July 6, 2012
So do not fear, for I am with you
Do not be dismayed, for I am your God
I will strengthen you and help you
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand
Isaiah 41:10
It is so nice to be home, sleeping in our own beds! We drove back from Riverside on the 4th of July, and got home in the late afternoon. While the chemo treatment wasn't easy (and it was hard to be away from home again), it seems like Madeleine did a little better with the treatment overall this time. She was much more at peace throughout the process, in part because she understands a little better about what to expect, and she also knows what to ask for and what to avoid.
Now that she is home, Madeleine has been taking it easy and trying to regain her strength and appetite. She still fatigues easily, and her blood counts are down a bit (this is an expected result of therapy) -- so she has to rest often and avoid being around anyone who might be sick.
She is scheduled to have a PET scan on July 20th, and that will give the best indication of the effect this treatment is having on the melanoma. We are praying that the chemo will stop the melanoma, and that the immune therapy will strengthen her body's own ability to fight off the cancer as well. The result of the scan will determine whether to continue the same therapy or to change to a different treatment. (One way or another, she is scheduled to go down to Riverside for another week on July 30th.)
So, during these next weeks she will be working on regaining her strength and enjoying summer. Thank you all for your prayers and concern.
2 comments:
Hi Sweetie,
I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU!
Thinking of you every single day!
Hey Madeleine!
I hope your resting and recovery is going well :-)
I read in one of the earlier posts that you play Words With Friends? Add me - Lawroboros.
Another great game I can highly recommend, if you like drawing of course, is Draw Something. It's pretty much a Pictionary app. Again, if you feel like a game, add me as Lawroboros on that too!
Now, I don't want to harp on the matter as I'm sure you hear enough of it every day, so I'll keep it short. When I was diagnosed with melanoma a couple of months ago I was devastated as my mom had only just died of breast/brain cancer last year. So I started chatting to some guys at work about it, and as it happened one of my colleagues had stage 4 melanoma as a child from a defective birth mark. He was on his deathbed at age 9, and everyone thought he was going to die. And he beat it, looks great, leads a normal life, and is now 27 years old.
So never, ever, give up hope, as I know you won't!
All the best,
Lawrence (aka total stranger)
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