July 18 update

July 18, 2006

Dear Family & Friends,

I send greetings from Carol. I have been sharing your email notes and cards with her as we have had time between therapy sessions (about 200 notes). We are so grateful for your prayers and encouragement. You have blessed us immeasurably.

Today was Carol’s best day yet in therapy. She has been working hard to regain balance and to sit and stand without assistance. She has also been working on regaining coordination in her left hand and arm. We have seen considerable improvement in those areas over the past two days.

Until today she was able to take only a few steps with a walker and with heavy assistance from her therapist, but today she walked about 20 feet with her walker and with only moderate assistance. That was a significant breakthrough. Also, her pain level seems to have decreased a little so she isn’t requiring as much pain medication. That’s significant not only because it indicates healing at the surgery site, but also because she is able to participate more fully in her therapy sessions when she isn’t as groggy from pain meds.

Some of you have asked for more specific information about her tumor. It was diagnosed as a Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), also called grade 4 astrocytoma, which is the most malignant form of glioma or astrocytoma. If you would like to read more about it, you can do so at http://www.cancerbackup.org.uk/Cancertype/Brain/Typesofbraintumour/Astrocytoma.

The data is not at all encouraging, so rather than reading it, you may prefer simply to pray that the Lord will show special mercy and grant a healing miracle. As I shared with you in my last update, I know He has the power to do that, but He may choose otherwise for His own purposes, so please also pray that our wills will be perfectly in tune with His, whatever the outcome may be. We don’t have to understand His will, but we do need to be in the center of it with thankful hearts and prayerful spirits. That is our greatest desire.

Having said that, I want you to know that the Lord is sustaining us each day, just as He promised to do. However, despite the special strength and hope He gives us in our weakest moments, the fear and uncertainty can seem overwhelming at times, so please pray that we will remain focused on His grace and love instead of on the circumstances. This is the greatest spiritual test we have ever faced, and we don’t want to fail it or to squeak by with a “C+.” We want high marks, but we know we have no capacity in ourselves to achieve them. Your prayers and the ministry of the Spirit of God will have to accomplish what would otherwise be impossible. Thank you for such a profound ministry on our behalf.

I will update you again soon. In the meantime, I pray that the Lord will bless and encourage you each day.

Dennis