For Lynne

After a six-plus-year journey, Lynne's battle with breast cancer has come to a permanent cease fire.  She fought a tremendous fight against a formidable enemy, and on August 13, 2012 at 7:11pm, she walked victoriously into the arms of her Lord and Savior to begin a new life in His presence forever.

Lynne's cancer was of the triple-negative variety, meaning it lacked the three most common receptors for fueling breast cancer: estrogen, progesterone, and HER2.  Since most breast cancers have them, the most successful treatments target these receptors. Therefore, triple negative breast cancer is less treatable and more aggressive than other types.  Lynne had multiple surgeries, radiation, and almost continuous chemotherapy for the past six years.

Believing that knowledge was powerful, Lynne was a student of her disease. She read everything she could, and armed herself with the latest research, theories and treatment options. She had a big notebook full of progress reports, research, scans, lab results, and usually brought a list of questions and suggestions to her very patient and supportive oncologist, Dr Brooks.

But believing that faith and hope were even more powerful, Lynne rested in the assurance that God was in control and if He chose, she could be cured in an instant. And if that wasn't to be, she knew that He had a greater plan. She walked through the past six years with tremendous confidence and joy, a true inspiration to all who knew her.

To say she didn't let cancer defeat her is almost an understatement. She refused to let it stop her from living life to the fullest. She stayed actively involved with her family, church and friends. She rose above the demands of a strenuous treatment schedule to take trips to see family and friends, even making a trip of a lifetime to Italy with her husband in January of this year.

I can honestly say there was only once when I saw her waver in her determination, when last fall she felt she was losing ground and wondered "is this the beginning of the end?" Moments later, she gathered herself up and we made plans to take a trip to San Diego to sit on the beach and celebrate her birthday.

Today would have been Lynne's 53rd birthday. I'll celebrate, because that's the way she lived. She was the organizer of family get-togethers, a giver of "happies," a player of games, an instigator of projects, a rearranger of furniture. Lynne was always the "thoughtful" one, and as the middle child, the peacemaker. Lynne is my sister, and though we had our catfights over ridiculous things, we loved each other deeply and were fiercely devoted. She was beautiful and fun, generous and caring, and I don't think my life will ever be the same without her here.

For the past few months, Lynne's and my daily devotion has been a book called Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. One of the verses from today's reading is Isaiah 61:3 -

"...and provide for those who grieve in Zion, 

to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,

the oil of joy instead of mourning,

and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor."

I think I'll keep that in mind today.

Bright Spot in a Tough Week

Apologies to all for the lack of updates. Bobby's been doing so well I suppose we are at risk of taking his good health for granted. He had a good report in May, and after 25 rounds of Torisel, he's continued manage the side effects pretty well. Last Wednesday we had another "how goes it" with Dr Keller to look at his most recent CT Scan.  Once again, everything looked stable, no regression, but also no growth, so we are happy.

Thankfully, it was evidence that God really doesn't give you more than we can handle, as it's been a really tough week. 

My sister Lynne has not had very good reports the past couple of months, her cancer has spread heavily into her lungs. I was with her in Tucson a week and a half ago and was very concerned about how weak she became over the course of just a few days. I extended my visit by 5 days to be there for a lung biopsy, which ended up not happening (really long and interesting story for another time). But instead came home on full time oxygen.  Within just a few days, she had an echocardiogram for screening purposes with the intent of starting a new chemo, but instead discovered a fluid buildup on her heart.  She had surgery last Saturday, where they removed 2 liters (think large coke bottle!) of fluid from her lungs and a large amount from around her heart. The surgery has helped alleviate much of the discomfort and breathlessness, but of course doesn't get to the underlying disease. Just when we thought we'd turned a corner, a CT scan was ordered to figure out why her right arm was starting to swell.  Didn't figure that out, but instead discovered the presence of multiple lesions in her brain.  Bad news became much worse.  At this point, she is still in the hospital, hoping to come home within a week. 

So please add my sister Lynne to any prayer lists out there.  She's an amazing woman who has fought a tremendous battle against a formidable foe, and her faith and spirit has not waned.  She has much yet to accomplish. Thank you for joining us as we pray for God's perfect peace, perfect grace, and perfect timing.

Love, Juli

Great News, for a Change

Well, well, well. Just when we resign ourselves to whatever might come our way, we get good news. Great news, actually. All the tumors we are watching have regressed over the past two months! And nothing new has developed. The Torisel is working.

We know you are joining us in thanking God for his lovingkindness. This is a dose of encouragement we were badly needing. We've always known that God doesn't give us more than we could handle, but lately I've begun to question the fine print on that truth. It is only with His help, and the support and encouragement of others that we are able to handle any of this.  Thank you for remembering us, and for praying.

