Burzynski, The Movie Watch it FREE until June 13!!! **UPDATE! Now Free Until June 20!!**

I don't have time to write this post, but here I am anyway.

I just found out that there has been a movie made about my Dr. The Dr. I went to when I walked out of MD Anderson 5 years ago because all they would offer me was chemo. Dr. Burzynski took me, I was on his therapy for 1 month and then for financial reasons and at the recommendation of Burzynski, I dropped his therapy and did chemotherapy because MD Anderson would not cooperate with his clinic and allow me to take PB and AminoCare while on the chemo. I know without a shadow of a doubt that if I had not taken the PB first, my outcome would have been drastically different. As most of my readers may know, I have had 2 children since my cancer treatments 5 years ago. My Dr. at MDA told me that I beat the odds. They didn't really expect me to recover from lymphoma. I am so thankful that I did.

Here is a 3 min clip of the movie.


The full movie can be seen online for FREE only until June 20, 2011. It can also be purchased at a discounted rate until that time. To watch the full movie, click below. To purchase, go to Burzynski, the Movie

Burzynski: Cancer Is Serious Business from BurzynskiMovie on Vimeo.
For more information: http://www.burzynskimovie.com

Go here to get the DVD: https://www.burzynskimovie.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=107&Itemid=88


Nichola
http//:peachfarmerswife.blogspot.com

Hi, Ho, Hi, Ho, It's Off To Denton I Go...

Okay, maybe the guys who made the "Hi, Ho" song famous were not excited,.... but I am. :-) Tomorrow I leave with several ladies from our church for Denton to a Revive Our Hearts Conference. Am I excited? Yes, I am!

Nancy Leigh DeMoss will be the speaker, someone I highly respect and look up to. I am looking forward to hearing what she has to say this weekend.

Wow, the moon is so pretty tonight. I would love to try to photograph it. But, without a tripod it turns out a bit shaky. (Lets see,.....find Prayer list......add.....tripod.) Anyway, I think that it would make a really good picture tonight. I might try it anyway, we'll see. I still have some laundry to fold before I leave for the conference. (Did I mention that I am excited about that?)

Houston

I had a good trip to Houston the 4th and the 5th. I did all my tests on the 4th and then saw my dr. the 5th. All the tests came back good! It was what I expected, but it was still good to hear. My Dr. was also very encouraging. She said that they were anticipating me to stay cancer free, esp. because of how the cancer had responded to the treatment, and had not returned for a year. They were also thinking that one of the proteins that were present with the cancer was going to help with staying free. They will continue to watch me closely, I go back in 4 months, but she said that they don’t expect me to have a relapse.

As you might imagine, I am encouraged and excited by that report! Thank you all for praying for me and please do continue! And join me in blessing and praising the name of our God for the great things He has done!

MDA

I am scheduled to go to MDA again in April. This time I was able to move my appointments closer together to each other. I will have my tests done the 4th and then see my doctor on the 5th. That will be much easier! I am planning to go down by myself again, but will only have to spend one night in Houston, compared to 3 nights. That will be much easier! I have purchased tickets to fly down and back, so that will cut my travel time down even more.

BTW, health wise I feel like I am doing really well. I have plenty of energy and have a fine crop of hair now. :-) LOL! I have noticed some effects of the chemo, but they seem to be fading as time passes. I just praise the Lord for His kindness and mercy to me.

I would appreciate prayer for the test results and for my trip. And thank you all for your prayers. Without prayer I would not be here today.

Home, Happy and Busy

Hello all! I finally scheduled at time to post an update in blogland. :-)

MDA
As expected, the results of all my tests came back good. That was good news to hear, although I did expect it. My stay in Houston was, however, a bit long to me. I didn't like being away from David and the kids that long. They made it, but didn't really like it either. I am hoping to find a way to shorten the time I have to be down there.

My doctor told me that I need to come back again in 3 months one more time, and then I will need to come every 4 months for the next year.

I will post again later!

Globe,..Well,... State Trotting and Other News

Hello all! Here I am again and look, it hasn't been 2 months since my last post! Aren't you proud of me? :-)

I guess you have noticed my new look. I plan to do more updating in the near future also.

