Week 9

Greetings everyone -

We trust you all had a wonderful Memorial Weekend; ours was good. I am sorry I haven't updated you sooner but since Monday was a holiday Michelle's treatment was moved to Tuesday and as soon as it was completed I headed to Michigan for a mini-staff retreat.

Week 9 is "in the books" as they say (who are "they", anyway?) and things went pretty smoothly. This treatment seemed to make Michelle a little more swimy in the head by the end of receiving it but, other than that, she did fine. It has been a pretty good couple of days since; not much bone pain, no itchiness on her face, and over all she feels okay. Last night she had a bout of dizziness that made her a little nauseous but she seems to be doing better with that this morning. Her blood counts, while going down, are still in good ranges though her white counts are borderline. Your prayers are being answered on all these fronts so keep praying!!

On another front, it looks like we sold our condo; we will be signing the paperwork today. We took a little less than we wanted to get for it but, in the end, it feels far better to have that behind us than the little bit of extra money we MIGHT have been able to make had we waited... and who knows how long that wait will be. As it is, God's timing is perfect and this should allow us to find our new home, purchase it and have it close at the same time we are moving out there so that we won't have to go into a rental and then move again! So, pray for me as I look at homes this coming weekend; that the Lord would bring us just the right home and everything would work out well. Looking for our new home without Michelle there is an awful lot of pressure... pray for wisdom on that front!!!

As for Michelle, apart from prayer for her blood counts, bone pain, and the other things we have been praying for, please pray for her energy level. Fatigue is becoming a bit of an issue, partly due to the fact that she has not been sleeping well for a few weeks now. Please pray that she would begin to sleep better and that the Lord would continue to strengthen her... only three more treatments to go!!! Blessings to all of you... you are much loved! - Steve and Michelle -

Happy Memorial Day

We wanted to take a quick moment to wish you all a Happy Memorial Day and thank each of you who either are currently or have served in the Armed Forces. Also, those who have lost loved ones or currently have loved ones serving; thank you too! Please know we a thankful for the sacrifices you have made and that you are all in our prayers!

Things continue to go as well as can be expected... Michelle is doing okay though battling an increasing fatigue. Please pray for the Lord's strength and protection for her as we press on toward the finish line!

Apart from that, please just continue to pray for us as we prepare for our relocation; especially the sale of the condo! Please pray fervently for that!!! We love you all... - Steve and Michelle -

Quick Update

Hi Everyone... It has been an extremely busy week so I am sorry for not updating you on things sooner.

It has been a good week on the Michelle front. Apart from being pretty fatigued, the only thing she has really battled this week is the itchiness on her face. It's kind of strange but it is one of the side-effects of the Taxol and, since she didn't take the steroid, it seems she may just have to deal with this now until the end. BUT, the caveat is that she had minimal bone/muscle/skin discomfort this week which has been a wonderful reprieve. Pray that the itchiness diminishes and the other discomfort stay away!!!

Other than that, everyone is fine. Today is the last day of school and the kids are really stoked! In fact, only Sarah really has a class today (as in one class!), so the others are sleeping in!! One exciting piece of news is that Sarah got her SAT test scores back online. She got a perfect 800 on the math (unbelievable!!) and her total score appears to be 2183... WOW!!! We are so very proud of her!!! All of the kids did wonderfully this school year; you know what a tough teacher Michelle can be, yet all of them got all A's from what I understand. Praise the Lord....

Okay, that's it for now... I have to get to work here! Blessings to you all and we love you!!! - Steve and Michelle -

Only Four Left

It's lunch time here and since I didn't have time yesterday I thought I would take my break by writing an update for you all on Michelle's treatment yesterday. For those counting, only four more major treatments to go, where she takes both Taxol and Herceptin. Of course, she will be taking Herceptin once every three weeks for the remainder of a year after these twelve weeks of Taxol; still, from what we hear, apart from the inconvenience of going and sitting there, there are no major side-effects with regards to bone pain, etc. Just that lingering concern about it compromising heart function temporarily while receiving it.

