Labor Day/Laura's Birthday

Happy Birthday Laura!! WooHoo 22!!

Thanks for checking in everyone, we value your prayers and encouragement. Amanda spent the night last night with Erin and said Erin was up every hour trying to leave the room. So at 3:30 a.m. they left and walked 3 laps. She has already walked 4 more. Now, as Brittany mentioned, it would seem that she feels good if she is walking, but actually, she is forcing herself beyond a normal person's limits. The nurses all comment that they get chills seeing her out of bed. She really is doing it only by the grace of God. Her pain pump is really high. If you know anything about Dilaudid, you will be surprised to hear she is on 1.2 mg/hr plus can push her button for 0.4mg more every 10 minutes. That's enough to put a horse into a coma. Yet she pushes through to do the walking. We are praising God this morning for another 2.5 lb fluid loss. Isn't God amazing?? Her numbers look pretty good except for her Bilirubin which is climbing a bit. She got platelets yesterday and this morning to keep them at a reasonable level. Erin is still only able to take small amounts of liquid, so Amanda made her a smoothie this morning and she drank a few sips of it. We use V8 Fusion and a banana and some of the protein powder they want her to drink. She says it's delicious. I guess the prayers requests are still the same, decreased ascites, decreased pain, protected organs, increased appetite and a working GI system so she can eat. Blessings on you, janet

"He said to me; 'It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.'" Revelation 21:6-7

Sunday Day +22

Thank you Prayer Warriors for your continued prayers. We thank God for each of you as we start another day in need of prayer. Erin had a yucky day yesterday. She had 3 bad bouts of nausea and a lot of pain throughout the day. They had taken off her Scopolamine patch 2 days before because it was drying her mouth out so bad. I think it caught up with her and that caused the nausea. So we got another one last night. They also increased her basal rate on her pain pump. Unfortunately, that put her to sleep which means she couldn't cheer for our Dawgs. That caused our Bulldawgs to lose. Poor dawgs. Anyway, in between her pain, she pushed herself to walk 11 laps. She is amazing. Her liver enzymes continued to drop today and the biggest news is she lost 3.5 lbs today. Halleluia!! We are all very optomistic that this tide is turning, but we still have a ways to go. Please pray for decreased pain, decreased nausea, decreased ascites, and increased energy. The Drs all keep saying walking is her best therapy right now. I know that she only gets it done by the grace of God.
Hope you all have a blessed Labor Day. Hug each other for us, janet

"Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!" Isaiah 30:18

Game Day, Day +21

Dear Prayer Warriors, Thank you so much for the prayers. Erin had a fitful night again. She has found a way to lessen the pressure on her organs; she stands at the sink and leans forward. Well you can imagine how tiring that is every couple of hours. The big news is she lost a pound. She had steadily been gaining fluid with the ascites and I won't tell you the big number but losing some is AWESOME! Thank you Lord!! I pray we have finally turned the corner on this VOD. Her liver enzymes were down a bit yesterday too, which is wonderful. We got a visit from the liver Dr and the kidney Dr and they were both spouting procedures and tests, but they can't scare us! We have seen the devil and his name is Cancer. We have proclaimed Victory in the name of Jesus and moved that mountain out to sea. We just have a few details to clear up and then we are blowing this pop stand!! Another praise is that she walked TEN laps yesterday! Can you believe that? Amanda bribed Erin by saying she would run a mile for every lap Erin did. Now she is probably regretting that offer. Please pray for decreased ascites, decreased pain, ability to eat and drink and energy to get out of here. Blessings, Janet

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1

We will no longer be a slave to cancer. AMEN!!

One day at a time Sweet Jesus, that's all we're asking from you.

Day +20

Greetings Prayer Warriors....it's Bill this time,

You can usually tell when I do the blog because it is always posted later than normal. Sorry about that but thanks for checking in with us. You know I am not a doctor but I have watched "House" on TV and I think Erin has shown some slight improvement over the past day and that is a huge praise! Her voice is a little stronger, she has some of her feistiness back and she walked 4 laps yesterday and another 3 this morning at 6:30 a.m. She committed to add a lap every day! Erin's doctor came by this morning and said she felt like Erin is starting to turn the corner and that she was hoping to see Erin in the clinic next week. Her weight is up a pound from yesterday but at least it is less of a gain than previous days which hopefully means that her body is starting to deal with the fluid buildup. They are discontinuing the TPN (IV feeding) as they feel her nutrient levels are good and they want to reduce the fluid intake through the IV to help with the recovery process. Erin's counts continue to hold steady or show improvement across the board: WBC at 10.7, HCT 42.2, Bilirubin is down from 2.3 to 2.0 today. She had a relatively quiet night in terms of pain level but she ended up waking up at midnight and wanting to watch a couple episodes of "The Office". I think her day/night schedule may be a little out of whack. She has been sipping on smoothies and juice and water but still not really up to eating solid foods. The doctor is less concerned about solid foods and will be satisfied if she can take in some nutritional supplements like Ensure or Boost shakes. So we will work on that today. We were on the same wavelength with Aunt Deb and asked her doctor this morning about the paracentesis (removing the excess fluid in her abdomen with a syringe). She explained that they would only take that measure in extreme circumstances where there was imminent threat to her organs. She said that the fluid would return within 12-24 hours of being removed and the risk of infection or damaging an organ outweighed any temporary relief benefit.

