Prayer Requests

My Mom starts radiation tomorrow. Please pray for her. She will be treated on her neck and jaw area, on one side of her face, which is the worst area to receive radiation because it hurts on the inside of your mouth as well. It may make her sick, and will make her tired as the treatments go on. She will receive radiation for 5 days a week for 5-6 weeks.

Christmas will be a bummer, but hopefully we are all able to enjoy celebrating Thanksgiving together.

Right now the main things she needs prayer for are for healing (of course), and that she can make it through the 20 minute treatments. She will have to wear a mask that is clamped down to the table she is laying on - which is very claustrophobic for her.

My sister also needs prayer. She is in the hospital again. Her anorexia is really bad right now. A few days ago she went into the ER and was given an IV. This weekend her arms swelled up really huge and she went back to the ER to discover she had a staph infection from the previous IVs. She had surgery on one arm and has a drain tube. The other arm isn't quite as bad. She will likely be in the hospital for another day or two.

I have lots of reasons to be stressed right now.

Mom's Surgery

Mom's surgery went fine last week. It was a very long day, as she had to be at the hospital well before dawn, and I usually arise well after dawn :). She came out of surgery in the early afternoon, and the doctor came out to the waiting room to let us know things had gone well. He did say however, that it looked like the cancer had spread to more than the one lymph node. She has no feeling in that area of her neck and lower ear, so she does not feel much pain from the surgery. She is home and getting around, but tired.

She will heal for a few weeks, and then begin radiation. It is scary to think that the cancer could be growing in her now, if it was not all removed. Please pray that she is and will remain cancer free, and for a quick healing.

Yesterday

Yesterday, all my troubles weren't so far away...

Mom's surgery went well yesterday. It went a little long but the doctor said he got a "wide margin," meaning they believe they got all the cancer out, plus some. However, he used the word "advanced" stage of cancer, even though last week it was "early" stage cancer. So, she will likely have to go through radiation. The doctor was also not able to spare a sensory nerve in her lip - but she should have motor control of it.

It's pretty scarry to have your mother go through all this, especially because she is single, and my sister is also sick. Please keep praying for her and all of us.

Fingerprinting was fun and exciting. (Did you note the sarcasm?). I don't know why we have to get re fingerprinted. It just made for a very long day because we were up early and had to drive 45 minutes to the USCIS. Glad it's over with.

Tomorrow marks 1 year since our immigration approval.

On a happy note, my friend Angela is in Ethiopia right now, picking up her little girl and boy. It's so fun to see the fruit of the wait. We're praying for a smooth transition, and safety.

Request

Just a quick prayer request for my mom (Carol) who is going in for surgery this afternoon to remove the quickly-growing spot of cancer on her gum. Please pray for peace and that the doctors would be able to remove all the cancer without harming the nerves in the area.

We also get refingerprinted this morning. Yipee!

Thanks so much!