We are about to head for Arkansas to pick up some strawberry plants. 100-200 actually. The plan is to go them through the winter and then have strawberries in the spring. Lord willing that is what we intend to do. We are still in the planning stages of the trip and so don't know the exact dates yet. But we are thinking about seeing some other folks along the way. (BTW, I failed to mention that we are going to David's uncle's to get the plants.)

Prayer needed for Nell

Please be in prayer for David's mom. She is going to have knee replacement surgery on the 10th of this month. While she is glad to be doing the surgery and getting the knee issue resolved, she is not looking forward to the down time afterwards.

Everything The 10th

I guess everything will be happening the 10th. We will have baby chickens hatching the 10th, the co-op order will come in the 10th, Nell's surgery is the 10th,...and there is something else that I forgot.

Prayer For Me

I would also covet everyone's prayers. I am in the process of getting our house, life, family, etc on a schedule. However, I am not very proficient in this area and am having to learn from the ground up how all this works. Please pray for me. And if any of you have good tips or advise in any area you can think of, please leave me a comment. For you elder readers, would you consider thinking back to when your kids were young and telling me how you ran your day, or how you wish you would have, or anything that you would like to have been told at that time? I would highly value anything anyone would have to say!

God bless you all and have a wonderful day.

Finished!

Just to let everyone know, I now have nothing in my body, that I know of, that is not just me. The medi-port is offically gone. All that is left is a large bruise and some stitches. I am still a bit sore, but that is quickly fading away.

As you might imagine, it is a relief to finally have that thing removed.

The surgery went well and I did pretty good afterwards. (I said, "pretty good" because I did have some nausea afterwards) Thank you all for your prayers.

I'll post again later!

The End of the Year

Last year about this time I underwent surgery to have a medi-port put in so that I could start chemo. Tommorrow it comes out. Sept 22, 2005 it was put in place and I had big battle ahead of me. Tommorrow, Sept 21, 2006 I will have it removed and expect to have a good year next year.

So much has happened in the time that I did that surgery. I have been a lot of places, learned a lot of things, met a lot of people. I am a different person.

If you are reading this before 8:00 am Central Time, please pray for me. This will be an "easy" procedure compared to the placement but it is still a surgery.

Yes, This is a New Post! :-)

Once again it has been a woefully long time since I updated everyone here. I am sorry. So much happens and it is so hard to get it all written! :-) I will give a quick overview of the last few months.

As posted before, we are in our new house and oh, are we enjoying that! The house is not completed yet, but we have what we need each day and that is all we need at the moment. The space is so nice. We can actually spread out a bit. I have been working on getting it organized and I think that is going well. :-) I love my big kitchen and new appliances. Right now I am still using the original cabinets but David is planning to add new ones and update the old ones soon. But I am happy, I have more space than I did in the other house and I definitely have more space than in the trailer. :-) So, all is well!

I did enjoy getting my cupboards painted last week. I did a black and white scheme. I did the inside of the cupboards white, and the drawers and doors white. All the facings I painted black. I will post a picture when I get home and take one.

Right now we are in Galveston. I went in yesterday for tests and will find out Friday what the results are. I know that everything is okay and am not worried about it.

It sure does feel good to be able to be back in the swing of things. I am reminded being down here just how bad I felt and what how far God has brought me. I am just so thankful.


Here is a picture that Keilah took of me. I have my hat on, but maybe it will give those who haven't seen me in a while an idea of what I look like these days. :-)

I will try to post more often, but that has been said before......

FINALLY, She posted

Hello everyone in "blogland" who has been wondering when I was going to update my blog! :-) (I guess after looking at my last posts, I should condsider making a template that starts, "Hey, sorry everyone that I haven't written in a while...")

As some of you have heard by now, I have now been declared cancer free. I took a total of 6 rounds of chemotherapy. It was very difficult and trying but God was with me through it all in a very big way. I will go back for testing June 13. This will be my second round of testing to see if I am maintaining a cancer free state. I believe God has healed me and given me this time to bring up my children and I am very thankful.

We are also in our new house now. Words cannot describe or express how excited and happy we are to be living here.

