixed veggies and was doing real well. The discomfort is tolerable so at this point she still has not taken the Darvocet.

Two specific prayer requests:

First, the swelling... she is still pretty swollen, though no more than this morning. In speaking to our surgeon on a follow-up call, he said it doesn't sound like anything abnormal at this point. Please pray that the swelling subsides as we move along though the evening and into tomorrow.

Second, a low-grade fever... emphasis on LOW-GRADE. Again, Dr. DeHaan is not at all concerned at this point and suggested that she take 600mg of Ibuprofen which will not interfere with the Darvocet if she needs to take it later. That will not only help with the fever but also will take the edge off of what discomfort is there and perhaps help a little with the swelling. Please pray that the fever subsides.

Dr. DeHaan was REAL encouraged that she didn't seem to need the Darvocet at this point since the first day is usually the worst. I told him Michelle is a "warrioress", the toughest woman I know!!! He laughed but then said she must be...

Thank you again for continuing to come to the blog to check on Michelle and us. Thank you for your continued faithful, fervent prayer. I know I have said it many times but, WE LOVE YOU ALL!!! - Steve and Michelle -

Saturday Morning

Good morning... we had an okay night, thanks for your prayers. We got up around 2:30am so as to not miss taking pain meds, best to stay ahead of the curve on that so Michelle doesn't have to feel too much of the discomfort. All in all, she seems to be weathering that fine as long as she doesn't try to move around too much, especially her left arm. She ate some yogurt at that time too and was feeling more normal by then. I had to get up at 6:00 am to rouse Sarah and Steven because they have a Math Team Competition today. Trip and Lauren (Gracey) are on the same team so Paul took all four of them, picking up our kids at 7:00am. A little after that, Michelle actually got up and had some cereal, along with another pain pill. Reminds me of the Saturday Night Live skit from so long ago, "Take a Pill!!!"... anyone remember that? Anyway, she is presently resting/sleeping on the couch.

Overall, things seem to be well, though she is pretty swollen. Not so much at the surgery site but starting at her side and working around to her scapula (shoulder blade) area. We will be keeping an eye on it throughout the day. She continues to have occasions of feeling nauseous, though it seems to be around an hour or so after taking her pain pill. She is taking Darvocet which seems to work real well for her, though she does not tend to handle those types of drugs well at all.

Please pray that the swelling subsides a little, as well as the discomfort. The sooner that happens, the sooner she will not need the Darvocet any longer. I will post an update a little later, thanks again for your prayers! - Steve -

We Are Home

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your prayers... each and every one of them have been felt by us and answered by the Lord today!! We are home and Michelle is resting comfortably in her own bed as I type this, Praise the Lord! I cannot begin to tell you of all the little and big ways God answered yours and our prayers throughout this whole day, He is so faithful!

Ok, the particulars for those of you who want the facts and nothing but the facts: The surgery started at about 2:30 and actually lasted a little longer than expected. I think it was about 3:40 or so that I finally got word the surgeon was coming to see me to give me the news. He said that everything went terrific, just like he would have wanted it to. He was pretty aggressive in his approach, removing the tumor and taking 2cm of tissue around it, as well as an extra 1mm for testing to be sure all was good. The most difficult, and longest, part of the surgery was closing up. Michelle didn't have a lot of "extra" tissue there to begin with and he took a good amount out, so he had to do a little work to get things sutured up properly but he was able to do so just fine. He did, however, have to take some muscle tissue so that may cause a little extra discomfort for the first few days or so. Anyway, he is confident that all is good and he was amazed, based on the pathology of the tumor, that it actually seemed very localized... then he gave praise to Jesus for that! All in all, it went great...

The recovery has been a little slow but Michelle is doing fine. She was pretty swimy in the head initially but still was able to eat a little while in recovery at the hospital, which made her a little nauseous. But, hey, they have drugs for that and so in short order she was doing much better. Between the pain meds and the anti-nausea drug, she is pretty wiped out now though. Like I said, she is resting comfortably in bed which is far better than the last time around, for those of you who remember!

