Surprise!

Surprise! Mike has only 5 days of radiation left! We asked the doctor why the change in plans?(even though we were tickled at the prospect of being done) She said that they had given him a very aggressive treatment and that 5 more days will complete this portion. Yeah! we are very thankful to be on the final week of the "the mask" and radiation. Tomorrow we will meet with the Oncologist to determine whether or not Mike can tolerate the next and final round of chemotherapy. It is tentatively scheduled for Monday of next week. As far as needing a feeding tube? that too we will discuss tomorrow. Mike has lost another 2 pounds this past week, making a grand total of 14 pounds lost! He is on the countdown 5,4,3,2,1............... then we wait 5-6 weeks. At that time they will do the next MRI and Body Scan to determine whether or not he still needs surgery to remove all the lymph nodes on the left side of his neck and into his collarbone. This gives us 5-6 weeks to rebuild Mike's strength to handle the surgery if needed. The doctor says that this is the time to take a little vacation while nothing is happening but waiting.

We don't yet know how the tumor looks. Mike's mouth and throat are too raw and swollen to look down and see. But as far as they can feel, his affected lymph nodes are still enlarged, though they have reduced in size a little bit. Everyone is optimistic that this is going to do the trick, but we know that if Mike is healed, it is God and not the treatment. It is HE who holds our life in His hands and is the creator of our first and last breath. Don't get us wrong we are not super human, we would love to know NOW what the outcome will be, but the answer God is giving us is WAIT! and HOLD FAST!

Surprise #2 came this weekend in the mail from a group of guys that Mike is in a study with. They made him a CD of them singing "Create in me" ( Psalm 51 ) Each week for the past 7 months or so they sang this song before they began their study. The call themselves "The Acrostics" and they sound great. Mike says that he was blessed, speechless, and moved to tears. He misses you guys a lot! 

The song that we sang this morning(more than once) on the way to treatment was:

Blessed Assurance Jesus is mine

O what a foretaste of glory divine

Perfect submission all is at rest

I in my Saviour am happy and blessed

Watching and waiting, looking above

Filled with His mercy, lost in His love

This is my story, this is my song

Praising my Saviour all the day long