Okay, well, yesterday went real well. Her blood counts were real good except for the annoyance of the her hemoglobin going back down again to 10.7 (12.0 is normal), so she needed to receive a shot of Aranesp again after we thought she was done with it. Even though she didn't take the steroid she tolerated the treatment well. The only thing we can tell that is different, most likely as a result of not taking it, is that her face itches really badly and she developed a mild kind of bumpy rash. Strange...

Today, apart from her face still itching, she is not having any substantial discomfort with regards to bone pain, etc. She hasn't really even had to take any Ibuprofen to speak of which is truly amazing! You all must be praying really hard!!! (Could you please pray as hard for the condo to sell!!! ) Apart from being a bit fatigued and feeling tired, she is doing quite well; praise the Lord! So different than the last few weeks... what a strange journey this can be at times!

Enough for now; I will update you more later. Please continue to pray for Michelle, as you have all been so faithful to do. Pray also for the many "changes" going on for us right now, and especially that the condo would sell so we can have a smooth transition into a new home when we relocate! We love you all... - Steve and Michelle -

"See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are." (1 John 3:1; NASU)

Sunday Morning

It's Sunday morning... have you all made it to church yet??? I trust and pray the answer to that is YES!

Just a quick update on some non-Michelle related prayer requests I posted yesterday! First, my dad's surgery went great and when I called yesterday morning to check on him he was out in the backyard giving instructions to my mom on the gardening! The only pain he was feeling was at the incision site itself, no other pain to speak of and he had not even taken any of his pain meds. I made sure to tell him that there were many praying for him and his lack of pain was a direct result of that!! AMEN!!! Second, our friends Walter and Tina had their son, Anthony Daniel (I think that's what they named him if my memory serves me... guys are so bad with those types of things!!!), and everyone is doing just fine. Anthony was 7lbs. 15oz. and 21 inches long, again if I am remembering correctly. Praise the Lord for His miracle of new life!!! Other than that, things are moving along fine at the Venable home. No word yet on the condo, are you all praying??? Michelle had a good day yesterday, we were even able to go for a couple of mile walk to, around, and back from the park near our home (it's a BIG park!).

We are praying for you all and your church services today... may the Lord bless and speak directly to your hearts! The message we heard was on, are you ready for this, suffering! It was a GREAT message taught by one of the assistant pastors, Jeff Donaldson, who himself has had to endure surgery on his brain due to a tumor (Pastor James is in Romania). The text Jeff used as his "launching and foundation" point is below. Be encouraged today... Jesus love you so much, and so do we! - Steve and Michelle -

"For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;..." (1 Peter 2:21-23; NASU)

The Latest: Part Two

Well, another week has come and gone. In some ways the weeks are just flying by, in others they are not. Another couple of days and we will be down to only four more treatments, which will mean 8 weeks have come and gone... wow! Still, four more weeks seems like a long time! I know many of you can relate to exactly what I am saying... the rest of you just think I am rambling!!!

We finally got Michelle's blood sugar panel back and the results were great. The normal level for when you fast before blood draw is between 69 and 95; Michelle's result was 75. Praise the Lord (!!!), that rules out things like early onset of diabetes at this point. The basic thought at this time is that the steroid she has been taking may be the culprit when it comes to her blood sugar level being elevated on treatment days. She takes the steroid the night before (Sunday evening) to offset any possible side-effects of Taxol, but they have told her to not take it this time. The prayer is that this will have no adverse effect on her ability to tolerate the treatment. If it doesn't, they will just leave that out of her weekly regimen. If it does, it's back to the drawing board to figure a way to mitigate the negative effect. As always, the only thing any of us can do is pray to and trust in the Lord... which all of you have been so faithful in doing on her behalf. Thank you!!!

Other news:

Still waiting to hear back on any progress on the sale of the condo... lets all pray it will be this weekend that the Lord sends a buyer who has money in hand and is ready to move forward with the purchase!

The kids are doing fabulous; they are all VERY excited that there is only one week of school left. What they don't know is after this week packing up begins in earnest!!! Steven has been having a blast caddying over at Cantigny (pronounced "Can tee nee"...not "Can tig nee") and they really like him there. It's one of the "sad" points of moving! Sarah got the highest grade in the English class she was taking at the College of DuPage; her final paper, which was on the Reformation and who she believed had the greatest impact between Luther, Calvin, and Wycliffe, received a 100%! It was a VERY good paper, you should all read it... I won't spoil it for you but she did not pick Luther!!! Rebekah and Moriah, well, they are just wonderful young ladies who are growing up WAY too fast. The Lord truly has blessed us with great children!