We experienced so many "touch points" by the Lord today; from incredible nurses and staff, to one of our pastors coming to be with us when I thought I might have to sit alone (thank you my brother, Trei!!!), to having a wonderful Filipina nurse in recovery who grew up in Davao (!!!), to having a meal when I got home prepared by our dearest friends! God is the God of details, what else can we do but exalt Him!!!

So, pray for Michelle's quick recovery now. She has a bit of a stiff neck, I think anesthesia for some reason settles in that region and causes discomfort when it comes to her, please pray that eases off. Pray that the discomfort at the surgery site will be minimal so she doesn't have to take too many pain meds, those things cause the room to spin for her. I keep telling her, people pay to feel that way but she would rather do without! Lastly, pray she sleeps well tonight.

I will write more later but, for now, I have my beautiful wife to minister to. Or, should I say it this way, as one of our long-time friends called her, I have my "Warrioress" to take care of! Grace and peace to each of you. As you close this day, I trust your faith has grown a little more as you have seen the Lord answer your prayers. We love you... - Steve and Michelle -

Friday Has Arrived!

Good morning to you all!!!

Well, we ushered in Friday by staying up and feeding Michelle a nice big turkey sandwich and a bunch of grapes just before midnight since she couldn't eat after that time. I think she popped the last grape in at 11:59:59...

We are doing well; Michelle is actually fully in her teaching role at the moment. So here's the basic plan for the day:

We need to head out no later than 11:15am since she has to be at the hospital by noon. We will drop the kids at our friends house (the Graceys) before actually driving to the hospital. Surgery is at 2:00pm and should be over by 2:45pm-3:00pm if we get started on time. If recovery goes as planned we would expect to be heading home perhaps as early as 5:00pm.

We will update the blog as soon as we can once we reach home, unless of course the hospital has free wireless! If it does, we will post something from there!! Thank you for your continued prayers, we can feel them! Blessings, grace and peace... - Steve and Michelle -

New Surgery Time

We received a call today informing us that Michelle's surgery time had been moved up from 3:30pm to 2:00pm, so please adjust your prayers accordingly. Apart from that, really nothing new to report. We are resting in the Lord and in the peace that only He can give us, while at the same time looking forward to just getting tomorrow over with.

In the meantime, the kids were having some fun today dressing up and snapping some photos. We thought we would share with you one of our favorites. Yes, that is Moriah... looks quite grown-up, doesn't she?

Thank you all for praying for the surgery tomorrow, as well as for a quick healing. Continue to pray for the post-op treatment plan and, as stated before, that it would not have to include another regimen of chemotherapy. Blessings, grace and peace to each and every one of you... we love you!

- Steve and Michelle -

A Couple More Days

It seems like forever since the surgery date got set, certainly since we first found out about the recurrence of Michelle's cancer. The saying "Let's just get on with it!" is pretty much the mindset for both of us right now. Friday, 3:30pm can't get here soon enough for Michelle; the thought that there is cancer inside of her creates a sense of urgency to get the surgery done. For me, I'm looking more forward to about 4:15pm to 4:30pm; by that the time the surgery should be over and I will be able to breath a sigh of relief as I sit with her in recovery. Funny how you can look forward to something you know is going to cause difficulty, discomfort, and even create some "upheaval" in your life...

That brings to mind the story of the man who was blind from birth that is found in the Book of John, Chapter 9. Following in the beliefs of the day, the disciples asked Jesus who had sinned, the man or his parents, that he would be born blind. You see, they believed that to be born blind was the direct result of sin, so obviously someone had sinned here. Jesus' response was profound and something they could not have expected; He said, "His blindness has nothing to do with his sins or his parents' sins. He is blind so that God's power might be seen at work in him." (John 9:3, TEV) What? This man was born blind and lived his life without sight because God wanted to work in his life to display His power? Yes, that is correct!!! For such a time as what was occurring at that moment, God allowed this man to be born blind and live that way, so that Jesus could heal him and restore his sight, thus displaying the power of God at work. But it was even more than that; they also believed in that day that only God Himself could restore sight to a person who was born blind so, in essence, by healing the man Jesus was proclaiming for all to see that He was and is God!

