MD Anderson Update & prayers

I've needed to post an update since we left MD Anderson. So sorry that I haven't posted yet. We sent an e-mail to our Sunday School class with an update and prayer requests. Instead of rewriting everything, here is most of the e-mail.

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Our precious prayer warriors-

You are so amazing to us! Can't tell you how much we appreciate your prayers! So, we wanted to send an update with prayer requests.

We got to MDA on Wednesday night and Ben did his CT scans. Friday, we met with the oncologist. The only CT that was back was his chest...it was CLEAR! Thank you, Jesus!! The head & neck CTs weren't back yet, though. So, we are supposed to call/e-mail on Monday to get the results. Obviously, the oncologist was not a fan of Ben stopping chemo. He wants him to either do radiation or finish the chemo. It's not that we expected him to say anything different.

However, as Ben's wife, I left a bit scared. Basically, because I love my husband and want to spend the next 100 years with him. At the same time, I know that I need to have faith. As we've told you all before about our spiritual gifts: Ben's list-#1 Faith & Last is mercy. My list-#1 Mercy & Last is Faith. So, I think I wanted the doc to tell Ben that it was a great idea, he was healed, and to have a nice cancer FREE life!!

As far as my health goes, they are pretty sure I have mercury toxicity and they've started me on a mercury detox. It seems to be making an impact as I went from having 15+ episodes each day to maybe 1-4. So, obvious improvement! However, my heart rate is still crazy. They have me on meds to slow it down and resting it is still 96-100+ beats per minute. Standard is 60-80 bpm. We've got to get that slowed down some more.

The other pieces of our puzzle are the adoption and Ben's full-time work vs. dental school. We have both spent considerable time in prayer and are content with telling the adoption agency that we need to say "Whoa," not No. We just don't know that we'll be completely ready by May (when they expect referrals to start coming through). It could be eight months or it could be eight years until Ben gets in to dental school. So, he wants to get full-time work to support our family in the meantime.

Is anyone else as tired as I am?

After a lot of time in prayer and tears on Friday, our biggest request is that we can start to check things off our list. I am just becoming so overwhelmed with all that is going on and need to take something off of the list. Not just pray for it generically, but get it off the list!!! We realized that we have been praying for "Ben's job & health" & "my health" & "the adoption." However, we haven't said, "Lord, please provide a full-time job for Ben this month." Not that we can put time lines on the Lord, but we feel that we need to ask more specifically. So, will you pray with us that we can begin to check things off our list?

Prayers:
*That Ben will hear from dental school so that we know if he is in or not. This will help us to determine his job search, etc.
*That Ben will be able to get a full-time job by March 1st that will begin to provide for our family.
*That we will find a way to make a big dent in our student loan debt.
*That we will get solid answers to what is going on with my health and we will find treatments that work and provide real results.
*That my manager will be sensitive to my health issues and show understanding. He's an Ag, so he's a good guy, I just hate being out of work and stress myself out unnecessarily.
*That the Lord will give Ben very clear direction on whether he is to finish chemo or not.
*That the CT will come back perfectly clear!!

Wow, I feel so selfish now. Please send your requests our way so that we can pray specifically for you!!

God Bless You all!!

because of HIM,

Meredith & Ben