How we served the Lord and what we serve Mike!!

Mike made it through the first five days of Chemo just fine. We will finish this round on Tuesday. We will also meet with Dr. Khan tomorrow as well. The Chemo has been ok with relatively no side effects. Mike did nap some, but this Chemo is much easier than the other combination. The big "white elephant" in the room is always, will this fight the cancer in his liver and in his esophagus. I don't know. I can tell you that we are not seeing any visible signs as of yet. But God is still here and we do see the visible signs of Him!

Mike's esophagus has closed down again. We need to get stretched, but can't to that until after we complete the round of chemo on Tuesday. We are relying on his tube for nutrition again. However, we are not using any of the canned stuff like before due to the nasty side effects of that stuff. I am making it for him. We are using a brown rice protein supplement, a raw food powder, flax seed oil, and vitamins. I usually will mix that up in either coconut water or almond milk. We have been on this for 2 days now. Hopefully, he will not have lost any more weight. At last check Mike has fallen below 150 pounds. He is so thin, but his energy level is great. It is weird. So while I am greatly concerned about it, it is easier to deal with because of the other signs. Please continue to lift this concern in prayer.

While I am on the subject, Mike still continues to take the following:

• Wheat Grass - 1 oz everyday
• Haelan - a fermented soy protein drink from China that has shown great results with cancer. In fact there is a medical trial going on at MD Anderson using this beverage. It tastes nasty. Mike drinks what he can and then we put the rest in his tube.
• Aloe - about 2 oz per day
• Blackraspberry powder - great antioxidant and shows promise specifically with precancerous cells in esophagus. Ohio University is doing some trials and testing with this
• Mannatech Ambrotose - a glyconutritional supplement - promotes cell communication
• Cell Power - supports oxygen to cells
• Vitality C - blogged about this before and the powers of Vitamin C and cancer

I know that each one of these things has a specific place in fighting this fight. I do wish it would be covered by insurance, but I know there will be a time and place where traditional medicine and homeopathic will come together.

Elizabeth and I (Mike wanted to but his white count was too low) had a opportunity to serve McKinney and God yesterday at Kohl's department store for Clothe-a-child. This is an event where at least 5 churches come together to clothe kids in need. I think they clothed over 650 kids. Each child that qualifies gets a $100 voucher from Kohls. Each child/family is assigned a personal shopper and we walk with them through the store. I had an adorable 1st grader named Leeza. We stopped at shoes first and she got 2 pairs of shoes. One pair was rather expensive at $32 but they had stars on them which is her school's symbol. Her mom gave in saying that she has never had the opportunity to buy a new pair of shoes and pick what she wanted. Usually they are shoes just given to her. (makes you stop and think doesn't it?) We then took her over to clothes. Kohl's does something incredible. They gather up all the clearance clothes from around the area and ship it in for this event. So we were able to get a lot to include coats. It was humbling and so worth getting up at 5:00 am. Other businesses helped too. Starbucks and Krispy Kreme provided breakfast for volunteers and participants alike. And there were tons of people. Imagine Day after Thanksgiving on steroids and then shove that into a four hour window! I did take a nap.

Now, this event has special meaning for two reasons.

1. In a small way, it is paying forward all the incredible "helps" we have received from the beginning of this cancer journey. Again, thank you to everyone for the financial, emotional and physical help over the past year. It humbled me and changed me for the better. Learning to accept help has been a hard lesson that I am still learning is someways. I always thought I can do it myself. I can handle anything. Part of that comes from being a middle child and part of that come from the years of training in the military wife school of life. I am the "helper" not the "helpee". Now I know what a wall I put up not only to my family and friends, but to my God. In the end, if I can do it myself, then how does that allow God to reveal himself and to be the all powerful Lord over my life. I didn't give it all to Him, only about 90% because I thought I could handle the 10%.

2. Elizabeth was incredible to watch in action. She volunteered at the kid area painting faces. When we got in line to checkout, the parents stood in line and the kids went to the kid area to play, color, face paint, and make balloon animals. Elizabeth didn't stop. She worked the whole time, but she also witnessed. I got this great text from her after I asked her how it was going. It said. " Great. I got 2 witness 2 1 girl while I was painting a pink cross" Lord I thank you for training her and allowing her this opportunity to serve. She did it with such a joyful heart. She popped out of bed at 5:20 am Saturday and loved it. She also loved her nap later on that day!

Prayer needs: mike to gain weight, his esophagus to open up, cancer cells to die, wisdom for house and finances

Praise: Serving the Lord in small ways, friends, family and the opportunity to say thank you again to everyone