Please pray for two people who are dear to us. First, my dad; he had surgery on his back yesterday to shave off some bone from a couple of vertebrae that were pinching nerves and causing all kinds of difficulties. The surgery went well so pray for his recovery. Also pray for our friends, Walter and Tina Karbowski, who are having their second child. They went in last evening and her doctor was going to induce labor; we have not heard anything yet! I have a great story to share about them and us sometime... a real "God story"!

Okay, that's it for now. Blessings to each of you and GET TO CHURCH this weekend! We love you... - Steve and Michelle -

"But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." (Phil 3:7-117; NKJV)

The Latest

Not too much has changed since the last post. Michelle is feeling slightly better, though I can see how fatigued she is when compared to previous weeks day by day. We have not gotten back the results from her blood sugar level panel taken earlier in the week (Wednesday); hopefully we will get those results before the end of the day. She continues to have times of light-headedness and low-grade headaches, so please be praying for that.

On the condo front, we did have one person inquire as to whether we would take a contingent offer. It is a divorce situation, unfortunately, and the wife is looking for a place to purchase but they need to sell their previous home first. We are mulling over whether to go this direction; still pretty early in the "ballgame" to be taking a contingent offer since that kind of slows down showings and, if their home doesn't sale, we could lose some potential buyers along the way. Ugh... this is the part of real estate I hate. Buying with money in hand is fun but trying to sell and deal with this side of things is not!!! The hard part is we asked you to pray, and we were praying, that the Lord would send us a buyer "TODAY", meaning yesterday. So along comes this and we are asking, "Is this really the buyer you are sending our way, Lord?", when it is complicated by the buyers situation and the need for her home to sell? Any thoughts and input would be appreciated!!!

Well, back to work... just took a brief break for a snack and thought I'd update you all! As you walk with the Lord, keep your eyes on the "prize" (Phil. 3:13-14)... love you all! - Steve and Michelle -

"You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." (2 Tim 2:1; NASU)

Lingering Effects

Just a quick update/post...

Michelle is continuing to experience lingering effects for longer periods now, especially with bone pain/discomfort and headaches. It is a very draining thing... in her words, I just want to feel normal again. It grieves my heart to hear her say those words and see what she is going through. Please pray the Lord would intervene today, allowing her to be relieved of these things and have a day of feeling as normal as possible. She did have her blood drawn yesterday for the sugar level panel, we should have results either later today or tomorrow morning.

On a different yet personal front, we have listed the condo/manor home we own here in Wheaton and could really use a quick sale. Please PRAY for the Lord's intervention with this as well and that TODAY He would bring a buyer our way!

Lots going on these days with us... so many areas up in the air for us right now. We praise the Lord daily that, in the midst of it all, He is stable and secure; never changing and always working things together for our good! We look forward to the day when we can look back on this time rejoicing on all that the Lord accomplished in and through us, yet we remain focused on praising, pleasing, and shining for Him in the day! Like the chorus from the Salvador song "Shine":

"Lord let me shine
Shine like the moon
A reflection of you
In all that I do
Lord let me be
A light for your truth
Light of the world
I wanna be used, to shine for you"

That is our prayer daily, join us in that! You are each loved dearly... - Steve and Michelle -

Doing Okay

Just a quick update for you all...

The bone/muscle/skin pain returned overnight, though it is a little less than last week it seems. Still, Michelle doesn't feel all that well, so please pray for quick relief. We are trusting that by tomorrow it will be manageable.

Overall, we continue to praise the Lord for the way He is so obviously ministering in the midst of this journey He has us on. We have learned so much about His faithfulness and how He TRULY is a God who is in complete control of all things! Nothing occurs, I mean nothing, that He is not in control of!!! This would include even those things that don't seem to make sense... such as, Michelle's MUGA Scan ejection percentage going up when at best it should have remained the same, OR her blood counts continuing to get stronger and more normal when they should be dropping... truly an amazing God is He!!!