I thought that I would have more time to write and be more mobile with the laptop, and to some degree that has been true. But I have not had the time I thought that I would have to write in my blog. Even journaling has been very hard to find a spot to do. Life has been going at such a high rate of speed. For a portion of time, we were fighting for everyday stuff like water, food, clothes, heat and electricity.

I wish that I had been able to write about all our experiences living in a 30’
travel trailer with 3 kids. My brother and his wife and toddler lived next to us in a pop-up camper, but shared the facilities of our trailer and were in ours much of the time to eat meals, etc. It was crammed to say the least! We lived in that from January to March 13. We were thankful that we were not in Maine or somewhere really cold, but we had our share of being cold in a camp trailer in the middle of winter. :-) My sister-in-law and I fought to keep meals going, kids taken care of, donations sorted, clothes and dishes washed, etc. We had water and power to the trailer but for some reason or another there were times that neither of those two luxuries were available. (I need to explain here that my brother and his wife came down to help us while I was going through chemo. The day our house burned, they were on their way down to help us with our kids while I recovered from my second round of chemo. They stayed and helped us after the fire and were a huge help to both David and I.) David and my brother, Tim, would come in from working on the house, fences, cleanup or whatever and need to eat. The only place to sit in the trailer was a couch that we dubbed “The Sinkhole,” because that is what you did when you sat in it. David and Tim would be given their plates of food and then sit in “The Sinkhole” and balance their plate in one hand and eat with the other. That was the signal for all the babies, (4, 2, 10 months and 16 months), to start climbing on the daddies that they had not seen all day and begging for food. (Even if they had eaten or had their own food to eat) Poor guys! We did our best to help but anytime they could, they opted to eat outside. :-)

This was difficult at best, but there were a few more twists thrown in. Really, we had two “camps.” We had to live with David’s parents for the first few weeks after the fire and that was where a lot of our things were. Then the trailer was brought in for us and we moved over to it, sort of. As I said above, the trailer was cold, sometimes too cold. So we would pack up and move back to Ma’s for a day or so until the cold spell blew over. Then we would have to move everything back to the trailer. Sometimes there was a power issue with the trailer and we had to move until that got resolved. Somehow, in all these switching camps we would always end up needing something that we had left at the other location. We lived back and forth between the two locations for nearly 3 months. Add to all that packing up and leaving for Houston every 21 days, coming home drained and having to recover from the chemo while fighting all the above. Usually we would stay at Ma’s for a few days when we got back from Houston. (Read: Packed and got ready for 1-week stay in Houston with 3 kids in a motel room. Usually switched motels at least once. Packed everything back in suburban and headed home where we pulled some things out while we stayed at Ma’s and made it for a few days, trying not to totally trash Ma’s house, while I was pretty much out of it and everyone else was taking care of my kids.)

Easy? Whatever. God with us and giving us peace in the midst? All the way.

It was awesome how even facing all of this there would be that grace to walk through it all, that peace that passes understanding. There is really no way to explain it and looking back as I write all this I have to question how on earth God brought me through all this without a nervous breakdown or a major hatred for fire and camp trailers. :-) And really, I have only shared a small portion of the challenges and trials we faced. I have not mentioned David and the kids getting sick and having to clean up throw up and tending sick kids and husband while recovering from chemo. I have not mentioned the strangeness of not having, much less a place to put, the simplest of things we used everyday, such as pen and paper, and the loss of things that were in their places when we left that were of no use to us now. The heartache as we saw family and friends around us suffering the same losses and challenges that we were facing.
The blowing dust and ash, the burnt trees and desolate destruction all around us. The piles of crumpled metal, the ash heaps everywhere of what used to be our homes, barns, storage buildings, tractors, and those of our neighbors, a constant reminder of the devastation that had swept unstoppable across the countryside. The feeling of walking around as if in a dream and knowing that there is no dream, it is all real. The upheaval of daily routine and the ability to handle everyday tasks quickly and efficiently. The flood of help that poured in and the new experiences we were having as we learned to accept help and money from friends, family and strangers. Having to communicate our needs to people, coordinate and get ready for volunteers who wanted to help as much as possible in very short amounts of time. Trying to look to the future and decide which way to turn, and what needed to be done today. There are no words to describe all that David went through as he tried to provide us all a place to function as a family and at every turn finding a roadblock in his path. How each day we set out to accomplish tasks, and found that we had to run in circles it seemed to be able to begin to accomplish anything.

