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 -