“The ‘Old Karen’ Peeked Through!” Thursday July 9th, 2015 Update

Since February 24th and the diagnosis of cancer, Karen has experienced many days of simply not feeling well. Most folks would be right down in bed with sickness with the type and strength of chemotherapy she has undergone. She has fought through this. While she has been up and out of bed each day, her road has been difficult. So many friends have decided walk along on the journey with us. We cannot begin to tell you how much each of you means to us.

We are now moving along from the last infusion on June 26th. She is beginning to feel better and even several days have felt more normal to her than any since February. In fact to my delight the “old Karen” peaked through this afternoon at lunch. We were eating our lunches together and Karen spread some peanut butter on a cracker. Quite a good amount of peanut butter remained on her knife. A silly yet sinister look came over her pretty face. She eyed me as she moved the peanut butter knife closer to my hand. Slowly but surely it grew closer. The more I moved my hand back the closer her peanut butter knife came. With raised voice I tried to “redirect her thoughts.” For several seconds she sat deliberating “Shall I do or shall I not?” I was backed into my chair as far as I could slide. The knife perched perilously close to my hand which was shaking from my laughing. She took a deep breath (which is not easy for her to do) and with that she withdrew and the crisis was avoided. She looked at me and said, “I’m feeling better. What? Do you want the sick, dependent Karen or do you want the old me?” You gotta’ love that lady.

Thanks so much for your continued prayer. We are glad to begin to see some better days. She still tires extremely easily and by evening, most of her strength is gone. Next week will be a busy week for her. She has a chest ex-ray on Thursday as well as Labs. On Friday she has her next round of maintenance chemotherapy. On Monday July 20th she sees the vascular surgeon for a follow-up.

Recently Karen and I had a great opportunity.  From our home via SKYPE, we spoke to the entire family of Baptist Church Planters missionaries. You would have been so thrilled with Karen’s testimony of trust, assurance, and help from the Lord. She spoke about the opportunities that God has given her through this trial. She spoke of her “win-win” situation. If the Lord heals her and she has more time with her family, she wins. If the Lord takes her Home, she really wins. She shared Isaiah 41:10 with the BCP family. It states, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” It was a powerful testimony of God’s grace working in her heart and life.