Another Treatment Down

Today's treatment went well; uneventful and it was actually the quickest treatment yet. We once again had a different nurse and, like all the others we have had, she was wonderful. We saw our past nurses as well and we are quickly making new friends; funny how that happens even in situations like the one we find ourselves in. Please add these incredible women and one man to your prayer lists, they are such compassionate people who really look out for the interests of their patients.

Well, we asked you all to pray specifically that Michelle's blood counts would go up and guess what... yup, you guessed it (!!!), God answered all of your prayers!!! The only words that I can conjure up right now is are THANK YOU... thank you Jesus, and thank you to each of you. Every count went up except one, and that basically remained steady. Her platelets that we were concerned with were dead on where they need to be; even the nurse couldn't explain why she would have bruising and yet all her counts looked so good!! Of course, we know the answer and now she does too!

So, continue to pray for the Lord to sustain her blood count levels, pray that the neuropathy would go away or at least not get any worse, and pray also that the bone pain she normally experiences would not be all that bad. The Lord is listening to you all, and daily He teaches me through His answered prayer that He is the God Who Sees and Hears!!! Amen... each of you are in our prayers and hearts and you are all greatly loved! - Steve and Michelle -

Sunday Evening

It's Sunday evening around 8:00pm or so... sorry I haven't posted more this week. Sometimes I feel like I am just re-writing the same things over and over; though I know you all probably don't see it that way. Things are going pretty well for us, though it was a very busy week in my new position. Busy but I loved every moment of it!!!

There are some looming symptoms that Michelle seems to be experiencing over the last few days of this week. Specifically, she is feeling some minor neuropathy in her fingers/hands (tingling and numbness) which is one of those side-effects of the Taxol. Also, she was packing some things yesterday, kneeling while doing so, and woke this morning with a bruise a little larger than a quarter on one of her knees. This is very strange because she did not bang it at all so it seems to be just the result of kneeling on it. That could be a sign that her platelets are low which is not a good thing; too low and that means blood transfusion. Lastly, she is beginning to lose her hair in an increasing amount so it doesn't appear it will be too long and she will be without it. All these things we knew were side-effects and possibilities... we were just really praying that it would at least take a few more weeks before we began to see them. Oh, and the "acne rash" on her face continues to come and go as well.

Apart from the above mentioned issues, Michelle is feeling pretty well and continues to have a good level of energy. She is handling everything with the same faith and grace as she did the last go'round and I continue to learn so much from watching her walk with Jesus through this time. No words can describe how proud I am of her and how challenged I am in my own faith to keep my eyes in Jesus, wholly trusting in Him for EVERYTHING... I have learned that to deeper levels through the "teaching" (by example) of my wife.

Please pray for those things I mentioned above, as well as for her blood counts to not dip too low. In fact, let's be bold and pray the Lord would cause them all to go up even from last week! Now that would confound the doctors and nurses and give great glory to the Lord; please make it so, Lord Jesus... but no matter what, we will praise Your name! We love you, Jesus.... and we love all of you too!!! - Steve and Michelle -

Tuesday Update

Well, it's a little late on Tuesday evening and I finally have the opportunity to post an update. Today has been a good day, apart from the expected onset of bone pain. Michelle has pretty much "lived" on Motrin and Tylenol all day trying to not allow it to get too bad; it's bearable which is about the best way to describe it. Even her face (cheeks, jaw, skin) is sore!!! She also has a slight headache this evening which is the last thing she needs with all the bone pain. As she just said a minute ago, she can handle the bone and muscle pain as long as she doesn't have a headache!!! So pray that not only will the bone and muscle pain subside, but also that the Lord would remove and keep away her headache(s).

We are one-third of the way through treatments (4 out of 12) and evaluating things so far we would have to say the Lord has been sooooo gracious with us. We are confident that this is tied directly to your faithfulness in prayer on our behalf... thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

A verse that has really ministered to me this week is found in 1 Timothy: "The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith." (1 Timothy 1:5) I so desire to live this out in my home, in my ministry, and in this world... to the end-goal of all we do is to display the love of Christ, flowing out of me from a heart that is free from impurity, a conscience that is free of guilt, and a faith that is genuine and "without wax" or without guile and conceit! May we all desire this...

We love you all... keep praying! - Steve and Michelle -

One More Done

Greetings this Monday Night!!!

It is a little late so I will be brief... Michelle's treatments today were once again uneventful for the most part and she seems to be doing just fine. Today the toll the treatments take on her it was a little more apparent; a friend who was there with us said she could actually see fatigue kind of work it's way into Michelle as the treatments were administered. It's true; you can almost feel the fatigue at times just by seeing it in her face. Still, in the midst of that, the Lord is there to strengthen her and He shines so brightly through her!

