Friday

This Friday is a big day for us.  Abbey will have her bone marrow biopsy and spinal tap. They want the cancer cells in her marrow to be less that 0.1%.  Her scheduled time for the procedures was set for 1 p.m. which is late since she can't eat until it's over so we talked to our nurse last week to see if she could try to move it up.  This morning I was praying that the time would be moved up to 11 a.m.  We have to be at the clinic two hours before the procedures for them to check her blood and for the doctors to do a complete physical on her so 11 was the best time we could have gotten since the clinic doesn't open until 9.  Well, this afternoon our nurse called and said that Abbey's procedure time was moved up to 11 a.m.  I thanked her and told her that I had been praying for that exact time.  That was one of those moments where we were comforted by how intimately involved God is in this situation.

Friday is her last day of this first phase of her treatment which is called 'Induction Therapy'.  Friday will also be her last day of the steroids so we are very much looking forward to her being off of those.  The nurse told us last week that Abbey will start to feel much better once she is off the steroids.  We are so excited for her to feel a little more like herself.  Saturday morning couldn't come soon enough.  The next phase of her treatment is called the 'Consolidation Therapy'.  We are so thankful that this first, most intensive phase is over.  The cancer cells in her body have been aggressively attacked and she has been through a lot.  It has been hard, but we are so thankful that her body has responded so well and that her cancer cells have gone down significantly (and hopefully they will find none in her marrow on Friday).  It's also been amazing that she has had no fevers or other serious issues up to this point.  We feel blessed.

We're not exactly sure what the next month is going to look like for her.  The doctor told us last Friday that they would be able to tell us what medications she will be on and what her chemo will be like once the test results come back.  We feel pretty confident that she will be under 0.1% so if that's the case then next month looks easier than this month, but until we know for sure we are trying to not look too far ahead. Jim asked if we will know the test results Friday night or if we might have to wait again until Monday.  The doctor said that it is out of his control so we might know Friday night, but we may have to wait over the weekend.

Please pray with us for the following things...

*  For Abbey on Friday morning that she will be o.k. without eating before her procedures.

*  For her blood to look the best it's looked so far.

*  That the procedures would go perfectly smoothly and it would all be routine.

*  That she would come out of the sedation easily and feeling good.

*  That her bone marrow would have 0% cancer cells.

*  That we would get the results Friday.

*  That she would start feeling better on Saturday after stopping the steroids.

*  For a good week next week.  For her to feel good and have more energy and for her to be happy and comfortable.

Thank you guys for praying specifically for her and us this Friday and next week.  We feel so blessed to have so many of you asking for us to give you specific prayer requests.  We know you all are praying with us and God has been faithful and has answered (one of these days we are going to post a list of all the answered prayers so far :)  It's amazing!

Here is a verse that we have been reading often:

Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

We will post the results once we know...