What a great story and what a great lesson it teaches us. Many times we get confronted in life with things that don't make sense, things that will bring about "pain" in our lives. Our natural tendency is to say, "Why is this happening to me?" Allow me to offer the above story as a simple yet profound answer to that question. God's desire is that as you walk with Him through the "fire", His power might be seen at work in you. While none of us look forward to or relish the thought of trials (only those who are twisted find happiness in them!), perhaps as we grasp this truth as believers we will not only be empowered to get through whatever we may be faced with but also be able to embrace the "discomfort" it may bring our way, knowing God loves us and will use it in our lives for good; knowing that in the process of walking with Him through it, His power will be seen at work in and through you.

The last time Michelle and I walked this road together in January 2001, so many moments stick out to me; many times I will never forget. There is one, though, that is etched into my mind and still today is as fresh as the moment it happened. On our way to have tests run, not much unlike a couple weeks back, I asked Michelle if she was doing okay. In a soft, strong, humble voice she answered; "Yes... If this is what it takes for me to know, in a small way, what it was like for Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when He said, "Not my will, Father, but Yours be done." then so be it. Not my will but Yours, Father, be done." In that very moment God's power and glory was seen at work in her, on full display and almost tangible, just like it is now as I watch my wife walk this road again.

We read in the Book of Hebrews, speaking of those who had lived and died in faith before us and establishing them as examples for us to follow, "since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses... let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." (Hebrews 12:1) Sometimes that race involves suffering, discomfort, and simply "not knowing why." I am blessed and challenged by, as well as thankful for, the example I see in my wife of one who, with conviction, lives out "Not my will but Yours, Father, be done." May we all, like the saints of old and new, say the same.

Keep praying, we love you! - Steve -

Nuttin New...

Happy President's Day!!!

Things continue to proceed normally as we enter into this week, the kids and Michelle having the day off from school. For the most part, we are just waiting for Friday afternoon to get here so we can get the surgery over with and get on with the healing process. We have not had any further discussions with the Oncologist so we do not have anything new to report on the post-op treatment plan. Just continue to pray that chemotherapy will not be needed; loosing your hair once in life is enough, says Michelle. Although, she just said to me the one positive of having no hair is that she can get ready faster than me in the morning!!!

Overall, we are doing really well, resting in the Lord, trusting completely in Him moment to moment for everything. We find ourselves praising Him for the simple things, like the fact that we can have a normal week of school with the kids; Michelle even plans to have a normal school day before the surgery on Friday at 3:30pm.

A worship song came to mind today and drew me back to the Psalm it was taken from; may this excerpt from Psalm 27 bless you as much as meditating on it today blessed me:

"One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple.
For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock." (Psalm 27:4-54, NKJV)

Are you singing the worship song now??? We love you and thank God daily for each of you... - Steve and Michelle -

And Life Goes On...

After all the "craziness" of the past few weeks it has been nice to have a few days of normalcy, where you actually feel like you are participating in the flow of life. Reflecting back, the days of testing and running here and there remind me of one of those commercials you see on TV of a person standing still on a street corner in complete focus while "normal life" speeds by around them. You know what I am talking about?

At moments in our lives like these, life truly slows down and the really important things come to the forefront, into focus. This has served to remind me once again that the Lord allows times like this in our lives to stop us in our tracks so that we can hear Him patiently tell us, as He has so many times before, that "life in the fast lane" is not the abundant life He died to give us. How often we get so caught up in all the hustle-and-bustle and lose sight of these lessons... So, our life goes on, but now with a much better focus!!! The kids are on track with home schooling, I am pretty much caught up at work and we head into a weekend without any nagging questions hanging over us. That will be nice...

