ICU - In Christ Ultimately

Hello Loved Ones!

Before I update you, I must say that it is nothing short of a miracle of God's grace that Jody is still with us today. We have complete and total peace with our difficult situation because we know Jesus Christ as our Savior. Jody deeply desires anyone reading this blog to have this same relationship with Him. She consistently steers all of her communication and prayer in this way. Jody would challenge you to get a new testament and read the gospel of John which emphasizes the deity of Christ!

Jody has had four studies (tests) since my last post and the doctors and nurses continue to keep close watch of my precious angel. There are so many amazing people here in this hospital. There are unbelievable technologies in use. Even so, there are mysteries regarding Jody's situation that only the Lord knows. What I know for sure is that God has given us another day to laugh, cry, love, and appreciate one another as never before - and I am so grateful for every second.

The last two days have started out very strong. Jody's heart was very stable each previous night. The mornings are Jody's best time - she is alert, beaming and very funny! An hour later after taking her meds, her heart rate becomes low, and yesterday she was given heart meds to get back on track. She was immediately exhausted as a result. Additionally, many tests were needed to rule out blood clots. It was a hard day - but God is closer to us then we have ever known or can describe! Test results indicate she can resume physical therapy - no clots except the ones we know about in her left arm. That's good news!

Today, the chemo pill has been held back to see if there is any connection to the heart fluctuations. She has been through so much - and yet she is always gracious and thankful for every treatment, scan, and interruption - and there are lots of those. It's a funny thing - rest is one of the key things she needs - but ICU is not a place to rest. Breathing therapy, physical therapy, blood tests, baths, scans, swallowing evaluations, bed turning, doctor visits, meals... you get the idea. We are so thankful for such skilled doctors and nurses. We are blessed! And I am amazed at how many solid christians work here - even many that go to Grace Community!

Thank you for your faithful prayers. Words fail to describe my pleasure in knowing that God is being glorified by your loving intercession for us. Here are the latest issues for prayer.

• Please pray Jody will be able to sit in a chair tonight! (Therapy goal.)
  
• Jody's heart rate is not always regular. We are watching it closely.
  
• Pray that she would regain a solid appetite.
  
• The CT from yesterday shows that Jody has fluid around her other (left) lung. Several things can cause this - but it is a significant concern.
  
• Please pray that Jody will continue to regain strength as we prepare to graduate from the ICU.
• Please pray for discernment as we assess our future treatment options with our oncologist Friday. It is so hard to know what Jody will be able to tolerate after enduring the intensity of the last ten days.
  

Finally, pray with us that we can live every hour as our last. In such an hour, we want to be testifying to the hope of eternal life with Christ in heaven. We want to make the most of every moment. We want to fight the disease. Most of all, we want to see our Lord Jesus Christ honored now and forever.

Here's an article to consider.

John 1:1-14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Praise From ICU

Prov. 12:25 Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down, But a good word makes it glad.

During our time in ICU, we have experienced very difficult hours. But this is a good report!

God has blessed today - and we are overwhelmed with joy even as we go through the deepest trial of our lives. By God's grace, Jody has been weaned from the heart fluid tube, the respirator, and the sedation she was on. Her vitals are stable and her kidneys and liver have rebounded!

We are hoping to get continued good reports like this that would allow Jody to graduate from ICU, but for that - as in everything - we trust the Lord.

Her throat is very sore and she can't drink for a couple hours - but she is looking forward to her first treat - ice chips! We can hardly wait for 5:00 pm today when we can give them to her. There are no words to express our gratitude for your labor in prayer on our behalf! The Lord, Jesus Christ is our Rock and Salvation. This must be brief... off to the ice chip ceremony!

All praise to You, Father God!

Exodus 15:26 I, the LORD, am your healer.

The Nearness of God

Dearest Loved Ones,

Psa. 73:28 But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.

Please dear reader, prepare for a shock. My sweet darling Jody is in ICU at St. Josephs in Burbank.

The weekend was so beautiful as we shared precious time together at home. Enjoying the news from my last post, we rejoiced in the One who made us. Jody was not breathing well and looking forward to her lung treatment on Monday. After the procedure, a nurse noticed swelling of Jody's left arm.

This led to rapid shift in events. In the course of treating what turned out to be partial blood clots, and ruling out primary causes, multiple scans, tests, procedures, drugs etc., Jody's health became critical due to severe pericardial effusion (fluid around the heart). It all happened so fast.

I know this is a shock - especially in light of the good news from last week. But God is in control and I trust our Savior to guide Jody and me through this - and to comfort us all as we work our way through every hour. I will yet praise Him.

Because of the nature of ICU, we are unable to have you visit Jody in ICU - but you can certainly feel welcome to come to the various waiting rooms, lobby etc. to pray with us and fellowship together through this most critical and difficult time.

Rom. 11:36 For "WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN?" For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

Psa. 121:0 A Song of Ascents.

