Growing in Grace

May 31, 2011 Just wanted to share a quick update and prayer request. Dennis was allowed some pain medication last night and a spray for his throat. His surgeon came to see him today to check in on him. Basically, he said the main culprit to all of this was the large amount of pain meds he was taking once he got home. He encouraged him to do with as little as possible and to walk as much as possible. This is a hard task as Dennis is very weak and weary. His incentive is that once his system begins working, he can have the NG tube removed. So my prayer request for him is to have the strength, energy and endurance to go without pain medication and to get up and walk and for his system to begin doing its thing! I also wanted to thank you so much for lifting Dennis up in prayer and for all the encouraging emails and comments on Facebook. I was overwhelmed this morning that so many of you took the time to write something to us. It really helps to know we have people supportin...

May 30, 2011 Dennis is in the hospital again. As we were sitting together holding hands in the ER last night, he said the words I was thinking, “This wasn’t what we expected.” That seems to be the theme of the last nine months for us. Last night we were both accepting that this was what the Lord put before us to handle. As Charles Swindoll wrote, “when we know Who, we can stop asking “Why?” By late morning, however, that positive attitude was beginning to waver and I found myself crying out for mercy on behalf of my husband and wondering how much he was going to be expected to handle. It feels like he has endured more than any one person should be asked to bear. But then I thought about Job. And like Job, in spite of all the pain and suffering and setbacks, we will not loose our faith in God and we will find ways to “praise Him in this storm.” Music ministers to me. As I was driving back and forth to UCI today, songs with very timely lyrics were on the radio: “Our God is G...

May 24, 2011 Continued. . .  I was able to see Dennis in recovery following my previous post. He was experiencing some pretty uncomfortable pain, which was not being alleviated by pain medication. Finally, they were able to make him more comfortable and he was able to rest better.  There was also a delay in finding him a room. We were told it could be an hour or morning before he could be moved out of recovery. Thankfully, by 9 p.m. they found a private room for him. He had trouble moving from the gurney to the bed due to the muscle that was cut for the ostomy. When the RN asked him about his pain, Dennis said that as long as he didn’t move he was okay. But even sitting up to take his pain medicine hurt quite a bit. I left him at 9:30 to try and get some sleep. He was relieved to have the surgery over with, but also very tired. Please continue to pray for his recovery. The healing of his abdominal muscle may be a bit rough on him. I read this tonight in B...

May 24, 2011 Had a bit of a frustrating morning. Dennis was scheduled for surgery at noon. We arrived at 10 a.m. The surgery before his took longer than expected and Dennis wasn’t taken back for surgery until about 2:40 this afternoon. Was told a little after 4 p.m. that they were closing him up and I spoke to the surgeon around 4:30. Dr. Pigazzi said everything went fine and Dennis should have no problems with recovery. Big sigh of relief! Sometimes things don’t always go according to plan, but I am grateful that I always have the hope of the Lord in all circumstances. I was blessed to spend time waiting with my sister-in-law, Dyan, and brother-in-law, Dennis. They happened to be here for my brother-in-law. He recently found out he has stomach cancer and was referred here for treatment. It is comforting to know that God holds us in His hands and has a plan and purpose for all things that come into our lives. And regardless of the way God chooses to work things out in our lives, we...

May 23, 2011 Well, we finally made it . . .6 ½ weeks post surgery #1 and Dennis will be having surgery #2 tomorrow to reverse his ostomy. He is scheduled for surgery at noon. He is grateful for no prep this time - he just can’t eat after midnight. We would appreciate your prayers for tomorrow as well as for Dennis’ recovery. He is expected to be in the hospital until Friday. It’s been a long, difficult journey these past six weeks. I recently read something by Beth Moore in her book “To Live is Christ” that seemed to describe our situation. She wrote, “We sometimes feel as if we’re playing tug-of-war with God. In bitter tears we sometimes let go of the rope, tumble to the ground, and cry, ‘Have your way, God! You’re going to do what You want anyway!’ God is not playing a game. He doesn’t jerk on the rope just so He can win. In fact, He doesn’t want us to let go of the rope at all. Rather than see us drop the rope and give up, He wants us to hang on and let Him pull us over to His...

May 8, 2011 Last week Dennis had an appointment with both the oncologist, Dr. Zel, and the surgeon, Dr. Pigazzi. Dr. Zel shared with Dennis that he had initially been diagnosed with stage 3 cancer. We had never really been told that before, so didn’t realize just how advanced the cancer was. As Dr. Zel looked over the results of the biopsy from surgery, he shared that he had another patient who is also on the same treatment protocol as Dennis and who is also having good results. He made a comment that the protocol is “magic”. Dennis said it was a miracle. We were discussing all of this later while waiting for the surgeon. It is interesting how people choose to view outcomes. The doctors give credit to the medicine. We choose to give all the glory to God. We know that God can heal people instantly- miraculously; and we know He can heal through medicine. But ultimately, He is the Great Physician. As we have let it soak in how real and dangerous this cancer was, we are even more gratefu...