Gosh, what can I update you on then? Oh yeah, Steven got his braces off yesterday... off his teeth that is!!! He proceeded to eat two bowls of Grape Nuts as soon as he got home; he has been waiting three years to do that! He loves his Grape Nuts just like dad; and knock off the "it's like eating gravel" comments! Today, we will have a special guest stop by to see us... Pastor John is dropping in for a brief visit! It's been too long; we are really excited that we get to spend the morning/early afternoon with him. Hmmm... I think that is it; the rest is just "normal life."

So, continue to pray for those things mentioned in our previous post, as well as anything else the Lord would lead you to pray for on our behalf. Feel free to leave us prayer requests if you would like, we would be honored to lift them up to the Lord on your behalf. In the meantime, remember to keep your eyes on Jesus, the "author and perfecter / finisher" of our faith!!!

Thank you for leaving us words of encouragement, it is GREAT to "hear" from each of you! We love you all and thank God daily that we are so blessed to have so many who care about us... - Steve and Michelle -

Surgery Scheduled

We are still riding on a bit of a spiritual and emotional "high" from yesterday's news; I'm sure all of you can imagine the relief we feel knowing we are only dealing with a local recurrence. We KNOW that is the result of your prayers... thank you seems so inadequate to express to you all our immense gratitude for your "standing and walking" with us through this time. God has not only shown Himself faithful through answered prayer but also by showing us once again what a great "family" we have in Him!

Our surgeon called yesterday evening and talked through the procedure with Michelle; she was so taken back (in the good sense!) by his way of talking her through it all. She said it was like talking on the phone with any ol' brother in the Lord, he was so "down to earth" and encouraging. Praise the Lord, He knows exactly what we need when we need it!!! The procedure is fairly simple; he will incise the tumor and remove it completely, then go back in and remove additional tissue around it to be sure the margins are such that we can all be confident everything was removed. The prayer on this front is that no muscle tissue, or no more than a minimal amount at the most, will need to be removed in the process. Other than that, it is a much simpler procedure this time so that should mean a quicker healing time and, prayerfully, less discomfort.

The surgery is scheduled for Friday, February 23rd, at 3:30pm. Until then, we will just be keeping busy with home schooling and work, apart from perhaps some routine labs that will need to be taken before the surgery. It will be nice to have a bit of normalcy for a few days without the wondering and waiting for results or some appointment to run to.

Pray for Michelle to stay healthy between now and then, pray the surgery goes well, pray for quick healing for Michelle with lack of discomfort, pray for our surgeon (Dr. David De Haan) and our Oncologist (Dr. Alexander Hantel), pray for everyone who will be involved with Michelle's surgery and treatment, and pray for our kids to weather all this trusting completely in the Lord.

Grace and peace to you all... love you! - Steve and Michelle -

Two Scan Results In... Correction: All Three In

I only have a minute but wanted to be sure I got this information up as soon as I could. I spoke with our Oncologist, Dr. Hantel, and he informed me he now has the official Radiologist reports for the Bone Scan and PET Scan and they both are NEGATIVE!!! He feels the possibility of the CT Scan showing anything is not likely, especially since the PET only "lit up" exactly where we would have expected it to, which was at the tumor site. Yes, we need to wait for the official report, but this is a big "Praise the Lord!!!"

It seems a little odd to be relieved when you are still faced with surgery, radiation therapy and possibly chemotherapy, but words cannot describe the relief that comes with knowing the cancer appears to be completely isolated. Thank you all for the many prayers that have been and are being lifted up for Michelle, as well as the kids and me. Keep praying!!!

We love you all... rejoice in the Lord with us today! - Steve -

Since posting the above, Michelle called to tell me our surgeon, Dr. De Haan, called to let her know the CT scan is NEGATIVE as well!!! That's a clean sweep; no visible spread of cancer... THANK YOU LORD!!!

Last Test Done

Hi everyone… First, Michelle and I want to thank those of you who have left comments/messages for us here on the blog, as well as those of you who have sent e-mails, cards, or called. Each message and conversation has been timely and encouraging, giving us strength to continue on this journey the Lord has us on.