One additional prayer request beyond the usual (blood counts, sickness free, bone pain, and her hair!) has to do with her blood sugar levels. We noticed quite a while ago that on some of her early panels her blood sugar level seemed to be pretty elevated which caused us some concern, but no one else seemed to be concerned so we figured we had enough other things to worry about and just let it go. Well, today Dr. Hantel's nurse called to schedule Michelle for a blood sugar panel today because he is a little concerned with the elevation. This was triggered because he was looking over her file again due to some of the low-grade headaches and "swimmyness" she has been feeling off and on the last few weeks. He believes it might be directly attributable to the steroid Michelle has to take while on the Taxol... if not that, then it is most likely just due to all she is going through. There is a remote (everyone say REMOTE!) chance it could be the onset of a temporary or permanent diabetes due to all the "poisons" she has had pumped into her system from last time and this. Anyway, another of the lessons we have learned is to covet prayer for EVERYTHING. So, please pray that the panel shows nothing abnormal or, at worst, that it is all just directly attributable to the steroid and that they will be able to make the adjustments necessary to minimize it. If they can lower the levels they believe it may reduce some of the side-effects Michelle feels in her head at times.

Thank you again for all your faithfulness to be in prayer for us!!! We so appreciate it and love you all... - Steve and Michelle -

More Done Than Left

Made it back late last night, it was a great weekend at the church. It will be great when we finally relocate; already it feels like home and family!

Well, today was a big day... we now have completed more treatments than we have left to do. Praise the Lord!!! There is many other great pieces of news as well, especially:

1) Michelle's MUGA Scan results came back and her ejection rate actually went up from 51% to 54%... when you consider the fact that Herceptin typically causes some temporary compromise of heart function, the only answer for this is, you guessed it, the Lord answering prayer!

2) Michelle's blood levels remained completely stable without any real drop in any of the levels. Not just that but her hemoglobin count rose to normal levels since after the first treatment. This means no more Aranesp probably for the rest of her treatments!

3) Michelle still has her hair... even though it is getting pretty thin!

We are just in awe of the goodness and grace of God as we consider these things. I cannot explain to you how amazing these things are. Of course, we know the answer don't we! Right now Michelle is dozing next to me on the couch; the bone pain is already starting to come. Please pray that it is not as bad as last week! Also, please don't stop praying for her blood levels and her heart function(s). Thank you for your faithfulness in prayer, it is availing much! More to come soon... - Steve and Michelle -

Friday Update

Howdy everyone -

Just wanted to drop a quick note to you all and let you know that all is well on the Venable front... Michelle is doing well, the kids are one week closer to school being out, and I am out of town once again in our future new home for a weekend of ministry. It's been a busy, busy day of running around in the heat but I have enjoyed every minute!

The rest of my weekend is full of meetings and church so we may not post again 'til Monday... if that is the case, have a blessed weekend and GET TO CHURCH! We love you... - Steve and Michelle -

What a Difference 24 Hours Makes...

Thank you all for your prayers this last 24 hours... Michelle feels 100% better today when compared to yesterday. Though she still has some discomfort it is more than manageable and she was actually able to function normally today. As always, the only answer is that God hears your prayers and is answering them!!!

"The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man (or woman!) avails much."
(James 5:16; NKJV)

Please continue to pray for all the discomfort to subside and that her blood counts remain steady... oh, and that her hair continues to hang in there!! Be blessed today!!! - Steve and Michelle -

Tuesday Troubles

Well, it has been a bit of a trying 24 hours. Michelle's bone pain started quickly, seemingly within about 3 hours of completing her treatment yesterday. It consistently got worse as the evening wore on and through the night so, of course, she didn't sleep well at all. Today it has gone beyond bone pain to being skin and muscle pain as well; in other words, don't touch her! She has been taking Ibuprofen consistently but at best it is taking only the upper edge off of the discomfort. Each week it has been slowly getting a little worse but this week it seems to have taken like 3 to 4 steps forward... please pray for her!

