THE Great Physician...

...has spoken!!!!

Yes, He has!

Ben has been in devoted prayer over the last few days as to the course of action he is supposed to take with the rest of his treatments. When we first started this process, he felt the Lord lay the number 4 on his heart. The docs have continued to push that he needs to complete six rounds because statistics show that most people need six rounds. So, Ben, being the rule follower that he is, was going to do six. We have also found that the longer patients take chemo, the greater their chances are of secondary cancers. Those secondary cancers are usually much worse than the original. They are typically leukemias and bone marrow based cancers.

When we got to chemo today, his appointment had been cancelled. Weird? We think not...

Sitting in the chair in the waiting room, he kept saying that he felt like he was being told to walk out. They were finally able to get him rescheduled and called us back for the treatment. Each time we go we request the same nurse because she is so amazing. She told us her secret...she prays while she pushes! She hits it the first time every time. Mary is a Believer and we just love her dearly!

So, Mary called us back and we went to Ben's chemo room. I could tell by the look on Ben's face that something wasn't right. Mary stepped out to get some stuff together. So, Ben and I took that opportunity to sit before the Lord and ask Him what HIS will was...we asked the Holy Spirit to be made known despite the decision that we made. We asked the Lord to make it very clear what we were supposed to do.

Ben just didn't feel confident at all about having the chemo done. After we prayed, we asked Mary to come over and talk to us. She said 75% of the people here don't want to be here, but the truth is, it's your choice. So, with a very unsure look on his face, Ben said, "go ahead and do it."

As Mary started to insert the IV, she had a problem with it. She had to pull it out and start over and she was so apologetic. She tried a second time. This time, when she pulled the needle out, it was bent. Ouch!! She's only allowed to poke twice and so she was going to have to get someone else to come do his IV. She walked away and Ben looked at me and said, "I'm not supposed to do this. This is the Lord. Let's go."

So, we gave everyone a hug and said our good-byes. As we got to the parking lot, Ben said, "Well, *Jane & Jenny came to know the Lord through this and I think that's why the Lord had me walk this road. Jesus had to suffer a lot more than I did, but I think that's why I was supposed to endure this." Wow! Still selfless even after all the attention he's been getting through this.

*names changed for protection ; )

We got in the car and called my Mom to tell her. Once Ben gave her the news, I got back on the phone, a complete basketcase (tears of joy that this is basically over), and told her Ben's statement on the way to the car. That's when she told us that Jane & Jenny were both baptized on Sunday (Jenny has Cerebral Palsy and communicates through sign language. Her pastor learned enough sign language that he could communicate with her while baptizing her)!! What awesome icing for this cake. It was just perfect confirmation that Ben had made the right decision!!

As I told Ben, I can't make this decision for you, but I will support you in whatever decision you make because I know that you sit at the feet of our Father daily! Today, the Lord gave each of us a peace that this was the exact direction HE had chosen. We just had to follow HIM!! Praise the Lord that I'm married to a man of such great faith that he's willing to follow the Lord even when others may criticize his decision.

Please pray for us as we leave next week to go to MD Anderson for Ben's follow up visit. Obviously, our prayer is that there is still NO CANCER!! We are also beginning to pray for the heart of the oncologist that he will be open to this decision. Everything seems to be about standard of care and statistics, but it's easy to forget that each person that makes up a statistic is a person with a soul, not just a number!!!

Ben will continue the Cantron and is going to start doing some Vitamin C IVs. There is a doc out here that does Cancer Wellness treatments. One of the most impressive treatments is the Vitamin C. Dr. Mark Levine, MD, with the National Institute of Health (Harvard Med Grad & John Hopkins residency) has done some impressive studies with IV Vitamin C and cancer. They are finding that the bioavailability of IV Vitamin C is 25 times that of Oral. That means you get what you need!! They have found in these studies that the cancer cells are demolished (0.0% cancer cell survival) and the normal, healthy cells are left strengthened. This is quite unlike chemo which kills so many of the good cells while trying to kill the bad ones. If there are no bad cells left, then it just goes to town killing the good stuff. This is what we've seen with Ben over the last three treatments as he has come home and vomited blood, been sick for days on end, etc.

So, this is the direction that we feel the Lord is calling us and we're off.....