These past few days have been kind of like riding a rollercoaster when it comes to our emotions; highs and lows, times of feeling quite strong and times of feeling completely spent. Through it all, we have seen the Lord in the “touch points” where He so obviously orchestrated exactly what we needed at each turn, His hands moving in the midst of our “ride.” Even the message this weekend at church was a wonderfully balanced and biblical teaching on healing… a home-run of a message that was timely and moving for Michelle and I.

Today we took the last of the tests (a bone scan) needed to determine exactly what it is we are faced with when it comes to restaging the cancer. The bone scan was time-consuming and “boring”, but uneventful as far as the test was concerned. The official Radiologist report will be available tomorrow along with the PET scan report, so tomorrow is a big day for us. Please pray that both results come back NEGATIVE for spread of cancer; though the CT scan results may not be back yet, a good report on these two will make it more likely the CT results will be favorable as well.

We should be meeting with our surgeon, Dr. De Haan (pray for him… he loves the Lord!!!), sometime later this week and if all the test results are favorable the surgery could be early next week. Again, this is something to pray for.

“Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

(Isaiah 41:10, NKJV)

The Kids "Post" In

Sarah writes: "Once more, we're out at sea being battered on all sides by waves seeking to drag us down. The storm is fierce, but we know that our Captain is capable of keeping us afloat and bringing us unscathed to harbor. No matter how many fears and anxieties the enemy sends our way, we know that God is able to fill us with the peace and strength we need if we will only trust in Him. Our Captain promises to never leave us nor forsake us, but to be with us always. When we place our complete trust in Him we need not fear because He will always bring us safely home. Oh, by the way, our Captain is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ."

Steven writes: "Most of you probably know that my mom had breast cancer in 2001. The cancer has now reoccurred, and we are praying it hasn't spread anywhere else in her body. The preliminary reports from a couple of scans came back negative, which means that the doctors couldn't find any cancer other than the spot we already knew about. Our family is doing very well because we know that God will get us through this just like He did in 2001. So, thanks for all of your prayers and just keep praying... I really mean it, keep praying!!!"

Rebekah writes: "Well, as you all know, my mom has cancer again. We found out on Friday the 2nd. It is easier to understand this time because we are older and we've been through it before. I know to trust in the Lord; like Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord; lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." The enemy is trying, but not succeeding, to lead us in a different path. Thank you for your prayers, may God bless you."

Moriah writes: "Hi eveyone... thank you for your prayers, we can really use them right now. One of my memory verses is 6:11-18... pray that we will remember to put on the full armor of God each day. God bless you."

3 Down, 1 To Go... Cautiously Optimistic Good News

Battery of blood tests, check; CT scan, yep; PET scan, done... one more test to go on Monday, the bone scan, after a couple days of needed rest.

It has definitely been a long, emotional, tiring week. I think we both forgot that part of this "journey", how draining "holding it together" and walking the path before you can be. Praise the Lord that when we are weak, He shows Himself mighty and strong on our behalf by sustaining us, even carrying us if need be!

Following the PET scan, we drove over to Dr. Hantel's (Oncologist) office and dropped off the CD from today's test along with the CD from the CT scan yesterday, nagging thoughts and fears fighting against our faith. It is so amazing how quickly thoughts and emotions can swing from one side of the pendulum to the other! Is there any wonder we are told to walk by/in faith and not by sight/feelings/emotions?! Having dropped off the CD's, we left there faced with not knowing any results until sometime Monday. Or so we thought.

Some time after we would have expected him to have headed home on a Friday, Dr. Hantel called to give us a little cautiously optimistic good news. He had already went over the images/scans from both scans, along with one of his colleagues there (isn't that one of those things we asked for prayer about!? God is faithful!) and, as far as they could tell, it appears that the results are negative for spread of cancer!!! They are not the experts, and we need to wait for the official Radiologist reports, but this is definitely a little bit of good news to end this week with!!!