Her blood counts have begun the slow trek downward; almost all were below normal, though not at the level to cause great concern at thins point. The only one the doctor was concerned with at this point was her iron levels.... she is definitely anemic, though not alarmingly. She has to begin taking iron supplements to combat this. So, the biggest pray is on this front. Also pray that the bone pain this week will not be too bad. Lastly, pray that the Lord continues to use this "trial" to His glory, providing us opportunities to minister for Him with those who so need encouragement at the treatment center!

We love you all... we will update you tomorrow!! We are praying for you all!!! - Steve and Michelle -

Friday Evening

Greetings!!!

I know, I know... you are wondering why I (Steve) am posting at a time when the home bible study is going on that meets at our house on Friday evenings. Well, that would be because I am not home; I am out on the road.

One thing we have not posted to the blog, because the focus has been to keep everyone up to speed on Michelle, are some other changes going on in our personal life as a family. So let me do that now... Just this week I started working in a new ministry, actually coming on staff at the church we attend. The time I spent ministering at Koinonia House National Ministries (KHNM) was incredible and changed me in so many ways for good; I am more Christ-like because of my time there and I wouldn't trade-in my season of time at KHNM for anything, but we are so excited that the Lord has called us back to full-time ministry within the local church. We couldn't be more humbled and excited by the privilege to serve the Lord in this way. Which leads to the next big change... the Lord's calling for us to serve again in local church ministry will result in our relocating once Michelle completes her chemo treatments and has a bit of time to recover. I will be serving as the Lead/Campus Pastor for an extension campus of our current church home, Harvest Bible Chapel. While it is hard to leave our home here in Wheaton, we are more than confident, and trusting completely in the Lord, that He has called us to this. That said, it certainly makes for interesting times for us; preparing and planning for relocating, learning all we need to prior to leaving AND working through Michelle's health issues... talk about a group of "stressors"!

I will forward more details in the days and weeks to come but please pray for us as we deal with all the "change" in our lives and that, in the midst of it all, the most important thing, Michelle's health, remains just that.. the most important thing. Speaking of that, Michelle has been a little fatigued this week so pray for her energy level... and more specifically her blood counts! I will write again soon... we love you! Steve

Sorry, Sorry, Sorry

We are so sorry we have not posted sooner... it has been so crazy here this week; lots going on, nothing bad!

Quick update and I promise to post more info soon. Michelle continues to do well, though she is experiencing bone pain again as well as some "blah-ness". Please pray for that to go away and for her blood counts to remain up. All in all, she is doing really well considering, especially when we compare to last time!

We love you all... lots more info to come, we promise! Blessings... - Steve and Michelle -

Single Digits

Another treatment down; we have taken the step into single digits when it comes to number of treatments left... from 10 to 9!!! Wooohooo!!! Every little step is a big blessing!!! Everything went absolutely fine today, no complications or difficulties whatsoever.

We have one main message to send to you all today; we just want to tell you all... YOU ROCK when it comes to prayer!!! All of Michelle's blood counts pretty much remained steady and her hemoglobin actually went up considerably. The ONLY explanation for this is we have a FAITHFUL God Who FAITHFULLY answers the prayers of His FAITHFUL children who are FAITHFULLY praying for us!!! Thank you, Lord for our wonderful brothers and sisters who continue to answer our prayers... "... the prayers of a righteous man (and woman!) avails much!"... more than that, thank You, Lord, for your goodness and graciousness to us as we walk this road with You!!!

We will update you tomorrow but just know that all is well! We love you... - Steve and Michelle -

Saturday Night

Greetings ya'll -

Just checking in with you all; we trust and pray you are all doing well. Ya know, you all have been so diligent to pray for us as we walk this journey, here's a thought... we would love to be praying for you all too. So, if you have any prayers requests please feel free to forward them to us through the comment section and we will add them to our prayer list! Please, please, please do not hesitate to let us know how we can pray for you...

Michelle seems to be doing very well; I say seems because we obviously can't know what her blood counts are doing... are they staying steady or going down. Apart from that, she is doing fine. The bone pain is gone and she is not fatigued at all. The only thing that is causing her any problems right now is the skin irritation that is occurring around her nose. In fact, it seems to be even affecting her forehead some. We think we have isolated it down to being a side-effect of the steroid she is having to take to protect against an allergic reaction to the Taxol. Hopefully after another couple of weeks if she has no allergic reactions, which she hasn't these first two weeks, they will stop administering the steroid. Pray for that; as well as her blood counts to remain steady.