Please be in prayer through this that the Lord will continue to get the glory HE deserves and that Ben's healing will be eternal. That the cancer will never come back. Yes, Lord!!

The Real Work

We get e-mails daily from our pastor in The Woodlands. Today's reminded me of all of you...awesome prayer warriors! Thank you for sacrificially praying for us. Just had to share:

The Real Work

I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
Ephesians 1:16

Paul prayed for the Christians in Ephesus. Because he loved them, he prayed for them.

It’s that simple. Prayer is an act of love. It is an act of sacrificial love. If you are a follower of Jesus and you care about a person, then you pray for that person.

Paul prayed.

Paul prayed because he knew that prayer was the real work of ministry. Prayer was not a preliminary activity or an optional activity to Paul. Prayer was the main thing he did.

Because prayer accesses the power of God. Prayer accesses the heart of God. Prayer accesses the mind of God.

Prayer is not you and your resources reaching out to help someone. Prayer is you and God’s resources reaching out to help someone.

What’s bigger than that? What’s grander than that? What’s higher than that?

Prayer is important. It is vitally important. But it is not easy. It is a sacrifice. It takes time. It takes energy. It takes heart. If you pour your heart out for someone, you bleed inside. “Prayer is a sacrifice, a bleeding sacrifice.” (John Henry Jowett)

Furthermore, prayer is quite often unseen, unnoticed, unapplauded and unappreciated. But that’s OK. God sees. God notices. God applauds. God appreciates.

Because prayer is the main work of ministry.

Do you intercede in prayer for the people in your life? Do you frequently and fervently call out to God for your friends, your loved ones, your church? I hope so. I hope so.

Lives are changed because of the intercessors. History is changed because of the intercessors. History belongs to the intercessors.

Prayer is the real work.

***************************************************************************
These daily e-mails are written by Jeff Wells, Sr. Pastor at WoodsEdge Community Church. To hear our weekly messages or to find out more about WoodsEdge please go to http://www.woodsedge.org/.

© 2007 WoodsEdge Community Church. All rights reserved. This article may be reproduced for any non-commercial use with proper attribution.

Precious Friends!

Wow! What wonderful friends we have....

Your patience amazes me. I know I have lagged miserably on getting the blog updated. It's been so crazy around here. However, not one of you has mentioned my slowness, just e-mailed or called to check in and make sure we are okay.

This last round of chemo was much better for Ben. They gave him every possible anti-nausea drug out there. So, we were able to avoid the vomiting he's experienced the last two treatments. He still felt pretty gross and was sick until about Wednesday. However, he is doing great now. We go back to MD Anderson at the end of this month for the 2/3 of the way through check-up (Thank you, Lord). So, Ben has five treatments remaining (2.5 rounds). He is so ready for them to be over. If you say the word "chemo" around him he starts to get nauseated. So, we try to avoid that conversation.

On a more exciting front, Ben has finished all of the classes required to apply for dental school and got like a 3.75 or something amazing last semester while taking 15 hours and kicking cancer in the toosh!! However, applications don't come out until the Fall for dental school and that would be to start classes in the Fall of '08. Obviously, there is no guarantee that he will even get in...So, he's looking for a full-time job. He's hoping to get into pharma/dental sales. I think he would be absolutely amazing in sales. He just cares so much about people and relationships. So, if any of you know of any sales openings anywhere, let us know. He's working to finish his resume today.

I am doing okay. My doc is still convinced that this is my thyroid. However, he wants to run a lot of tests and send me to see some different specialists, etc. So, he has requested that I go on Short Term Disability at work. Could have been the hardest decision I've ever made in my life. I love my job! However, they did an EKG on Monday (last one was in July) and found that whatever this is, it's starting to affect my heart. They've given me some meds to slow my heart down a little bit. They also gave me something to help me sleep (I haven't slept in two weeks).

I still have quite a bit of paperwork to knock out before I'm really "done" with work, but today is supposed to be my first day of Short Term Disability. My hope is that I can knock it all out today and Monday will be a real day to rest and start healing. I met with my manager yesterday in Tyler to discuss everything with him. He was very supportive. My doc said at least six weeks, but my goal is to get back as quickly as possible. My manager was very sweet and said he wants to know that I am better before he'll let me come back. He's not just going to let me jump back in if I'm not better. I am so far beyond ready to feel better. As I told someone the other day, when you've been nauseated for as long as I've been (since April '06), you want a baby in the end or something to show for it!!!

