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!!