I guess that is all the news for now. Thanks for the tremendous love and support and most of all for the continued prayers that sustain us and help us persevere! We count you among the many blessings that God has poured out on us as we weather this storm!

We pray God's blessings on each of you! - Bill

My scripture focus for today returns to perseverance :

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." - Hebrews 12: 1-2

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." - James 1: 2-4

P.S. Our heartfelt thanks go out to the mysterious masked lawn mower who once again visited our yard! How do we know he wore a mask you may ask....because he left the mark of "TORO" on our lawn!! (Okay...give me a break, I am sleep deprived.) Anyway thank you so much for your generosity!!

Day +19

Dear Prayer Warriors, Thanks for the prayers! Erin had a sleepless night, not so much because of pain, although that is constant, but because they gave her lasix at 11 p.m. She is so full of fluid they are giving her lasix twice a day and it keeps you up for hours. She continues to put on more fluid and I am begging them to try something else. This is not working. The Dr came by last evening and said again how important walking is and she jumped up like a trooper and walked a couple of laps for a total of 3 for the day. I know she only does that by the strength of God. She just pushes beyond the limits whenever anyone asks. I've always considered that her biggest fault; not knowing how to say "no." But now it is her biggest strength, pushing her to extreme measures to do whatever the Dr says might help get her well. Isn't is amazing how God shows you those details?
I don't have labs yet but will update later if there is any big change. We just continue to trust God for healing. Please pray He continues to nudge or hammer some wisdom into our Drs. We need relief. Thanks for all your encouragement. We love the image of the children praying for Erin. blessings, janet

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "NO" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good." Titus 2:11-14

P.S. I wanted to tell you all about a couple of angels that are training for a 1/2 marathon for the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society in honor of Erin. Erin Lace, one of the teachers Erin works with, and Jana Bearden from Erin's small group at church are doing the run together. Thanks ladies, we hope to be able to come see you both cross that finish line. The website is http://pages.teamintraining.org/ga/kiawah09/erinblonshine Hope you all can support them with your prayers. Any donations are tax deductable. thanks, janet

Day +18

Dear Prayer Warriors,
Thank you for stepping it up a notch. God has been faithful as always. Erin had a better night. She was awake alot pushing her button but her pain level was reduced significantly. She did not sit up and lay down alot like the previous nights. So we are praising God today!! Her first Dr, the one we feel most comfortable with, came by last night. She went over all the issues with us and labs etc. Erin actually does have VOD in a mild form. We have been so worried about VOD but it is not severe, and Erin is young, so hopefully she will turn around quickly. Her labs were the same today as yesterday, but not worse. We just need them to trend down and we need this ascites to reduce in volume so she can get comfortable. She is able to drink water and get into a chair but no walking right now. She is too shaky on all the pain meds. They gave her some steroids yesterday to reduce the swelling in her liver and gallbladder. It also helps with pain. We love steroids. I asked them to bring a bunch more. We need to "pump her up" so she can get out of here!! So those are our details for the morning. Thanks for checking in. Needless to say, we would dearly love your continued prayers for our sweet Erin. blessings, janet

"I pray that out of his glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:16-21

I love that verse!!

Day +17 Sept 1

Dear Prayer Warriors, Well, not much new to report, Erin did not sleep last night due to the pain. They increased her pump twice and gave her 3 addtional boluses of Dilaudid but she couldn't get comfortable. She just kept sitting up and laying down over and over. Her 12 lbs of extra fluid in her stomach is taking over! Plus all her organs are swollen. She can't breathe deep or move well. She is really having a hard time. We haven't seen the Dr yet but we hope he has a different plan, because this one isn't working. I did some reading on good ole Google last night and there are several meds that she is on or has been on that may have contributed to her inflammed liver. It is all so confusing. They are giving her protein to help with the ascites but protein is hard on the liver. I don't know what to do except pray hard for relief!! God has brought her through so much already, I know He can get her through this too. I just want it yesterday!! Erin continues to be very patient and sweet but she just hurts nonstop, so of course we hurt with her. Thanks for the prayers, please keep them coming! Only the Great Physician knows what to do here and we need Him to nudge the Drs a little.
Yesterday they upgraded the flu policy again. They are only allowing family to visit and supposedly only 1 at a time. Yeah right! So even though we appreciate all your offers to visit, we aren't allowed. Everyone here is doing their best to keep these patients safe and we are thankful. We love notes on the blog, e-mail and phone calls but sorry, no visits for now.
I will update this later if the Dr has any revelation for us. In the meantime, pray, pray, pray. blessings, janet

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:24 AMEN!!