Well, I need to get to my work.

Thank you all for being such precious prayer warriors and praying knowing the Lord will answer!! Thank you also for your patience with me.

Love you all!

because of HIM!!!

Ben

I know that you are all ready to hear about Ben...sick of hearing about me!

Today was Chemo #4A. He did very well. He told the doc about how sick he's been after each treatment. The doc seemed to hear him this time and wrote all kinds of meds for him. He even wrote one for him that he said would help him forget things. He said that "associations" cause most of the sicknesses. Very true. If you say the word chemo, Ben gets nauseated. On the Friday morning of chemo, he starts to get the bad taste in his mouth that he usually gets from chemo. So, the doc said this would help to break that cycle.

When I picked Ben up tonight from chemo, he said he felt like he should be going into surgery. The medicine has just made him feel loopy.

A precious family from our Sunday School class brought dinner to us tonight. Such a blessing. Ben ate it up. Thank you, Lord! So, now we are just going to relax tonight and try to stay in from the yucky weather.

Thank you all for your prayers.

Super Prayer Warriors!!

If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.

Matthew 21:22

Wow! You can't ever tell me that there isn't power in prayer. We have seen the power again this week (as if Ben's healing wasn't enough).

I went to the doctor first thing Monday morning. When I got there, he said he had spent the entire morning studying my chart trying to determine what in the world was going on...thank you, Lord, for a doctor that spends more time looking at the chart and trying to make a decision than the 10 minutes spent in the patient room. So, after all of the "alternative" solutions he had originally diagnosed me with, he said he felt that it was something other than that. He said he thinks my thyroid is overtreated. Wow! Could nine months of struggling for an answer be that easy. So, he wants me to back off my thyroid dose for two weeks, come back for labs, and see where we stand.

I got his permission to completely skip my thyroid meds today! Guess what? I didn't have an episode until after noon. This last week I've had up to fifteen each day. Today, I've only had three! Thank you, Jesus! He wants me to start back on my meds tomorrow, but I think I'm going to start at a really low dose and titrate up rather than starting high and titrating down. Lord, please let this be getting closer to a final answer. He said he doesn't think the thyroid explains everything, but that it is a root cause for many of the symptoms I am having and should address most of this.

So, please continue to be in prayer with us that we are moving in the right direction and that the episodes will continue to decrease. Please, Lord! Again, y'all are awesome prayer warriors! Thank you!!

Improvements!

Well, things have been a bit better. Praise the Lord!

Ben is feeling great though his white count was a bit low when he had his blood work done yesterday. So, we just have to be careful in public. He made breakfast this morning for us. He has been making breakfast for me all week. Such a sweet guy!

Ben also did some research yesterday about Rouleaux and how to treat it. He found a study that discussed pressure points in the body. It talked about how you can halt these episodes by applying pressure to certain spots on the body. So, each time I had an episode last night, Ben applied pressure to those spots and it seemed to shorten the episodes. My theory is that it is increasing blood flow to the extremities, therefore, helping to stop the process.

Also, I've had a friend that has been telling me about a product called Cell Food. It helps increase the oxygenation in your body. Since that is apparently the main issue, she recommended that we get some. I finally picked some up last night. I took the first dose last night and I haven't had any real episodes yet today. I've had a few moments that feel like I'm about to have one and then it goes away. Thank you, Jesus!

The one thing that is really annoying that is still going on is that my body shivers uncontrollably. I don't really feel cold, I just shiver. My hands and feet are cold since I'm not getting great blood flow there, but overall my body doesn't feel cold. Crazy, I know.

I have another appointment with my doctor first thing Monday morning. We'll see how things go.

Thank you all so much for being such precious prayer warriors through this. I am humbled by those of you that take time out of your day to lift us up in prayer!! Thank you!! May we be on the road to recovery!!

No More!!!

Well, today is a day I hope to never repeat again....

I have had 12 episodes so far. A bad day in the past has been five. Not today.