If reading all this you are feeling overwhelmed, even a little, it is only a fraction of all that we experienced. We were pushed, pulled and stretched to our limits, and then pulled and stretched some more. And in the middle of it all God was with us. (That sentence needs to be written with more feeling; maybe this will help) In the middle of it all GOD WAS WITH US. Not just in things working out for the good, which they did many times, but in our hearts. There were times that I was just incredulous at how God was working in me in the middle of all that was going on around me, so that I was pressed, as Paul says, but not crushed. I passed through the fire and everything overpowered me but God delivered me in the midst of the fire, even while I was walking through it. And I found out that what God said in His Word is true. He is always with us. Not kind of, He really is. I found out that as I walk out my faith and belief in Him, He is faithful and kind. He really does give us the power to walk through things that we thought would crush us, and helps us to come through it victorious and rejoicing. Why? The best part is that He does all this in us that we might demonstrate His power on the earth. I have been blown away by His power that He works in me.

I hate to do this to everyone again, but I am going to have to post this and add some more pics and all that later. There is still so much to write. God is doing so much in me. Some of it is so new and fresh that it is hard to put it all into words. Some of it, I just don't have a full view of where He is taking me yet. But I will try to post it soon.

I still covet your prayers. I am doing well but continued prayer is still important. Thank you all for kindness and faithfullness to pray for me.

How Could I Forget?

The Opening of the Floodgates
Well, it is time for a post about another miracle that happened that I haven’t written about yet. I woke up this morning and realized that I hadn’t written about it on my blog! So here goes.

For those who don’t know, David and I have always driven older vehicles since we have been married. During the time of the diagnosis of cancer, we were driving an older Ford pickup with over 300,000 miles on it. It was a club cab so we could get the kids in the back, but it was a workout going anywhere! We had been praying about a new vehicle but didn’t see that it was the time to get one. When we had to start going back and forth to Houston David’s parents loaned us their trusty little car.

On December 18, we got a call from a friend. They said that they would like to come over and drop a little something off. We assumed they were bringing food or something. What they dropped off were the keys to a 2003 Chevy Suburban with only 42,000 miles on it. Talk about shocked. Our friend said that the Lord wanted them to give it to us and it was ours.

The suburban is a big gift from God in itself. However, God had fun on this deal. The whole thing, down to the color, is exactly what we would have ordered if we could have custom ordered one. When we go shopping, it looks like we bought our double stroller to match the suburban. Our diaper bag matches our ride. When I wear my heavy winter coat, it looks like I got dressed to ride in it. And the features! All just what we would have wanted. Right down to the 6 cd changer.

Does any of that stuff amount to a hill of beans?! No. But God did Christmas His way. I believe He did it partly to show us how much He is in control and really knows just what we need and even want. I feel pretty took care of riding in my custom suburban. And the funny thing is that when I prayed about a vehicle I didn’t have a list. I did ask for a new vehicle. I even asked for a newer one. But I couldn’t have even come up with everything God did. There is no way that I could have gone figured out everything and had it all work out so that not only I really liked it but David did too. And he does. We both like it equally as well. (Although, David is cool with just a CD player, the 6 CD changer was for me!)

I should mention in here that God had done some stuff in me before giving us the ‘Burban, (Our pet name that came from Keilah’s mispronunciation), that had He not done I would not have seen how important it was.

I had to be willing to be content with whatever God provided for us to drive. If that meant driving an old Ford pickup into the ground and leaving it on the side of the road before getting a new vehicle, I had to be content with that provision. If contentment comes because circumstances change, I question if it is true contentment. I am not saying that it is wrong to be happy with new, good things or circumstances. But if your happiness depends on everything being perfectly adjusted, I would say that contentment has not been found. Was I always content driving a vehicle that was not dependable? Did I always just look at it as an adventure to see if we would get there or not? No. I wanted to do something and David felt that it wasn’t the time and that we should wait. I had to make a decision to be content in a circumstance that was not easy. I had to decide to enjoy the time I was in and submit joyfully to the Lord in it. Easy? No. But so worth it. Not because now I have a 2003 Chevy Suburban but because of the peace and joy in my heart that I had before we were given the Suburban.

