I Chronicles 16:11

I Chronicles 16:11. "Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually."

I saw Dr. Humhrey"s, my urologist, yesterday and was given the approval that the kidney catheter could be taken out. Before the removal, a technician injected dye into the tube with the perfect result of the dye exiting from the kidney to the bladder. This also means that the stints are working. Now the next step is chemo. Dr Parapati has scheduled chemo to start next Friday, Jan 30 at 1:00pm. I will get two types of chemo and it will take about 4 to 5 hours for the infusions. On Saturday, I will need to go to the hospital and have an injection. I do not have the names of the chemo/shot but I will put this info in when I get it. I will go every 3 weeks. She said that typically, I should feel bad the 1st week, better the 2nd week, and good the 3rd week. My prayer is that I am NOT typical and that I feel good all 3 weeks!!!! Please pray for this, because I will need to go to work. Even though I work 4 hours (8a-12n) it is still hard to get up and function when not feeling well. I tollerated the last chemo very well, so I have no reason to believe that this prayer will not be answered. I know that last time, with prayer, I looked forward to chemo and was not afraid. I believe that chemo brings life because it kills the tumor. Since I now have to healthy kidneys to filter out the drugs, I look forward to the results!

Each 3 weeks is a cycle and I will have two cycles and the CAT scan will be repeated. Please pray that the tumor is gone/smaller and that my tumor level is down.

I told Dr. Parapati a few weeks ago that I was anxious to start chemo because I plan to have a great 2009. She looked at me with a rather sweet look but I know from where she stands, this is not what she would predict for me. She has told me that I cannot be cured, but my prayer is that with only a few rounds of chemo, I am indeed cured. I would rather boast that the Lord healed me than medicine and the best doctors. I want to be that miracle. (Thank you Lord, for healing me.)

James 1:2

James 1:2. "Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness."

Christians will talk about trials, usually in general terms that can be hard to understand. I feel as though I have been through a trial and the result was that my faith was tested. I will try to explain as best I can what I am talking about. I have not written in this blog since Nov. 20th but it was not because I did not have anything to write about, I had plenty, but for some reason I did not want to talk about it. I think I had become weary of explaining about my health. It has been two years this January that this very long journey started for me. Most of my conversation with others was about me because all of you are wonderful to ask. I think I just got tired of always taking about my health. I appreciated all the phone calls and I would never be rude and not answer a question. I have never felt that what I am going through is private. God has never let me down and I wanted everyone to know this, but for some reason, I backed out for awhile. Was it good for me to do that? Absolutely not! But it did confirm that this blog is the best thing that I have ever done for myself. I need to explain what is happening to me. I need you to know. I need your prayers. Will I be faithful and continue to write. Pray for me that I do.

So, what has been going on? I wrote last time that the CAT scan showed my kidney was 4x the size that it should have been and that I was on antibiotics and feeling better. Well, testing showed that the kidney was not responding so they put in a catheter, which did not work, so on Nov 29 my doctor inserted a drainage tube directly into my kidney and I wore a bag to collect the urine. The procedure did not go well because the infection entered by bloodstream and caused a severe reaction. I had to spend a night in the hospital for observation. My urologist thought the problem with the kidney backup could have been the metal stint that was inserted in early Nov. So, on Jan 7 , I had a stint replacement as well as a kidney tube replacement. Again, I should have asked for prayer because I had a very long wait for surgery and did not get in until 6:00 pm that night. I had gone 18 hours without water and 22 hours without food because you are instructed to not have anything to eat/drink after midnight the day of surgery. I don't know for sure if the long wait was responsible, but I had some complications with the anesthesia that I have never had before. Long story short, I have learned through this trial that I need prayer and I should always keep asking.

That was the bad part, now for the good part. I had another CAT scan yesterday and saw Dr Parapati today. My tumor level is down slightly, still around 15 but last time it was over 16 and the scan showed the tumors to be the same size..nothing new. She was very encouraging and I have been thanking God all day. I feel like He answered my prayer. I have been praying that the tumor level would go down and that the tumors would stay within the boundaries that have already been set. And they have. I have also been asking that He heal me completely but all this is to His glory and it is His decision. I will have an x-ray of the kidney this Thursday, Jan 22, and if all is well, the tube will be removed. It is caped off now and the kidney seems to be working fine, so please pray that it can come out.

If the kidney is OK, then I will start chemo soon, possibly on the Jan. 30th.

All of you are so very kind to me, a thank you is not enough, but it is the best I can offer. You will never know how much your prayers mean to me!