Ben is feeling great today. He hit his "good" day yesterday!! Praise the Lord because I don't know what I would do otherwise.

I started my treatment for these episodes on Tuesday. I received I.V. Vitamins. They told me possible side effects were increased energy. By the time I got home, I was absolutely exhausted and felt terrible. As I mentioned, yesterday was hard. Today was even worse. I was worked in to the doctor (his Nurse Practitioner) at lunch and they said I might be allergic to Vitamin C. So, they've had me cut all Vitamin C & Vitamin C containing products. Dear Lord, please bring relief with these changes. I had an episode while in the doctor's office today and tried to get the NP to come in time, but she made it for the very end and so she missed most of it. She got to see how hot I get and she was able to check my pulse and see how elevated it was, as well.

The bum deal is that the meeting I'm supposed to go to in Baltimore next week, I've had to cancel. The doctor doesn't want me to fly since they believe I am not getting oxygen to all of my extremities and the increases in altitude would create a hazard. So, that has been rescheduled. Praise the Lord I have a gracious boss that showed exceptional concern for me today. It's scary when you are sick. I want him to know how hard I work despite how yucky I feel. So, his graciousness & genuine concern was so appreciated!! He's an Ag!! Should have known he'd be amazing!

I go back to the doctor first thing Monday morning to follow up with him again and see if these changes we're making have any impact. Thank you all for your prayers!

Whew!

Well, today wasn't all I had hoped. I woke up feeling even worse than I did yesterday. I had a migraine on top of these episodes. I had to drive to Tyler for my meeting. The trip was tough because I just felt so yucky. Ben was precious and offered to ride with me since he was scared for me to drive out there by myself with the way I was feeling. However, we had some guys coming out this morning to fix some spots behind the fridge where there was a leak. So, he needed to stay.

Once I got there, it was one episode after the other. I kept having to step into the hallway. My legs, arms, etc., give out when I'm having these episodes and so I try to step away from everyone so as not to collapse on people or make a fool of myself. Each time I made it out the door and fell on the floor in the hallway...couldn't even make it to the ladies room. So, they were pretty bad today. I called the doctor's office. The call nurse said it was a negative reaction to the vitamin I.V. that I had yesterday. I just don't buy that since I've been having these episodes since April. So, I made an appt. to go in tomorrow to talk to the doctor to try to figure out why they were so bad today. Hopefully, they will have some answers because this is beyond frustrating.

Ben, on the other hand, is doing well today, it's Wednesday! This is the day he usually starts to get better from chemo. He worked his tail off today on the house. He cleaned the house, made dinner, etc. He's so awesome!! I don't know what I would do without him!

He and Mom even tried to devise a way to get to Tyler to pick me up so that I didn't have to drive back on my own. So sweet & wonderful! It was a rough trip back, but wonderful to come home to his arms and dinner that was ready and great!

I beg for your prayers that the doc can figure out what in the world is making these episodes worse and find a way to stop them. Thank you for lifting us up in prayer!!

May the Lord bless you!

Healing...

Well, I'm not sure as to where to begin. The day started out quite crazily. I went to my car about 7:30 am and it wouldn't start. We couldn't get it to turn over at all. Ben was too sick to get out and jump it. So, I had it towed. Turned out I needed a new battery. Good to discover today rather than tomorrow on my trip to Tyler. I finally got a rental so that I could get a little work in for the day. The rental was a 4Runner and it was such a rough ride that I was nauseated all day. Yuck! Anyway, the weekend was definitely a tease having so few episodes. They have been in full force today and making me quite sick. I spoke with the doctor's office this afternoon and they think it is definitely the Rouleau that I mentioned previously that is causing this because it keeps my extremities from getting the oxygen they need. That is why my hands, feet, head, etc., start to tingle, why I get so nauseated, and why my memory has been so drastically erased. It's pretty scary, but I'm trying to keep pushing.

I finally got my car back this evening. Ben is feeling better though he wore himself out by putting away every single Christmas decoration today. Anyway, we are a gimp bunch. Please pray for our healing. Also, if you would, I have a meeting Wednesday in Tyler with my company. I need to be very healthy and have excellent memory. Both of these are rare for me right now. Will you please pray that I will feel much better tomorrow and not experience any episodes or memory issues?

Thank you all so much!!!