Thank you Father for a good week. Thank you for answered prayer, for being with us, and being our ever present help. Thank you all for your continued prayers, for upholding Theresa and our family.

Compared to the previous 6 weeks, this week was fairly uneventful. Theresa didn’t have Chemo this week, so her energy level was better, and the fatigue was better. She is coughing less, her coughing fits lasting shorter and less violent, and I think we are gaining on her acid reflux. Her chest pain persists though. She slept in one morning and didn’t get her morning pills, so by the afternoon she had severe crushing chest pain that took a half hour or so to get under control. She realized the medications are masking the pain, but also making it so she isn’t miserable. We will avoid doing this in the future.

Theresa’s endurance is pretty low. She finds if she is up helping in the kitchen, or doing a few things, she is spent for the rest of the day. The only times she leaves the house is for her Chemo and doctor’s appointments. Hopefully in time this will get better. I think it is the pericarditis that is giving her most of her symptoms currently.

Monday morning she gets her port placed. We covet your prayers for peace and an uneventful procedure. Three years ago she had a port placed and she had the rare complication of her lung collapsing, so she spent a week in the hospital with a chest tube. As you can guess, Theresa is anxious about this, based on her experience 3 years ago. She then will start her second round of chemo on Wednesday. I think she will do 6 rounds of three weeks of chemo, 2 weeks on and one week off, before she goes through re-staging.

Theresa’s spirits are good. She appreciates the encouraging words, cards, calls and visits. She hasn’t had many visits as it takes a bit out of her. She finds on the weeks she has chemo she doesn’t have the energy for much.

Despite it all, we are amazed by God on a regular basis, and also by his children. We know we are being held up by all of your prayers and we have seen how God has graciously answered them.

A friend sent me these Psalms:
Psalm 36:5-6 Message paraphrase “God’s love is meteoric, his loyalty astronomic, His purpose titanic, his verdicts oceanic. Yet in his largeness nothing gets lost; Not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks.”
Psalms 37:23-24 NLT “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.”

Oh the comfort and peace in knowing the tenderness of the LORD toward those who passionately seek Him, desire Him, and hold on to him for dear life.

Thank you for walking with us and lifting us up in your prayers.