Today we had to go in for another MUGA Scan to test her heart function again. It seems we will be needing to do that every 6 weeks or so while Michelle is taking the Herceptin. We should get the results back sometime this week and, if not, we will find out the results next Monday when we meet with Dr. Hantel for her 3 week checkup. Be praying for those results and also for the appointment... we will need to discuss with him at that time the fact that we will be moving and begin to work with him on identifying an Oncologist to transfer Michelle's care to when we actually relocate.

Lots to do... Thank you for all your prayers on our behalf; please continue to do so, just as we are continuing to pray for you all. Specifically pray for Michelle's discomfort level, for her MUGA Scan results, and for her blood counts to continue to remain steady (or rise!) to the amazement of the nurses and doctors AND to God's glory! Keep your eyes on Jesus!! - Steve and Michelle -

Six Down, Six To Go

Good evening to you all (is anyone out there still reading???) -

Once again, your prayers have been effective and God has shown up as only He can! The nurses seemed to be so amazed and pleased with how well Michelle is doing; her counts either remained absolutely steady or went up. In fact, both of the important white blood counts (WBC-total mature white cell count, Neutrophil-young white cell count) rose! Only one explanation for that and His name is Jesus! Her Hemoglobin count went up slightly too, as did a few others; awesome is the Lord our God!!!

It was quite an interesting thing today... the time just seemed to fly by and we actually enjoyed sitting and talking. In fact, we spent a good amount of the time looking at house listings, mapping them out as to where they were and trying to pare down the list to a manageable number so I can take a look at them this weekend while in our new "home". I'm not sure this is a good thing, me looking for our new home without Michelle there but she says she trusts me... pray for me!

We are rejoicing tonight in the midst of the continuing journey; it's hard to believe we are halfway through... and she still has her hair!!! Okay, not a lot of it compared to when we started but enough to where most people wouldn't notice (Michelle is a magician with a brush and hair spray!!!). Please pray for Michelle as she "recovers" from the treatment today and that the bone pain would not be too bad. Pray that she sleeps well tonight and that she doesn't wind up with headaches this week since she did battle with that a little last week. Oh, and pray she continues to have hair!!! We love you... - Steve and Michelle -

Monday AM

A quick note on Monday morning -

"The earth is the LORD's, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell therein.
For He has founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the waters."
(Psalm 24:1-2; NKJV)

Please be praying that the Lord, who established, fashioned and formed all things, would have His hand upon Michelle as she goes to take chemo again today. This will mark the halfway point; six down, six to go. On one hand, we rejoice in that reality but, on the other, it seems like it took a long time to get here and it is hard to imagine that we have that much more to go. Still, God has sustained us this far and we are confident He will see us through to the end. So praise Him this morning for the Creator, Sustainer, Awesome God that He is... you are reading these very words because of Him!!! He loves you!!! - Steve and Michelle -

P.S. So do we... love you that is!!!

Friday Evening (5/4)

Hi everyone -

I have been beating myself up all day long over the fact that I have not posted more this week; I had every intention of doing so but "life" just kept me from doing so. I know, no excuses... I can hear it echoing in my mind!

It has been a very busy week, though. Steven is caddying at a local golf course and this week he went through training each afternoon for FIVE days (Sunday through Thursday). So, on my way home from the office I would stop at the golf course and wait for him to get done. Most of the time he wasn't done until close to 6:30p and I would have to wait awhile. It was hard but I made due, practicing putting and chipping or hitting a bucket of balls on the driving range. Tough duty, but it was either me or Michelle and, of course, I couldn't make her do it...

Michelle is doing okay this week... though she has been pretty fatigued overall this week and has even had some short periods of dizziness today. It is hard not to worry about what that may mean, low blood counts being one of the big concerns. So, like last week, pray that her counts hold steady (or go up!); also pray that her energy returns and that she has no more dizziness. As for other side-effects, they seem to be at a minimum this week except for hair loss; her hair is falling out at a pretty good rate. It's amazing how much hair the human head has on it. With the amount I have seen her lose I would have expected her to be bald by now but most people can't really tell. Of course, she has a few tricks up her sleeve to fool everyone... Anyway, if she is not bald by now, perhaps she will actually make it through without having to shave her head! PRAY!!!

Okay, enough for now... I will try to post over the weekend but, in the meantime, keep your eyes on Jesus!!! As always, I close with "We Love You!" - Steve and Michelle -