Update on Chris 07-07-07

It’s been a long, hard week. Chris is still in the hospital at Baylor Dallas. On Tuesday, his Oncologist returned from vacation. The news he brought to us was discouraging. He told us that further treatment options for the cancer were unlikely to work and that he wouldn’t even be able to try with Chris’ platelet count being so low. With Chris’ body being so weak, he has been unable to have hardly any activity or eat much over the last few weeks. Chris expressed the desire to go home, but the doctor feels that his condition is not well enough to go home without home health care of some kind. He believes that Hospice would offer the best pain management options for Chris, since they are able to do IV’s if necessary. Needless to say, the word Hospice scared us and it took a couple of days to process it. We are not even sure now if Chris should go home, because we are concerned about the kids seeing him in this condition, especially if it gets worse. After going back and forth all week on in home or in- patient, we still don’t have any answers. But, on Thursday afternoon, some long time friends of Chris’ came by to see us and I think this time spent with them, as well as so many prayers gave him some renewed strength. He told me Thursday night that he isn’t ready to give up and that he doesn’t want to do Hospice. Friday was a new day… he ate better and even got out of bed and walked with Physical Therapy down to the end of the hall and back. After three weeks of not getting out of the bed, this was a very touching moment for our friends and family as well as the nurses, who stood and watched with tears in their eyes. One of them walked up to me and said… Who is that man? I said… THAT… is my husband. They had seen a man so weak and tired for the last few weeks. This renewed strength was an answer to prayer and brought so much joy.

After talking with the doctor again on Friday afternoon, he is still recommending Hospice as the best option for Chris and meanwhile plans to research heavily to find a treatment option that will not harm Chris more than he can handle and that insurance will cover. If Chris goes home on Hospice, he could come off of it if his platelets went up high enough to receive a treatment. It will just depend on how much more Chris is willing to put himself through. Chris and I spent a lot of time talking Friday afternoon and don’t know what to do. There are a lot of decisions to make, but we agreed that nothing would happen over the weekend, so we just made the goal of the weekend to keep getting stronger (eating and getting out of bed). I came home to be with the kids for the weekend. I talked with his mom today and she said he spent a lot of time sleeping today, but he apparently ate a pretty good dinner this evening. I will be going back to the hospital Sunday afternoon to spend the week there. Please continue to pray for Chris, his doctor and our family during this time.

Thank you to every one for the meals, rides, flowers, help with the kids, visitors and to those of you who have helped with things at our house. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We will not forget the love you have shown us and can’t wait to give back someday.

Love,
Mandy

P.S. The peace and comfort that I have felt personally is almost unexplainable, except that I know it must be God. Thank you to those of you who have held me up during this time. I know many of you are going through this with us and it has made us feel that we are not alone. Thanks for being there.
I want you to know that even in the midst of overwhelming sadness, I still always feel God is near. It would take me forever to explain all of the little and big things He does to show me this. As we wait on Him, he renews our strength, wipes away our tears, restores our soul and lifts our head.