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the moon by night. The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever.

Moving in the right direction!

This has been an amazing time since my last post. First of all, God has seen fit to give Jody relief from all the itching and skin problems. Thank you for praying! She is 90% better on that front and we are so grateful for the reprieve from this troubling side effect. Your prayers for us have been answered! Glory to God!

While that's been happening, Jody has also been unusually short of breath which makes her feel fatigued and uncomfortable. So much so that last weekend, we paid a visit to the ER. Everything turned out fine - but in the process of ruling out various causes (SVC syndrome, blood clot etc.) we had a CT Angiogram done. As the Lord would have it, our oncologist took the opportunity to compare this scan with our PET/CT from May. Because these scans are of different types - there is some difficulty in doing such a comparison - but the good news is that:

Jody's primary mass known to be 6 cm in the March MRI and May PET/CT scans, is now "about a half inch smaller" which is approximately 4.8 cm. We can hardly believe it! The two green spheres represent the ratio between 6.0 and 4.8. We stand in awe of God - so grateful for this good message from Him!

There is another small "met" in the chest we've been watching that is "either the same size, or slightly smaller too." Nothing appears to be growing! We can hardly believe it after being so hunkered down the last five months!

On Monday Jody will have another pleural tap to hopefully relieve her shortness of breath - and I ask you to pray that it will really help! (The last one did not really kick in the relief we were hoping for.)

Jesus Christ, our merciful Savior and compassionate King, shall be rendered all the praise the Frankfurt household can muster! He is the one who has answered the cry of our hearts and given us a tremendous sense of hope today!

Psa. 103:2-5 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

Peirasmos...

1Cor. 10:13 No temptation* has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

* 3986. peirasmos; an experiment, a trial, temptation: temptation(12), testing(2), trial(2), trials(4), which was a trial(1).

One of the comforts of following Christ and loving the Word are promises like this. I am so grateful that this verse promises not only a limit to testing - but a way out of every trial and temptation to sin. I ask the Lord to make me more and more able to take the escape route!

Our testing presently centers around the side effects from Jody's medication. It causes a rash on her body that is very uncomfortable, to say the least. (Ice is our new best friend!) The drug also affects her appetite and sometimes she struggles to finish meals. Fatigue is also a side effect we are experiencing. There is not much we can do except endure.

It is one of those self imposed problems - based on the idea that the side effects are worth the potential benefits - and we are trying to hang in there long enough to see if this drug will truly help. Please pray for Jody to endure this part, and that indeed God will work powerfully through it. As I mentioned in the previous post - we are enjoying a season of encouraging news - but these side effects dull our ability to relish it. So again, we throw ourselves at His feet and trust God - who is Faithful and True.

God bless you for praying for us! If you would, please remember these friends and family enduring their own deep trials and/or cancer battles:

My precious nephew Danny; my friends mother Yoko; our friends Emarie and Pat D.; and our friend Nina who is enduring the recent loss of her husband.

P.S. As an aside, this article is fascinating... (John Piper takes on the topic "If God Governs Disease Why Should We Try to Eradicate It?") A great biblical perspective is rendered and I found it very interesting.

Psalm 34:8

O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

The week is not over yet - but many things have happened so I am compelled to ditch my plan to update at the end of the week!

Your prayers have been rewarded by our most high God! Check this out:

1. We've had great traction accomplishing the scans and appointments this week - our busiest yet - without any glitch.
2. Jody had another successful thoracentesis. We praise the Lord from hearts of dependence!
3. Frozen shoulder therapy is going well. And I get to be partime "coach". How fun is that? :-)
4. Our MRI for brain shows all treated mets responding excellently! We were stunned to hear our neurosurgeon say things like "it looks good in the brain" and "keep doing what you're doing" and "see ya in six weeks". This is huge for us because it reveals how our great God is working on our behalf. We are so grateful and invigorated to press on!
5. Our oncologist is pleased that Jody's blood looks good, and he believes the new drug she's taking is working for her. Jody senses a change too.
6. Our naturopath has widened the menu a wee bit - Jody is so thrilled with the addition of some fish, a little tomato, and a few other flavors in her diet. (I'm pretty happy about it too!)

It is sinking in that honoring the Lord "in whatever circumstance I am" truly is akin to threading a needle - in that God would have me extol His name in exactly the same way whether a trial relents or whether the trial gets tougher. It's all about honoring Him just as our scriptural examples did (Job, Paul, even Jesus). I praise the Lord for what He is doing in our lives. I am so grateful for this time to "exhale" for a moment, and to enjoy a couple of weeks without the constant wondering. Your prayers for us are so appreciated, so needed and are being answered!

From my study of Psalm 34 I came across this comment that Spurgeon quotes from John Ball...

"If thy strength be clean gone, God's power shall be magnified the more in thee, and He hath brought thee low that thou mayest not trust in thyself, but in the living Lord, and that the whole praise of the victory might be ascribed unto Him."