Love, Juli

We had the most amazing sunset this week. I took this photo from the car as we drove across the bridge going home.  It's hard not to see God's handiwork in the beauty of creation.

A Routine and the Next Step

The past couple of months we have fallen into a bit of a routine, hence the lack of updates. Our typical week is Speech Therapy on Mondays, Chemo on Wednesdays, followed by a low-key Thursday, then maybe dinner out with friends on Fridays (always a  highlight), and church on Sundays. In between, it's work for me and gardening for Bobby. He's attacking the yard like a mad man, pulling weeds & dead plants, moving rocks, adding mulch, trimming trees. Which reminds me, we're happy now that Mad Men is back on Sunday nights, temporarily replacing our Downton Abbey addiction. Bobby rides his bike most Mondays with Lloyd, his #1 fitness encourager. We usually hit the YMCA once or twice and walk the neighborhood a couple of times a week (Joey likes that). 

Bobby's managing pretty well, all things considered. He has a mouthful of canker sores, rashes in various places, and general fatigue most days. His speech is understandable, but he still has difficulty with expressing himself as he would like. And yes, that's very frustrating for him.  Monica, the speech therapist says he has "fluent apraxia" and is extremely high functioning. He knows exactly what he wants to say, and says most of it, just doesn't always get the words right. I have some recordings of his speech in the hospital in December, and it was quite eye-opening for him to listen to how far he has come.  As challenging as it is, I am so grateful to be where we are.

We have a checkup with Dr Keller tomorrow, to look at the recent CT scan and evaluate the next step.  Thankfully, the recent brain MRI showed no evidence of additional cancer, and the swelling from surgery & cyberknife is continuing to decrease. However, there was a small area of ishemia, which we are watching.  That's an area where the blood supply has been cut off, possibly during the cyberknife procedure.  It may be an explanation for some of the persistent speech issues.

Thank you for praying for the next step.  As we see it now, if the Torisel is working we will continue the weekly treatment schedule. If not, we will pursue the clinical trial in Bethesda.  But really, there's no telling what the options might be.  We've gave up trying to predict the future a long time ago, just walking by faith instead.

Juli

It's a Marathon

We were thrilled to be able to see Michael run his first marathon in Austin, TX last weekend.  He's been training with three buddies since last fall, had his share of foot and hip injuries, but pressed through to actually run it. We had no idea what to expect, since as parents we hadn't actually seen all the training, and were more than a little skeptical that he had the time and motivation to train properly.  So we packed ice packs, water bottles, cameras, signs, and all the cheerleading skills we could muster and drove the 8 hours to the state capital of Texas, to support our runner. One of about 18,000 other athletes, I might add.

Rounding the Corner at 22 miles. Looking strong!

It was crazy, and exciting to say the least.  Masses of runners clogging the streets, making it challenging to figure out our best viewing spots. But thanks to a really cool app with a tracking device and interactive map, we were able to keep up with his progress and navigate our way to 4 prime locations for viewing and cheering.

Keeping his eyes peeled.

Michael ran for 3 hours, 57 minutes, and 45 seconds, breaking his personal goal of 4 hours.  His pace was a 9:04 mile. Well done, good and faithful runner!

Proud Cheerleader

Bobby & I are in the midst of our own marathon, into our fifth year of going up against metastatic renal cell cancer.  There's been more than a couple of "walls" along the way, alone with some periods of cruising "in the zone." Some stretches we've been surrounded by lots of people almost physically lifting & pushing us along, and other times when the road is a little lonely, we just "keep the ground moving under our feet." But it's never long before a cheering friend will show up just around the corner with a drink of water, or an encouraging word. The ups and downs of this journey have been more physical for Bobby, more emotional for me. Sometimes I'm on the sidelines going "hang in there, you can do it." Other times, I'm running alongside (albeit in far worse shape) just trying to keep up.

But the race is far from over.  Bobby's newest challenge is called Torisel, an IV target therapy drug. He has treatments every Wednesday, we just finished Week 4.  The plan is to do 5 more weeks, then do scans. If it seems to be working, we'll continue until it no longer seems to be working. At that time, we are planning to pursue the clinical trial in Bethesda, assuming that's still an option.

The Torisel side effects have been pretty much as advertised. Awful mouth sores, fever blisters, lovely zit-like rash in various locations, and general fatigue, which is pretty frustrating for someone who thrives on physical activity.  He's pushed through it, though with yardwork, and a couple of bike rides. Thankfully, winter has been super mild in OK.

Speech Therapy continues, and we do our best to do an hour of homework every day. There are still some stubborn issues that make communication a challenge, but most of the time we manage.  It is every bit as frustrating as they said it would be. 

Who knows what's ahead. My hope and prayer is just that we run with endurance the race that is set before us, by laying aside all that entangles us, knowing we have a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. (from Heb 12:1-2)