Simon - Updating you all and filling in for Sonya

Well, this has week has come its own set of challenges and trials.  Through it all, God continues to provide us with strength and relief.  Last week ended with Sonya suffering from a lot of nausea.  She had been receiving radiation treatments to address a couple of spot in her back that has been causing her discomfort.  Once in particular spot sort of got this whole thing rolling.  It had been causing her enough pain that she finally gave in and began taking some pain medication to deal with the pain.  Now Sonya usually tries to avoid pain meds and they tend to make her nauseated.  So that may help shed some light on just how severe her "discomfort" was.  So between the radiation and pain meds, the nausea set in and by the end of last week she was having a really rough go of it.  She had not be able to eat very much and that was taking its toll.

On Monday, she drove her self to her next radiation appointment, but when she checkin in, she was nauseated and the staff asked her a few questions and decided to admit her to the hospital and forgo the radiation treatment for the day.

So today we are on day 5 of er hospital stay.  She continues to be very week, still not eating very much and retailing a lot of fluid.  By a lot I  means she has now had her abdomen drained both last week and yesterday.  Each time they drained off more than 4 litters of fluid.  Each time, that has relieved a lot of pressure in her abdomen.  She has also had a cough that has been getting slowly worse over the past few months, and today they drained 1.2 litters of fluid from one lung.

This seems to help her breath easier and she has been able to eat a bit more this evening that she has the past few days, but the amount of food she has eaten still remains small.

We have been reading PS 27 together as a couple for a few weeks each time her spirits are down.  She has her moments where is is just tired and not sure how to express her weariness.  We relate so well to so much of it right now.

The Doctor , has had a game plan for us this week:

Get the nausea under control, get the cough under control, help her regain her strength  and see if we can slow down the fluid retention in the abdomen as wel as draining the fluid from the lung and abdomen.  So we seem to have been able to get some of that accomplished, but she still has a ways to go before we can take her home.

Please lift her up in prayer as you have time and the Lord brings her to mind.  Some very specific requests include:

• Peace in her heart, this last few weeks have been very discouraging to her.
• Sleep, some of the discomfort and medications have made it difficult to sleep at night and you know nurses and the constant checking in on you at the hospital - uninterrupted sleep can be impossible to get.
• That she would be able to eat and regain her strength
• That the pain in her back would not return and that the radiation treatments will have been successful.  (She still has 7 treatments left if they complete the treatment plan)
• That she would stop retaining fluids and that what ever the underling issue is would be addresses or healed.
• And as we have from the very beginning of this journey - for a complete healing that only our Lord can provide. We ask that you stand with us in prayer and claim the promises and declarations of the Lord:

Ex: 15:26 ... , If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.

Is 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

In Christ,
Simon

In good times & bad.....

I am so thankful for my husband, Simon.  He is so good to me.  8 years ago when we said our vows "in good times and in bad times, in sickness & in health...."  neither one of us knew the challenges that were ahead, especially the in sickness part.  The last few weeks have been very rough on both of us.  I haven't been feeling well at all, have extreme back bain, bloating in my abdomen, nausea and more.  Through all of it Simon has been right by my side, helping me with anything I may need.  Getting me food, doing the laundry, cleaning the house.....jobs that I have been to weak to do myself.  But most of all, being here to give me a hug when I need it or praying with me when I am worked up and my mind wanders down the "what if" path. 

So many times throughout this cancer journey I have cried out to God asking for Him to do a mighty work of healing in my body.  It seems that every time I ask for healing, God chooses to allow another trial, or bump in the road.  Many times I've asked God "why me" and many times I have told God that I've reached the limit of what I can handle--yet it's as if He keeps stretching me and saying "I will never give you more than you can handle". 

Faith is hard....it's hard when you are in the midst of a trial that you can't control.  When things are going fine, it's easy to say, yes, I have faith.  But when the real trials of life come and you have to rely on the Lord 100%--it's not as easy as it sounds.  At least not for me. 

I'm not sure what the future holds.  I don't know if the Lord is going to miraculously heal me.....or if He will choose to take me home.  either way, I know that HE loves me and His ways are not my ways.  So as you pray for me, please remember to pray for Simon too.  This hasn't been an easy road for him either.  We love you and thank you for your prayers on our behalf.

Sonya

Specific prayer request:
1) Swelling in my abdoment to go away
2)  Pain & nausea to go away
3)  Encouragment for Simon and I
4)  Radiation treatments to be successful