Also Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Well, Andrew has--with great patience and perseverance--just finished his instruction to a very tech-unsavvy mom. Thanks to his dogged determination to get me to this spot, here I--Karen-- am, actually onstage and ready to communicate! Thanks again, son. And we do have new news to communicate to all of you, our dear friends and family, who have been praying so faithfully for us for all of these months (and years).
Roger's latest visit to Dr. Stadtmauer's office was this past Wednesday, September 3. We returned from that visit at 7:00 p.m., just in time to attend the viewing of our dear friend, Nancy Macha, who had died of breast cancer five days before. Very sobering, indeed. In so many ways the Lord has shown us that it is He who ultimately determines our first breath and our last--and that truth has been our great comfort, as well.
A few minutes ago we spoke with Dr. Stadtmauer's office and received the report from the blood tests taken on Wednesday. The results show that Roger's protein levels are at a very low 0.1! This is actually the lowest level since his diagnosis six years ago, so this news is really encouraging and a cause for celebration--we are so very grateful.
The flip side to all of this is that the chemo and the additional meds Roger must take every day have very strong side effects, as Andrew indicates on his posting just below. Dr. Stadtmauer hopes to mitigate some of them by the tweaking of chemo schedules and meds over the next weeks/months. Please pray for the Lord's leading on this process.
Thank you again for your faithful prayers and love--you are a continual blessing to us.