Attention Prayer Warriors!

Prayer Warriors, it is time to kick it back up a notch. We're worried and Michelle needs your renewed prayers.

Over the last few months, things settled into a smoother pattern we thought of as "the new normal". Michelle was mostly pain free, and seemed to be gradually gaining energy. She was able to walk around the block and even took a couple of short hikes at a nearby nature preserve. Although she could only handle about an hour or two of activity in any given day, it was very encouraging that she was able to leave the house and feel more normal.

That largely ended on Memorial Day.

Early in the morning, Michelle woke up with startlingly severe abdominal pain. The sharp, stabbing pain was centered just under her breastbone and was annoyingly constant. After some debate and trying Advil without success, we broke out the narcotic pain killers that she set aside back in March, and was able to get some relief. The pain seemed to gradually diminish over the next week, and we were hopeful that it was just a fluke.

Right around this time my knee pain was rapidly reaching a crescendo, culminating in my June 4 arthroscopic surgery to repair my torn medial meniscus cartilage. Michelle did a great job of helping me with my recovery, but her abdominal pain started coming back again. This time, we attributed it to a pulled muscle because unlike the Memorial Day pain, it only really hurt when she used her abdominal muscles.

Over the last 2 weeks, the pain has slowly ramped up again to the point where just shifting positions in bed or walking across the room is agony. She has been working with a Physician's Assistant, who agreed that the pain was probably muscular.

Yesterday, however, the PA was off duty when Michelle went to the cancer center for her scheduled IV hydration (she usually receives hydration 2 days after each chemo treatment) so Michelle's oncologist Dr. Marschke came by to see her. He took a closer look at the CT scan they ordered after Michelle first reported the problem, and is concerned that this pain may be related to one of 3 liver tumors shown on the scan. We were aware of one tumor that appeared on the December PET scan, but it was unclear to us whether the other 2 are new. No tumors showed up on the PET scan a couple of months ago, which means no metabolic activity was detected in that test, but it doesn't mean the tumors were gone.

Dr. Marschke ordered another CT scan for this Saturday, this time with contrast dye to help show more detail of the tumors, particulary the one in the vicinity of Michelle's current pain. We have an appointment with Dr. Marschke on Tuesday to hear the results.

This is where you come in, prayer warriors. Michelle needs your prayers for support and encouragement, and above all for healing. Thank you for all your prayers in the past. Michelle and I believe that they have worked wonders - we just need a little more of that wonder right now.

God Bless,
Bill

P.S. It's been two weeks, and I've healed quickly from my surgery. I overdid it a little last weekend, but this has been a good week and I'm well on my way to full recovery.