So, if you are struggling with something in your life today, maybe a physical need, maybe not physical, let me encourage you to not worry about it. God is big, bigger than you think. He cares about your needs and knows what you need and want more than anyone on earth. Ask Him for your heart’s desire, but then let Him have the reigns, let Him surprise you with His provision. And be willing to give up control and choose to be content today in the middle of stuff that could or should be better but isn’t. There no better place to be.

Good morning! It is about 7:00 am and I am up and ready to go. Well, ready to write anyway.

I am home now and doing pretty good. I have had a pretty easy time with the treatment this time, which has been nice! I was tired yesterday some, but not totally drained like I have been. God has been so good.

We have so much to be thankful for. While we were in Houston the community held a fundraiser in my behalf and raised money to cover medical expenses, etc. It was unbelievable how many people came. They signed a little book and we were going over it when we got home. Many folks we knew but there were some we didn’t even know who they were.

I also thought you all might like to see our new family photo.




And here are the remains of David’s guns.



I’ll post more pictures later and write more later too.

Tests And Such

Yesterday I had my CT scan. Yuck. But God was good in the middle of it. I didn't feel good because of the barium but God gave me many opportunities to talk to people around me. It was really fun actually.

In the morning I start my third round of chemo. I am not looking forward to it at all. But I know that God will be with me and that I will come through on the other side of this treatment.

I got a wig yesterday, too. It is a dark red and about jaw length. A lot different than I am used to but pretty cute really. I'll get David to take a picture so I can post it.

I don't really have a lot to write about tonight. I guess that is about it. Goodnight!

More Details...

Hello everyone! I am writing to you from my new laptop, and although I don’t show it I am very excited. (No one could tell from how I am bouncing around how excited I am. I hide it very well.) I am now a mobile writer and will be updating my blog more often. I have so much to write.

I don’t know just where to start on all this. So much has happened and I have learned so much. God has done so much in my life in the last few months. I guess I will just try to do a brief overview and give as many details as will fit.

The Worst I Could Imagine
I left you all hanging at MD Anderson during the week of testing. I’ll start from there.

As most of you know, I was looking for a treatment that did not include chemotherapy. We were hoping that MD Anderson would have something like that. They didn’t. They only offered the standard regimen of chemo and told me that nothing else would work. If I didn’t do chemo, I had 6-12 months to live. I could feel that I was getting worse. But I still felt that I wasn’t supposed to do chemo. I really asked the Lord about that while I was there. It was hard to deal with the doctors and would have been much easier to just do the chemo and trust God with it. When I was first diagnosed that was what I had peace about but then felt He said not to do it.

MD Anderson recommended looking immediately into whatever other treatment I was going to consider. So, October 31, 2005, the day we left MD Anderson, we decided to call the Burins clinic. We had heard about them before and their clinic was in Houston. They got us right in and so November 2, 2005, we went to talk with them. They have had very good success treating many types of cancer, combining conventional methods with other research. While we were there in the initial consultation, I felt like the “don’t do chemo” lifted. I was shocked. I had told friends that if God made it clear that it was His plan for me to do chemo then I would. But I didn’t foresee Him doing so at that point. After the doctor left for a minute I told David what had happened. He said that he had felt the same thing.

We did start treatment with the Burzinski clinic that day. They recommended doing their treatment along with chemo. They had research that showed that it helped the chemo to work better than without it. So, I took that treatment for a month while we decided where to do the chemotherapy along with it. We decided to do treatment at MD Anderson and went down there. We hoped that they would be willing to work with the other clinic. They weren’t. In fact they insisted that if I took treatment with them that we couldn’t do any other type of treatment while in treatment with them. No herbs, no high dose vitamin C, no teas, nothing. A multivitamin was the only form of that sort of thing they would allow me to be on. If I wouldn’t agree to that, then they would not treat me.

