In therapy, under grace

Sat 09/15/07
Susan has had a great week, gaining strength and becoming more functional. She has daily physical therapy exercises and is trying to do more tasks around the house. Our friend Alecia, who stayed with Susan Friday morning, is an experienced RN (one of three who help) who encourages patients to do household activities for therapy and a sense of accomplishment. They did exercises, laundry, made brownies (and cleaned up) and washed dishes. We are grateful to the ladies from our church family who care for Susan.
Having tapered off the decadron (anti-inflammatory steroid) she's been on since late June, Susan has had a bit more headache, but otherwise seems to be doing well. Also the fluconazole anti-fungal appears to be doing its part to quell the candida infection that caused meningitis. Susan is having weekly blood tests for her doctors to evaluate.
Susan has had 7 radiation treatments with no noticeable side effects. With thanks to God, her radiation doses are only moderate since surgery eliminated so much tumor mass and we pray her treatments will be effective.

It's been hard at times to accept God's will in Susan's brain cancer, that she would have a separate, primary brain tumor after last year's breast cancer. While we've never stopped trusting Him (who is the Living God, who has all power in His hands, who loves us beyond our understanding), we've been waiting... and waiting... and waiting for Him to show up against this mortal illness with something glorious and majestic. We're asking for a miraculous healing, though from our perspective, God's timing, even His answers, often do not satisfy us immediately.
But God indeed has been doing something glorious and majestic – He has made Himself present to us through His people. We have been amazed more and more at the outpouring of love, prayers and gifts from our family and friends. To date we've received over 200 greeting cards and over 450 emails. We've received gift cards for gas, groceries, restaurants, movies, Starbucks, Baskin-Robbins and Jamba Juice; we've had our house cleaned weekly and our mortgage paid; we've had dinners provided three nights a week for almost three months and thousands of dollars in cash given anonymously. Words fail to convey our gratitude. This is God's way, to meet us in unimaginable circumstances with equally unimaginable grace and love through the Body of Christ. Tomorrow continues to be unknowable, like it always has been; but today we know the love of God and of His people and we have just what we need. We thank God for showing up.

Sun 09/16/07
Susan had more headache and fatigue today and needed a longer nap after our morning church service and lunch at home. The family had a delicious dinner at Mimi's Cafe provided by a loving church family. We are blessed.

Mon 09/17/07
I'm home with Susan following a tough morning of headache, low-grade fever, nausea and vomiting. After cousin Stacy (also a nurse) helped us a few hours this morning, I took Susan for a walk-in blood test after several conversations with UCLA staff. Dr Cloughesy will check results from his stat order this afternoon. While she could be experiencing side effects from radiation, headache and nausea are also possible effects of having no synthetic steroid (decadron) dose since Friday – her longest interruption since late June. I'm told the body can have trouble restarting its own hormone production below the 2mg level of decadron, so Susan will go back on the drug again on an even slower taper schedule.
We recently received our Amazon order for Beating Cancer With Nutruition by Patrick Quillen. A well-nourished cancer patient can better manage the disease and therapies, harnessing the healing power of nature and science and allowing the body to self-regulate and self-repair. The author rates foods based on nutrient density, glycemic index, and anti-cancer properties. I regret the foods listed in the lowest categories are all-too familiar: BAD – pickles, salami, bologna, sausage, hot dog, barbeque ribs, waffles, pancakes, cake, cookies, ice cream, and blue cheese dressing. WORST – margarine, aspartame, syrup, monosodium glutamate, soda & diet soda, pastries, pie, doughnuts, lard, hydrogenated fats, sugar, and hard liquor. Cancer cells must love our weekends and holidays.