Okay, that's it for now. Have a wonderful rest of your weekend, especially as you worship the Lord together in your churches tomorrow; isn't the Body of Christ and incredible thing!!! We love you all... - Steve and Michelle -

Doing Well

I am sooooo sorry I have not posted since Monday evening; it has been a busy week for a lot of different reasons but that is life, isn't it?!

Be encouraged that Michelle continues to do well, though we have experienced the first of the outward side-effects this week. We are not sure if it is the Taxol or the Aranesp (the drug she was given to boost her hemoglobin) but she began to have some bone pain, mostly in her ribs, hips and back. It could be either drug, since both can cause it, but we are leaning toward the Taxol. It hasn't been all that bad, Michelle would say, and it was at it's worst yesterday. Today it is actually much better. The only other thing she is noticing is she has a bit of a rash forming on her cheeks near her nose, as well as on her nose, but that is fairly minimal and you wouldn't notice if you were not looking for it. All in all, we continue to be amazed at how the Lord is answering all your prayers in withholding so many of the other side-effects that many women experience.

A couple of prayer issues: As I think I said in my previous post, we were a little surprised Michelle's blood counts took a hit so quickly. We are somewhat concerned by that since we still have 10 more weeks and have no idea what they will be on Monday following this weeks treatment. Please pray that the Aranesp does it's job and the rest of her counts remain good. The second concern is that the bone pain has also come this quickly. We were really hoping we would get a few more weeks under our belt before that came, especially since chemo is cumulative in it's effect; which means that would only tend to occur more or get worse as we move along. Please pray that the Lord would hold this back from getting worse!

As I read the above, I feel like I am complaining... things could surely be much worse. Please know we know that; the Lord has been SO faithful to us in SO many ways and we are SO grateful!!! We continue to be joyous in the journey, trusting wholly and completely in Jesus. We are confident He will see us ALL the way through!!! Thank you for all your prayers... the Lord hears you and is answering!!! We love you... - Steve and Michelle -

Two Down... Ten To Go

The title says it all; Michelle received her second treatment today and now she ONLY has ten more to receive. Seems like a "forever" kind of thing but by God's grace we will one day in June saying,"Twelve down, no more to go!"

Today's treatment went absolutely wonderfully... none of the "drama" from last week, everything went like clock work, so to speak. They first accessed Michelle's port to draw blood to run her counts with and, thanks to the EMLA cream they prescribed (Lidocain cream), that was not bad at all. The counts all came back fine except for her hemoglobin, which was low... the low end of normal is around 12 and hers was 8.8. To counteract this, they gave her a drug called Aranesp which will boost her ability to produce this more effectively. Apart from that, they did not give her any Benadryl this week due to last weeks difficulties. The Herceptin and Taxol were administered with no problems and, at this point, with no outward side-effects like nausea, allergic reactions, fever or headaches. Praise the Lord!!! Once again, your prayers are being answered... be encouraged by that and also take that as an incentive from the Lord to continue in prayer!!!

As I was making some coffee and just kind of doing some "housekeeping" at the Cancer Clinic at the snack area they have for patients, two ladies came over to make some tea. There was no hot water so I told them I would make some and let them know when it was done. Walking back toward our separate rooms I found out they were there with another woman who was battling breast cancer. I shared some things with them and then, as we were leaving later, Michelle was able to talk with the woman for about 15 minutes and encourage her. Isn't God faithful to use everything in our lives for His glory? It reminded me of 2 Corinthians 1:3-4,

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."

As we drove home both Michelle and I were in tears as we talked about the faithfulness and goodness of God. Many times we find ourselves having to endure hard things in life but God is always right there with us, His grace is always sufficient, and He always strengthens us through His Spirit to endure our trials and difficulties. None of what we go through is ever wasted, He is always looking to use it in our lives to grow, mold and shape us into the image of Christ, as well as using it to open up doors of ministry in the lives of others. Continue to pray for Michelle, that the side-effects would not materialize and that her hemoglobin counts would rise without her other counts going down. Also pray that more opportunities to minister at the Clinic would come about and that we would be faithful to glorify the Lord as we minister in them. We love you all very much... - Steve and Michelle -

Happy Easter... He Is Risen!!!

We trust and pray each and every one of you had a blessed Easter, remembering Jesus!!! What an awe-inspiring Savior, what a humble King, what a gracious and merciful Lord... willingly taking upon Himself the punishment due each of us so that we might be reconciled to the Father... hell cancelled, Heaven bound!!! Hallelujah!!!