David and I took the weekend to think it over and pray about it. The worst part about it was that it seemed that God was leading us to do treatment with them anyway. I say it was the worst because all of a sudden God was calling me to walk down a path that was the worst path imaginable to me. I found that I was relying on the things that I was doing more than I had realized. I could trust God to take care of me, but when He called me to trust Him only and nothing else I started shaking in my boots. I had to come to the place that I would trust Him no matter what and would walk even the path that didn’t make sense to me. It was not an easy choice or road for me. I didn’t want to lay down my will on the issue, but as He led me through that “fire” I found a new freedom that I had never had. I was no longer afraid of the chemo when I laid down my fears and decided to follow Him.

I have done 2 rounds of chemo now and although it makes me feel horrible and so drained afterwards, God has been so good and big in the middle of this time. Each time He has shown me things and done things in my life that are so special and precious to me. I am just amazed at how during the worst time in my life God has been so big and good to me.

Also, I am seeing a healing take place in my body. I don't hurt all the time anymore and the tumors that I could feel in my neck are gone. My abdomen is not all swollen anymore and I am wearing size 8 jeans! :-) I am taking care of my kids again and have plenty of energy.

So, to sum up the above, I didn’t want to walk this path. I didn’t want to walk through this fire. But when I submitted to him and did, I found that it is where I wanted to be after all. The things that I have learned and where I am now in my walk with Him is where I wanted to be anyway. I just didn’t want to go through the fire to get here.

The Other FireThe other fire was more what you think of when you think of fire.

Jan 1, 2006 we started home from Houston. I had just had a round of chemotherapy and they had taken me off of it the day before. I was pretty drained really. While on the way home we got a call from our pastor. He was wondering if we had heard about our town being evacuated due to fire sweeping across the countryside. Also, the fire was or had been in the vicinity of our house. We had not heard and were shocked to hear it. David’s parents live close to us and we wondered about them. They didn’t answer their phone.

We drove until we made it to our pastor’s house. David dropped me and the kids off there and he and our pastor, along with another friend, left on the back roads to work their way in to our house.

What David found was shocking. It was all gone. The house, shop and greenhouse were totally gone. The fire had swept across and just burned it all. Our house is nothing but a pile of rubble. Only the metal skirting and anything that doesn’t burn is left.






As you can see from these pictures, there is nothing left. The top picture is our house and beyond the greenhouse. The bottom picture is the heap of metal that was David’s shop.

The miracle is that our new house survived. For those of you that don’t know, in 2004 we moved in a 3 bedroom house to fix up as we had time and money. We hadn’t done much as we have not had the money and then with me being sick and all we had no time and no money.




This picture shows how close the fire got to our house. You can see that the woods beyond the house are burned and that the grass under the trees close to the house is burned. All the way around the house there is not one bit of scorched grass. It is as if that house was in a bubble because the fire was all the way around it. Keilah says that God said, “No fire, you can’t burn our new house,” and he picked the fire up over the house and set it down on the other side. It sure looks that way when you look at the house.

The fire was so hot that it melted our cast iron in the other house. David and I went over one day and dug around in our rubble, looking to see if anything survived. We didn’t find much, nothing really. Then David found something that shocked us both. He found a porcelain cross that had hung on our bathroom wall. It was laying on a rock totally unharmed. It had the words, “This is the day that the Lord has made. Rejoice and be glad in it.” David picked it up and read it and then he said, “Well, I guess we will.”






Needless to say, that cross is now one of our favorite possessions.

Something I learned in the fire is that God is always more than enough. If I am following Him and trusting Him even my house burning down and losing all my things will not devastate me. I know that I am in the palm of His hand and that nothing can move or shake me. It is an awesome feeling to know that I can not be moved or shaken by any circumstances around me.

I am headed down to MD Anderson tomorrow for CT scans and then chemo. Your prayers are much appreciated! I will try to update as I can.

Hello, Hello, HELLO!!!

Okay, I saw you all just fall out of your chairs to see a post from me on here! Sorry for the long time gap of no news. I have been doing great, and quite honestly have had too much to write! God has been working so much and so much has been happening so fast. To briefly some it all up for you, although I will write it all more detail later, the cancer treatment has been going very well. God has shown up and shown His power. I am not able to even find the nodes that were swollen in my neck anymore and the large tumor on my groin is nearly gone. (That is so brief, I am sorry, I have limited time here)

The last exciting news is that our house burned down during the fires down here this week. It is totally gone. But God is big in the middle of that too. The new house that we were going to move into when we were able to fix it stood. It is not even singed around it. We are living with David's parents right now and will be working on our new house in the weeks to come. We did have insurance, another miracle, and so will have plenty of money to fix up the other house. Please be in prayer for the families around us. There were over 100 homes burned in our area.

