Monday, November 17, 7:15 PM

Hello,

  Some time ago I speculated that, with regard to blog postings, no news would constitute good news. That turns out to be not entirely true. Sometimes no news posted simply means there are things going on that are unresolved. Other times it can mean there are personal struggles going on that we really don't want floating in the public realm. The past week has contained ample supplies of both those conditions.

  Right after I posted last week's update, Michele began exhibiting symptoms of a mild virus. She had a runny nose, some dizziness, and a bout with diarrhea. We went from the constipation battle to the use of Immodium. The quest being to find the happy balance, without swinging the pendulum too far in either direction. Fortunately, it didn't last too long, and she seems to be recovered from that.

  Last Wednesday night I was just about to doze off to sleep when Michele called me into her bedroom. Her right foot had gone numb and she could not bend her ankle upward, toward her. We moved her leg around and massaged things, but nothing really helped. We speculated that perhaps she had been sitting and lying too long. so she tried to move around more on Thursday, but it didn't help. Friday we called the Oncologist and reported the development. They responded with ordering an MRI of her brain, so we drove to Zanesville and had the procedure done. We waited for radiology to read it before leaving, and were relieved to hear that the scan showed nothing new in her brain. We got home a little before 9 PM. The Oncologist put her on a low dose steroid to see if that would help.

  This morning, Monday, the Oncologist office called to see how she was doing. We had to report that the ankle was not really any better, and her left arm was still mostly useless since the last Methotrexate treatment. The Oncologist ordered an MRI of her entire spine: 3 views without contrasting dye, and 3 views with. So, back to Zanesville we went. Michele endure another 2-1/2 hours in the MRI machine. This time we didn't stick around for the radiology department to read them, we just came home, arriving a little after 5 PM.

  So what does all this mean? I wish we knew. It seems unlikely that the cancer has spread, since the results of the PET scan were good, but everyone seems puzzled by the new symptoms. This is where you come in. Please ask the Lord to sort this all out for His glory. Obviously, we would love to have Michele wake up tomorrow completely healed of all her physical problems, but that is not our expectation. Wherever God is taking this, in His sovereignty, we just need enough grace to keep moving through the minutia of it all. I believe He will honor that request.

  We will let you know what happens. Thanks for being there. It is a comfort!

Tim and Michele