Cancer Champion

Christina started hospice care two weeks ago. Sorry for not posting an update about this earlier, but it been hectic as you can imagine. We are going through The Elizabeth Hospice, they have been very nice and since we have met our deductible everything is cover at 100%. What’s cool about The Elizabeth Hospice is that they are a non-profit, so everything would have been covered by them even if our insurance didn’t. So thank you God for helping us find them. And thank you to all our friends and family who has helped us with so much, bringing meals and being good company.

We started hospice because Christina’s condition was not getting any better even with the Avastin treatments. She was getting a lot of bruises and being stuck with needles a lot and she was just getting really tired of it. The treatment did slow the growth of the second tumor, but we think that it is not enough. Christina’s left side was still getting worse, it’s getting weaker and weaker. All of this put together is what led us to decide that it’s time for hospice care.

In the two weeks since, her left side is pretty much paralyzed, even her left hand doesn’t seem to work anymore. In the last few days, her right side seems to be getting weaker as well, probably from overuse and the tumor. In the past two days, she seems to be drowsy most of the time and is napping in between her meals. And she has a hard time staying awake in the morning when getting ready to go outside to the living room.

She knows that this is just a temporary body and that we will have a perfect body when we meet Jesus. I’m secretly praying for a miraculous complete recovery, the kind that only God can do, but that’s just me being selfish. She would rather be in the presence of our Lord and I don’t blame her, I would too. That’s my other not so secret prayer, that Jesus would come quickly and for the rapture to happen. But let His will be done, not mine.

All this talk of dying and of Heaven can be depressing, but it really isn’t if your hope lies with Jesus. He said that He “is the way, the truth and the life.” I know that through Him, I will be in Heaven right next to Christina when we meet Jesus face to face. That will be the beginning of a joyous life in eternity with our God.

14 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

John 14:1-6

You, me, Christina; We can all be together again with a body that will not decay or die, we can have it through faith and trust in Jesus Christ our Savior.

The doctor said there is some swelling there. But he doesn’t know if it more tumor or if it’s fluids. We have to wait for another MRI to see what’s going on. We have one scheduled this Saturday. He strongly suggested another chemo called Avastin, which is an IV chemo. I think she is going to try that for a bit while we pursue alternative and adjunctive treatments.

She has lots of headaches all day long and isn’t able to do much besides walking with me when I walk the dogs and checking emails. So, she is cognitively able to do stuff, it’s just her body stopping her.

I’m doing okay, a little tired and sometimes frustrated, but I am getting a lot of help from her mom and some friends and people from church are bringing us meals every couple of days. So, that is a blessing.

Thank you again for everyone’s prayers!