I am sorry this is so brief, I feel mean posting such a short post, but I will post again in more detail soon. In the meantime, any of you that have my address, send me something or send me and email with your information. We were in Houston when the fire took place, so all I have is what I had with me.

I love you all! Know that God is hearing and answering your prayers in ways you could never even imagine!

**Okay, this is Nichola's sister, Priscilla, updating for her**

Nichola started Chemotherapy yesterday.

The treatment is making her pretty sick; David says she slept most of the day. When I talked to her she sounded pretty tired, too. They'll remain in Houston at least until Saturday which is when the first round of treatment will wrap up. If I understand correctly, she has at least six more treatments to go, one a month. Please keep her in your prayers. The chemo makes her immune system very vulnerable, which means she has to stay at home, away from any outside sources and the possibility of germs. Already tired from the illness, not having access to her friends and family is going to very rough on her.

She is keeping in very good spirits though, trusting God and knowing that he has her best interests in mind.

Thanks all.

~cil~

Tests and fun stuff like that...

I am at MD Anderson right now. I just got done with a PET scan, and am going over to do a CT scan soon. I found a computer to use and thought I would update you all.

Galveston
We had a lot of fun in Galveston Tuesday. We went down on the beach and had a blast. There were shells everywhere and so we picked them up, or rather, as many as we could. :-) I found a hermit crab in one really pretty shell. I was so excited. I have never found one of those before. I showed it to David and the kids and then we turned him lose. It was so much fun.

Then we rode the ferry that runs between the island and part of the mainland, I think. We drove our car on and were looking out at the water, enjoying the seagulls following the ferry, when all of a sudden David spotted a dolphin. We couldn't believe it! They were everywhere. We even saw an oceanliner with one jumping off the front of the bow, just like you see in pictures. It was so awesome. We also saw jellyfish. I think the ones we saw were Man'O War, but I need to check to be sure.

We drove around a bit after we got across and found a Ft. with a playground and all for the kids. (I can't remeber the name of the Ft. :-/) Then we went back across on the ferry. We went to the seawall then and watched the sun go down.

Tests
Then Wednsday I came back in for more tests. I had a urine analysis, an EKG, and then bone marrow biopsy and aspiration on both sides of my hip. Not fun. But I made it and am just getting to whine when I get up and down now.

Today I had a PET scan done and am going to have the CT scan done at 1:00pm. I think here the drinks are flavored a bit better? That is the rumor. I hope so, and I hope I don't have to drink much. Prayer is requested for me right now!!! I will do my best but that is a hard thing to drink on an empty stomach. *sigh*

What I am learning
I am still learning a lot. One thing that I see right now is how divided the kingdom of God and the world is.

Oops, got to jump off! Will write more later!

Here We Are

Wow.
Well, we made in down here. Sunday evening we made it to Houston and went by MD Anderson to see where I would be going. Wow. That is all I can say. There are sooo many buildings just to MD Anderson it is unbelievable. It is huge. I went in to find out where I would be the next day. A security guard helped me out. I asked him where I needed to be according to what they had told me on the phone. He decided to just take me up there, to the 8th floor. So, as we were walking along he asked me where I was from. I told him the area. Well, he knew where it was, he grew up about an hour or so away at Springtown. And his parents lived at Ranger for a while. It was hilarious really. Here I am in Houston and the guard knows the area I am from. :-)

I got registered and saw my doctor. (Read: Paperwork and waiting) I have a woman doctor, Dr. Fanelle. She ordered a bunch of tests and so I started doing all those. *Sigh* I have a bunch of holes in me now and know a lot more about some of the tests. I was there until 7:30 pm yesterday. Today I don't have anything scheduled but tomorrow I have a bone marrow asparation, on both sides of my hip. I am really not looking forward to that. Then Thursday I have a PET scan and a CT scan. Then that will be it until Mon when I will see my doctor again find out what all the tests showed and what they will recommend.

