Praises and Prayer Requests

It's been awhile since the last update, but please know that you all continue to be in our thoughts, and we often express to one another how thankful we are for all of you who are supporting Mom and Dad and the rest of the bunch. Even if we do not express it well at times, we are so very grateful that God has put you in our lives to love and support us at this time. We are learning to love deeper and be better servants to others as it has been shown to us. We can't help but thank you for the continued thoughts and prayers for Mom and Dad along with the continued cards, support, and care for all of us. THANK YOU!

When you, or in this case, your mother, is told that the median survival rate for this type of cancer is one year, it can be paralyzing. It was. It puts a different spin on time. BUT once you start to process it and settle back into the knowledge of the grace of God and His peace and comfort, the numbing effects start to fade away and God helps you find the beat in your step again; reminding you to trust Him and have faith. Or at least this was my experience. And here we are OVER a year later, and, oh, what blessings God has given Mom and therefore the rest of us!!!

To be frank, looking on the surface the blessings are all but invisible, but, when I dig a little deeper, it is ASTOUNDING to see how far God has brought Mom. Over the last 6 months Mom has improved tremendously. At the beginning of this year, she could not process her thoughts into words, could not walk, and was completely dependent on the help from others to stand and shift from one seat to another. And here we are, 14 plus months later from the initial diagnosis. 2 months past the ominous one year mark and she is talking....a lot, telling stories, being sarcastic, finding humor in things and up and walking! Walking with so much confidence that she has been known to stray from her walker. As nice as it is to see her moving about with out her skinny, metal legs, this improvement comes with a downside as she sometimes forgets where she left her rubber-toed supports...the short term memory is something to continue to pray for...it is lacking! And although we can sometimes joke about this, it more often brings about a tremendous deal of frustration for her...and Dad. Please continue to pray for her in this way! Also pray for her as she is diligently working everyday to challenge her mind. She could give up very easily, but she does not. She challenges her mind with things she once considered simple, even mindless tasks....doing dishes at the sink, making a box mix of brownies, making jello, folding laundry, writing her name, or even more so, writing her grandchildren's names. I am thankful for her persistent personality, and that she is eager to improve even when things get hard; like a jello salad that takes eight hours to make. She does it anyway and doesn't give up.

My sister Melanie put it well when she said that this cancer and the side effects from the treatments have stolen many things from Mom and all of us, but not her motherly heart and love for her grandchildren. This fall....THIS FALL...the one that the doctors were preparing us by saying that she may not be here. Well, instead she is challenging her mind, smiling during the good times, and even attending grandchildren's sporting events. This isn't an easy task. NOT AT ALL! It takes a great deal of physical energy and mental strength, but she is brave and does it. She has been to a race, a football game, 2 soccer games, and a bike ceremony and has plans to attend more. She (and Dad) are doing all this in between her time consuming appointments and scans.

Speaking of scans, her last MRI came back that everything is looking good and hasn't changed since the one before, if anything, things are looking better! We are praising God for this!! But we continue to lift our requests to him and ask you to do the same. Among the blessings, this continues to be hard. Very hard!!! The side effects from everything have taken their toll on many things, specifically her short term memory, her strength, and her vision.

Short term memory: I wouldn't be able to grasp the torture it can be to struggle with short term memory loss if I wasn't witnessing it. It is devastating and causes a great deal of frustration for not only Mom but the whole household. Please pray that this would improve and her mind would be able to process things better.

Her Strength: Please pray that her strength will continue to improve as she is up and moving around more; independence and safety are at odds with each other, and some much needed strength would help.

Her vision: Mom had a successful cataract surgery on her one eye and her other eye is scheduled to be done in the coming month. We pray this goes as well as the first. The cataracts had developed as a side effect from the steroids.

As I leave you with these praises and prayer requests I will share one more blessing, that being Mom's sense of humor. This has been hit or miss throughout the past year, but it's been showing itself more regularly lately. This has been so nice to see. She has always had a quick wit along with the gift of being able to laugh at herself. I have always loved this about my mother and was happy to be a part of the latest chuckle we all got, Mom included!!

Upon entering Schreiber Pediatrics for her granddaughter's bike ceremony, Mom approached the receptionist's desk and asked which direction she should go for the program that evening. The receptionist kindly suggested that she may be in the wrong building and needed to get back in her car and go to the next building over. So Mom walked out to find Dad, who had been parking the car. She told him exactly what she heard. As everyone else arrived, Mom and Dad realized they did in fact have the correct building, and Dad got a big smile as he put it all together and shared that the next building over is Homestead Village. Anyone who is not familiar with the area, Homestead Village is a very nice retirement facility! Bwahahaha. Mom couldn't help but chuckle and make some smart remarks just adding to the humor of it all!

I Love her!

Blessings

~Jenna