It has been a wonderful couple of days since our last post. Michelle continues to do very well and we certainly are rejoicing in that, especially since it is Sunday evening and that means tomorrow is Monday; treatment day! The only "hiccup" these past days has been that Rebekah continues to battle with some sickness, though she has improved. We are thankful Michelle has, by all appearances, been protected from catching whatever it is Rebekah had.

Please be praying for Michelle as she receives her next chemo treatment early tomorrow afternoon; pray that the difficulties we experienced last week will not happen again, but that the wonderful way the Lord ministered to her by withholding the possible side-effects WOULD happen again. Remember, Jesus LOVES you, and so do we!!! - Steve and Michelle -

Still Doing Well

A big "HI" to each of you -

Just another quick update/post to tell you Michelle continues to do well. If I wasn't there on Monday with her you wouldn't be able to convince me she even took chemo. It is absolutely amazing to watch the Lord answer the prayers of the righteous (that would be all you!) as He has held back any side-effects from the first treatment. We are wise enough to know that chemo is cumulative and, as such, we fully expect that she will eventually experience some fatigue, drops in her blood counts, perhaps even some bone pain and neuropathy (tingling in fingers and toes). Still, we take great confidence that the Lord, through all your prayers, is moving mightily and we know He is able to cause us to sail through "unscathed" if He so desires. Regardless of how the coming weeks go, though, we will continue to praise Him!

One big prayer request... Rebekah has come down with something that has the symptoms of a cold but has also created a fever that got as high as 102.9 at one point today. Please pray she gets well and that Michelle is protected from catching anything from her. As you know, we cannot afford for Michelle to get sick while taking the chemo since her white blood cell count could be compromised, causing her to not be able to fight off even simple things like a cold. Please also do not cease to lift up Michelle in prayer for her to continue to handle the treatment(s) well and that she would be prepared for next Monday's appointment.

Have a blessed Good Friday... please take some time to consider the death Jesus died on that despicable cross so that OUR sins might be forgiven!! Consider this:

"Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, we have to see it as something done by us." (John Stott)

It was our sins that put Jesus on the cross, it was for our sins that He was crucified. How humbling and amazing is the love of our Lord and Savior!!!

Quick Update and Praise

Greetings to you all -

Sorry we didn't post yesterday, the time just got away from us. I'm not sure why that was the case; one minute the day was starting and the next it was over!! Ever been there?

I don't have a lot of time this evening but I wanted to be sure to bring you up-to-date. The best way for me to do that is to tell you YOUR PRAYERS ARE BEING ANSWERED!!! WoooHooo... Following the long day on Monday, with the couple of difficult moments, everything has gone absolutely smooth since. Up to this point there have been no, let me repeat NO, side-effects to note... no nausea, no allergic reactions, no headaches, no fever, no dizziness... nothing apart from a bit of fatigue along with a little difficulty in focusing her thoughts and attention yesterday, which is either chemo "fog" or a side-effect of the anti-nausea medication. She has felt wonderful today and you wouldn't even know she took chemo on Monday judging by how she feels. We will probably not have her take the anti-nausea medication next time unless it is absolutely needed; this time we took it preventatively more than anything else. That will eliminate it as the cause of the fatigue and lack of focus issue.

So don't stop praying because the Lord is answering!!! We are overwhelmed by His great love for us and the way He continues to minister to each of us; we are truly amazed! No doubt His grace is ALWAYS sufficient, ALL the time! We love you... -Steve and Michelle -

One Down, Eleven To Go

"Dad, the basement is flooding in the laundry area!" Not the words you want to hear as you are walking out to get some breakfast before cleaning up to take your wife to her first of twelve chemotherapy treatments. Yet those are the words that came from my sons mouth... and the day began!!!

It seems there was a clog in the line somewhere, so between calling our friends to get a plumber, moving things out of the way, and telling Sarah to not use any water downstairs ("Yes, that means you can't use the toilet!"), I vacuumed up the water that was slowly spreading. All that while thinking, "This is not how I pictured things going in my mind..." Praise the Lord we got to it early and, without more water being used down there, the flooding stopped. Once all the water was vacuumed up, our friends took over being sure the problem that caused it was addressed while I got upstairs to get ready to take Michelle.

Okay, let me give you the good news first... Michelle tolerated the Herceptin and Taxol very well and up to this point she has had no real side-effects to note. No allergic reactions, no nausea, no rashes, no headaches, nothing to be concerned with at all. All your prayers are being answered and we are convinced that is exactly why she has tolerated the treatment today so well. Getting to the point of knowing this was quite another story actually! We should have been home by about 1:30pm, having gotten there at 9:15am, but didn't make it until 5:20pm!!