Don't get ahead of things now; trust me, we know how easy that would be. We still have a bone scan on Monday and will for sure be getting the PET scan official report on Monday, but at least we can go into the weekend cautiously optimistic, believing in faith that the Lord has heard the cries of our hearts and is answering our prayers!! Thank you so much for standing with us in prayer, keep praying!

One more piece of info: we got official word that the biopsy showed that this is the same type of cancer (all characteristics and markers are identical) as the last time. That means that Michelle will be put on Herceptin but not Tamoxifen as part of her treatment plan following surgery. One negative on this front, chemo has not been ruled out as a possibility at this point.

Prayers: pray that the official reports will be the same as the preliminary, negative!; pray that the bone scan goes well and is negative as well; pray for a refreshing weekend; pray for the surgery to get scheduled for as soon as possible and that it would go well, as well as healing to be quick from it; pray NO CHEMO! More prayers to come and, as always, pray as the Lord leads.

All our love... -Steve and Michelle- Psalm 18:1-3

Rumbly Tumbly

Rumbly Tumbly... that pretty much describes Michelle's stomach after the CT scan today! Something about drinking that liquid barium, or whatever that pink-colored chalky drink is, and having it work through your system that results in undesirable after-effects! At least she could smile and laugh about it; between trips to the bathroom that is!

The scan went fine; pretty much uneventful and they even gave us a CD of the images. Party at our house... you all can come over and see more of Michelle than you probably want to! Wooo hooo! Well, maybe not since we have to drop the CD off at the Oncologist's office tomorrow, sorry! Prayerfully the Oncologist will be able to get one of his colleagues there at the Cancer Clinic to look over the scan images so we won't have to wait for the doctor from the imaging center to generate a report. We shall see; that would be a good thing to pray for!

Tomorrow is the PET scan. If you want to have a little info on what that will be like you can go to:
http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=pet .

As we ponder the path set before us, we are so encouraged through the Word of God, which never fails to provide us a hope that will not disappoint! Consider:

"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (Rom 5:1-5, NKJV)

May you join us daily, moment by moment, in experiencing the abundant grace of God available only through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, which allows us to stand and rejoice in the midst of the storm. No matter what, our hope is secure and our future assured! Thank you all for your prayers; we can feel them! We love you... -Steve-

And so it begins...

It is going on 8pm Wednesday evening; it has been a very busy day. Michelle and I just got home from having dinner with two men from Ames, Iowa who are looking to open a post-prison ministry home. But hey, that's not why you would be coming here to check this blog, now is it! :-)

We had the appointment this morning/afternoon with our Oncologist, Dr. Hantel. We were reminded again of why we really like him; what a wonderful, humble doctor he is!! We wish we had a ton of new information to share with you but we don't know much more than we did before we met with him, apart from what tests Michelle will need to go through and when those tests will be performed. Those tests would be a PET scan, bone scan and CT scan, along with a battery of blood tests. We actually got the blood tests done today (no results, sorry!), the CT scan is tomorrow, the PET scan is Friday and the bone scan is on Monday.

Dr. Hantel told us today that Michelle is definitely in a unique group; less than 1% of breast cancer patients that have a full mastectomy followed by chemotherapy have a recurrence at the surgery site. Just another tidbit of info that adds to the amazement of being "here" again. That being the case, even he was mildly surprised by the reason for us being there. Still, he seemed pretty optimistic that it is a local recurrence, though we won't know for sure until all the test results are in. Once the results are in we will be able to come up with the treatment plan. Providing the cancer is localized, we will hopefully be able to have the surgery inside of two weeks followed by radiation therapy once Michelle heals up (about 4-5 weeks after surgery). Depending on readings of some of the cancer "markers" (HER2/neu, estrogen receptor, etc.) from the biopsy she may also need to take some additional treatments, such as Herceptin or Tamoxifen (more on those later), but more than likely no chemotherapy. If the cancer is not localized, well, that will certainly make things a little more difficult but not untreatable to be sure.

