Thursday, May 25th.

We enjoyed a week free of doctor appointments coupled with a few extra days off from work which we made every effort to enjoy.

Thursday morning Karen began breaking out with a small rash on several portions of her body. By days end, there were more patches of the rash and some spots that appeared earlier in the day had grown much larger resembling welts. Karen was not in pain but the rash itched severely and was very annoying to her.

A call to the doctor yielded a call back from the nurse advising Karen to stop taking Tamoxifen as a rash is one of the reactions. As of this posting the welts are still present but the itching has diminished to some degree. Thank you Lord for Benadryl!!

As mentioned in the last update, Karen had stopped taking diuretics. She gained about twelve pounds in two weeks and continues to experience mildly swollen fingers, legs, ankles and now her abdomen. Because of the swelling she restarted one of the diuretics (Aldactone) on Thursday. Please continue to pray that the swelling will dissipate.

Karen has a doctor appointment scheduled for Thursday 01June. Please pray for wisdom, peace and healing.

In last weeks update I mentioned we would begin a “because of” series. Recently I was listening to someone go on incessantly about how “bad” things were in their lives. It struck me how easy it is to focus on what’s “wrong” in our lives. That same week our family bible study time came from the book of Exodus and we are also studying Exodus at church. I’m sure many of you are familiar with the events from this time period. What specifically spoke to me was when the Israelites were delivered from slavery after witnessing first hand many great miracles … they complained. Pursued by Pharaoh and his armies they saw God use Moses to divide the Red Sea, lead them through on dry ground and then return the waters to completely wipe out the entire army. They were happy for a time then back to complaining. They were hungry and God provided them food daily. Again they were happy for a time. You get the point. I realized I’m no different than the Israelites. I’m a complainer!

This got me to thinking, how do I respond to heavy situations in my life? Is there any good that has come from Karen’s illness? Don’t get me wrong, if I could choose how my life would go this wouldn’t be a part of it. Yet we hold firm that as believers what affects our lives is either brought to us by God or allowed to happen by Him. We also believe all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28.

It is for these reasons I felt led to look for and share how cancer has affected our family. We plan to share a “because of” story at the end of each update for as long as it seems appropriate.

Because of Cancer … Our lives have slowed down almost as if in slow motion at times. Things that at one time really mattered now seem trivial and inconsequential. Our perspective is clearer than before. For example this week the transmission on our van stopped working while we were driving down the road with the whole family aboard. Seven different personalities, traffic, heat, safety, cost, etc… Without perspective, I’ll let you use your imagination. With our improved perspective, we prayed and thanked God for having a car in the first place and asked for safe travel home. Yes cancer has affected our family but because of cancer we know it’s just a car.

Until next week …