The short of version (it is late and I AM tired!) of why we got home so late is that, first, accessing the port was very painful, partly due to the fact that she still hasn't healed fully. Once it was accessed, the Huber needle used was not long enough so it caused some discomfort when fluids started to flow through it. So, out that needle had to come, though before inserting the next one the nurse used some Lidocain to numb the area, making that a much more pleasant experience! All went well and the drugs started to flow. The second difficulty came following the completion of the second small IV of pre-meds they gave Michelle, that one containing Benadryl (50mg; to combat any allergic reactions) and Zofran (anti-nausea). Once done, they started the Herceptin and almost immediately Michelle started to get a lot of discomfort on the backside of her head right at the upper part of the neck and her limbs (arms and legs) became so "heavy" that it almost felt like she couldn't move. They stopped the Herceptin, which seemed to ease things a bit. Thinking it was the Benadryl, they waited a bit and then restarted the Herceptin... same result but somewhat worse. They stopped the Herceptin again and she started to have the shakes uncontrollably. They immediately started an IV of Saline and gave her some Adivan. That eventually settled things down and, after the IV completed, they decided to try the Herceptin one more time since they believed strongly it was the Benadryl that had caused the problems; they felt 50mg might have been just too much for Michelle. This time it went without a hitch, as did the Taxol right after the Herceptin completed.

So, as you can see, it was a bit of an eventful day. The best thing, apart from getting the first week of treatments behind us, is we learned some valuable lessons for next time that should make things go much more smoothly. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness to get us through this day... looking back now, only the Lord could have got us through it all! Give Him thanks!!! Be assured, Michelle is resting comfortably and is doing just fine...

Oh, and the basement.... all fixed. Drain pipes all cleaned and a new ejector pump later, that is! Man, when it rains it pours. Can't really say it was a light Spring shower of a day, but it wasn't the deluge it could have been! Thank you, Lord Jesus... our good, gracious and great God! Be blessed; we love you! - Steve and Michelle -

One More Day

It's Sunday morning, sunny and breezy outside as I look out the windows... it appears to be the perfect Spring morning. Occasionally the sun dips behind a cloud or two, betraying the fact that they say some storms are coming later this afternoon and evening.

Seems the fitting weather for today. Michelle is feeling much better, the pain having subsided quite a bit and she is feeling in many ways almost normal; the perfect picture, one we have all been praying for. Yet, there is a "storm" brewing. I feel it inside, I know she must as well. While today may be the perfect "Spring Day", tomorrow's forecast is for "storms" to come. Unlike weather-people (can't say weathermen in our politically correct world!) who are doing great if they are right 20% of the time, the forecast we sense is 100% sure to come. The only question is how bad will the "storm" be... our prayer is, "Lord, make it just a mild Spring shower!" As you search the Internet, which can be a good thing and also a not so good thing (!!!), the possibilities run far and wide when it comes to trying to get a handle on what to expect as chemo starts. Perhaps that is the way the Lord wants it to be so that, as with each step of this journey thus far, we have only one place to turn and only one Person to fix our eyes and trust upon, Him alone. Whatever may come, whatever storm may blow through, mild or raging, we know He will see us through. Like the wise man, we have fashioned our "house upon the Rock"; no matter the intensity of the storm, we will stand fast in Him.

Many time we do not understand why it is we find ourselves going through trials, struggles and tests (yes, tests!). As I have said many times, in each case the enemy is tempting us to turn from God, to lean on something or someone other than the Lord, even to be angry with Him that He has allowed us to be where we find ourselves. At the same time God is using the trial to test us, desiring for our faith to grow and shine as it is proved (tried) by "fire", that His glory might be revealed in and through us. As we look ahead to tomorrow our simple request, the cry of our hearts, is that we would pass the test...

As I was riding to a workshop with a friend and co-worker yesterday morning, Jasper Lukose, we were listening to a children's radio program he does on WMBI (Moody Radio) on Saturday mornings. During the program he read a short story, the title of which escapes me. What I so clearly remember is this... it was a dad's birthday and the kids played a trick on him by putting one of those candles on his cake that, no matter how hard you blow on it, it just stays lit. You ever had that happen to you??? I have... Anyway, as I thought of that candle it immediately brought to mind Michelle. Like that candle, no matter how hard these "winds of life" blow against her, they cannot extinguish the light of Christ that burns so brightly in her. I remember thinking, "When I grow up, I want to be just like her, Jesus!"

Please pray that we would enjoy this "day in the sun", looking forward with great confidence that the days of struggle that lie ahead would be, like today, clearly defined as days in The Son! We love each of you so very much, thank you for your continued prayers on our behalf... - Steve and Michelle -