So, how to pray... pray that all the tests go well and come back negative for a spreading of the cancer which will mean it is localized; pray that the surgery can be accomplished within the next two weeks; pray for strength, comfort and peace for all of us, but especially for Michelle; pray for a complete healing. More prayers to come... best of all, pray as the Lord leads you!

We love each of you dearly, thank you for your prayers! Grace and peace...

Waiting

It seems this last week has been one long wait; wait for biopsy results, wait through the weekend to make an appointment with the Oncologist, wait another couple of days before you actually get in to see him. The thought of having to wait a couple more days for tests to be run and then more days for the results of those tests somehow just seems "cruel." We try to stay busy with home schooling and work but it is always right there at the fringes of your mind... and we wait.

As I was thinking of that late last night and when I awoke this morning, two familiar verses long stored in my heart came to comfort me, to give me some solace and peace as we wait.

"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40:28-31, NKJV)

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." (James 1:2-4, NKJV)

When we feel weak, powerless and confused, we have a God who is none of those things; and as we wait on Him, trusting that He hears our prayers and knows the cries from the deep recesses of our hearts, He will truly renew our strength by "INFUSING" His strength into us, giving us endurance to stay the course He has set before us. Having received strength through Him, we can make the choice to "count it all joy" in the midst of the trial, knowing that He is using it to produce an ever increasing ability to wait (patience) in us. This patience, this waiting, is a tool in the hands of the Master Builder Who is perfecting His work in us (Phil. 1:6), maturing us more in our Christ-likeness.

Be blessed this day... we love you! - Steve-

First Post!

I have been toying with the idea of creating a blog for some time, but have resisted the urge to do so; considering it a time-consuming endeavor that was in some ways self-centered (like, "Of course people want to read what I have to say!").

But life, or I should say the Lord, has a way of changing our thoughts and perspectives, so here I sit writing. As many of you who will come here to read already know, this blog is here mostly to keep everyone updated on the state of the Venable family and, occasionally, a scriptural musing or two. Perhaps over these next months it will become a journal for the journey we find ourselves embarking on now, giving you a "look" into our minds and hearts as well as reading of the life lessons the Lord is and will be teaching us.

Many of you are aware that it was January 16, 2001 that Michelle was diagnosed with breast cancer. That set us off down a path of extensive testing, surgery and four cycles of chemotherapy that came to an end four months later. As we have said over and over again since that time, we look back on that season of our life thankful that we walked the path with the Lord and His people, learning so much along the way, BUT let's not do that again!

We entered the year 2007, just as we did 2001; excited to see what the Lord would do in our lives and where He would take us... new year, new opportunities, exciting possibilities. Also just like 2001, the road took an unexpected and surprising turn. We received news last Friday evening, February 2nd, that what we thought was nothing more than an area of scar tissue next to Michelle's previous surgery site, having become a little larger than we remember it being, was actually a cancerous tumor. It is still something we are working to get our heads around, having blown through the all-important five year anniversary in January of last year (2006) completely healthy with no indications of slowing down.

We know little more than I have already told you in this post. We will be seeing our Oncologist on Wednesday, February 7th, to discuss the pathology report from the biopsy and to determine what tests need to be performed (of which one I am sure will be a PET Scan). Once the results are in, we will then be able establish the plan of treatment. The best case scenario, apart from a divine touch and healing by the Lord prior to all of that, is that the cancer is isolated to where the tumor is so that it can be removed completely, followed by localized radiation treatment without the need for chemotherapy. Pray boldly to that end!

While this is certainly not a battle we ever wanted to engage in again, we do take comfort in knowing that the Lord is allowing it in our lives, not being the result of anything we brought on ourselves nor due to anything we did or didn't do in the past. As before, we know in our hearts He will use it for our edification and growth, regardless of what our minds may try to tell us in moments of "weakness". We trust completely that NOTHING escapes His sight or knowledge and that He will guide us through just as He did last time; He is our source of strength, comfort and peace! Join with us in praising His name in the midst of the journey, acknowledging He is faithful and good!!

We love you all! 'Til next time, keep your eyes on Jesus! - Steve -