I have to admit, I had a bit of a hard time yesterday. At one point I was just hearing junk. I felt like a ship at sea with my anchor down but being tossed to and fro. I was hearing that this was the end, I had to go the way of chemo or there was no hope, blah, blah, blah. But the anchor held and while I was being tossed I could feel the pull, the stability of the line. God showed me so many things yesterday. And confirmed so many things.

I have to share one answer to prayer. As many of you know, we didn't qualify for Medicaid or anything. But when I got there for the registration part of things, they handed me a letter that was approval for 100% of the cost incurred to be covered. We will not get any bills. (I can hear some of you shouting!)

I did learn something about myself yesterday. I realized how even though I am passionate about certain issues, and my faith is one of those issues, I still have a tendency to bend and adjust just a bit so that I don't make people too uncomfortable. I realized this in the face of a somewhat hostile environment. It is okay to have faith as long as you don't have faith that there is any power outside the established norm. In other words, as long as you don't rock the boat and as long as you don't do anything different you can have whatever faith you want. But don't start talking about a faith that is bigger than science. Don't get too personal with that faith. I felt that pressure yesterday. I am done with it. I am not going to give into that pressure. I am going to be more radical than I have ever been in my life, and that is not just while I am at MD Anderson. (do I see some covering their heads? "You mean you weren't radical before?!")

Some of you have asked me to post how I would like you to pray for me. Well, keep praying for me to have strength and wisdom. And I would add to that boldness. Tomorrow I have the bone marrow asparation. That is going to be....well, not fun. And just pray for David and the kids too. They are doing well, but I think prayer has a lot to do with it and so keep praying!!!


Galveston
Today we are going to Galveston as soon as we can leave. Since we don't have anything scheduled today we are going to have fun. So we will see the ocean and play around. I guess I need to get ready to go!

I will try to write later!

Houston Update

Well, MD Anderson called us and we have an appointment down in Houston Mon. morning. We will leave Sun. early to go down. We will be staying with my aunt and her husband for a few days and then will be in a motel.

We were going to leave the kids up here but we decided that 2 weeks was too long to leave them. So, we are taking them with us.

I am not looking forward to the testing and all. But I know that I will be okay. If they insist on pushing me around in a wheelchair I am going to really work on them for some wheelies. :-)

I am going to try to update a lot while I am there. I should have internet access.

I covet your prayers. 2 Cor 1:8-11 is a scripture that I feel that God has given me during this time.

"We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.
But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.
Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.” 2 Cor. 1:8-11 NIV

Love you all!

Quick Update

Long time, no post!
Sorry everyone, I have been busy in so many other arenas lately that it will take a whole book to catch up on what has been going on here.

MD Anderson
Right now we are waiting to hear about the possibility of getting into MD Anderson. I have submitted the application for financial help and am now waiting for an appointment to go down there. But other than that not much is going on.

There has been a major change however in the course of treatment of this cancer. A few weeks ago I felt like the Lord put it in my heart to not do chemotherapy. So, I’m not doing it. I am looking at alternative treatments and am waiting to see what God has for me. Crazy as it may sound, I do have peace and am eager each day to see what God is going to show me and do.

Maaaa!
Also, we purchased some milk goats last week, 2 Alpine goats. Raw milk is something that is very good for me and so we now have a supply. :-) David has always known how to milk. He grew up on fresh cow’s milk. He had never milked a goat, however. Well, he quickly adjusted to the difference and has now taught me how to milk. I love it. I am still very slow, but he is patient and so is the goat I milk.:-)

As for the milk, I have always hated goat milk. Once in a Sunday school class my teacher served goat milk, I guess to give us a taste of what it was like to drink what Abraham drank. It was awful. But when the teacher asked if anyone wanted some more all the other kids threw such a fit about how nasty it was that I decided to take some more and drink it just for the effect of it. :-) (Ornery? Me?) However, I decided that if I could drink iodine I could drink goat milk. But this milk is so good. It doesn't have the goat taste that goat milk usually has. I like it even better than the raw cow's milk that we were getting from David's dad. So, I am enjoying fresh milk, milkshakes, eggnog, etc.

Since I am not going to write a book right now I guess that is it. :-) I will try to update more often though!