Update on Mary With Prayer Requests For This Week

First, thank you all for your comments, emails, FB messages, phone calls, and all the support and love you are showing our family. Jeff and I have been overwhelmed by your offer of prayers, thoughtful messages, and willingness to help. We have been showered in love and care this week, and it has made such a difference to us. I am so sorry that I haven't had the energy to respond to most of them, I am emotionally exhausted and picking up the phone or putting my fingers to the keyboard has been difficult. If you haven't heard back from me, please know that it isn't because I didn't appreciate it, it's because I'm tired.

I know that my parents have similarly received so many phone calls and messages that they also haven't been able to respond to the extent that they would like to. Please know that they are feeling so, so loved right now, and that they are so grateful for all of you who are holding them up in prayer, and who have reached out to support them during this hard time. They wanted to be able to keep people posted with some more specific prayer requests, so I have volunteered the use of my blog to get the word out on how Mom is doing and how we are praying. I will also continue my regular posting, so if you read this blog for updates on the boys and our usual life/craziness you can expect to still see plenty of that alongside updates about Mom.

It's hard to believe that it's been less than a week since Mom's doctor spotted the tumor. All our lives have been turned upside down since last Tuesday evening, and we need all the prayer we can get as we muddle through this time of testing, refinement of Mom's diagnoses, and decision making. To recap, on Tuesday, Mom went to a specialist for an endoscopy because her stomach has been bothering her lately. He found a tumor that he believed was coming from her pancreas. A CT scan on Thursday confirmed that she has a tumor that the reviewing doctor described as inoperable, and that she has spots on her lungs. Blood tests revealed that the tumor is cancerous. In the coming week she will be undergoing a number of tests to assess the exact extent of the cancer and to determine what options she might have for treatment. Please pray for wisdom and compassion for my mom's doctors as they consider her tests and advise her on her best course of action.

Monday: Preliminary meeting with oncology specialist to discuss CT scan results.

Tuesday: PET scan

Wednesday: Visit with the nutritionist to learn about foods that will be easy for her to eat and provide good nutrition.

Thursday: Tentatively an ultrasound biopsy, please pray that the doctor will fit her in and that this will take place.

As for the rest, first, please pray for healing. The doctors have not given us much hope, but we know that the Great Physician can and does work miracles. We pray fervently that God will choose to work one in Mom's life right now. Also, please pray for Mom's physical strength, specifically that she will be able to sleep soundly every night, and be able to eat enough to gain some weight. Pray that she would feel God's peace, and that He would guide Mom and Dad as they process all of the information they are receiving and discern her next steps.

I know my mom wants pray for her family- For Dad, Kay and Jim (my grandparents), Amy, Jeff, Tommy, Nic, and baby Klug, Katie, Jeremy, and Baby Truelove, Emily, and Colleen and Kevin. Please pray that we too would be able to sleep, process all of this change, and make wise decisions and arrangements based on the results of Mom's testing. Please pray for all the travel that we will be doing in the next month or so, as all of us will be on a plane home at some point in the next four weeks.

Above all, it is my mom's desire that whatever she goes through in the coming weeks and months will bring glory to God. Her hope is that her life since coming to know Christ has pointed to the hope that she has in Him, and His goodness and mercy to her, His precious child. She knows that she is in His hands, and desires that whatever the outcome, that we will rejoice in our Lord. Always. So please, as you pray, join us in rejoicing in God's goodness to us, and in beseeching Him that no matter what the outcome of this cancer, that He will use it, and show us how He is using it, to bring glory to His name.