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May 27, 2006
God is answering your prayers
Thank you for praying! My neutrophils shot up from 1.48 to 5.18 and there is no other explanation for the rise except that you prayed. The only other time there was such an increase was months ago when I’d had super low counts and asked for prayer. My hemoglobin is still low, but rising steadily. God is good and He hears and answers our requests.
The pain in my back isn’t gone, but it’s much less than I was experiencing before I asked you to pray. I saw the physical therapist and she gave me some exercises to do. If I need more physical therapy help I’ll need to get a new referral from my doctor. I had the CAT scan yesterday and my arm went back far enough for that with hardly any pain. And the IV needle went in first try and worked fine. So more very specific answers to prayer.
Another praise is that we’ve had a wonderful week with Wilf and Renate Otterbach. We were able to spend two nights at the coast and enjoy walks on the beach. They even went wading in the ocean!! It wasn’t kite flying weather, but wonderful to be out enjoying so much natural beauty. The rest of their visit we squeezed in lots of talking and fun outings around the medical appointments and church meetings. They left yesterday and we had planned to go on a hike today, but the rain has been almost continuous and we need to get a few more things planted, so decided to stay home. Wil got an award for being the most talkative in Bible class! I think this was meant to be talkative in a good way (always being ready to answer questions) rather than talking to classmates when he was supposed to be quiet.
Posted by David at 9:43 PM
May 18, 2006
Health Issues Update
It’s only a few days since our last update, but I could use your prayers. I’m experiencing quite a bit of pain in my back, left of the spine and a few inches below the waist. I don’t know if I’ve pulled a muscle or pinched a nerve or done something else crazy, but it is making sitting and lying in bed fairly uncomfortable. I was rejoicing in having been able to stop taking Naproxen (similar to Ibuprofen) since the pain in my arm has lessened, but this pain seems to have increased as the effect of Naproxen in my system wears off. I have an appointment with the physical therapist on May 25th and hope I can keep going until then. It’s awkward because there is still more planting to do in the garden, our friends the Otterbachs will be arriving tomorrow for a week, and I’m speaking at a ladies’ meeting this Saturday, plus we have extra meetings with the speaker who is here for the Missions Emphasis weekend at our church. So I’d like to be able to keep going and not be distracted by pain. Yesterday evening I realized that the series of little annoyances I’d faced that day were probably spiritual attack. If I am sharing what God wants me to on Saturday, I guess Satan would like to prevent me doing so.
Another concern is that my neutrophils were too low to have a full dose of Navelbine on Tuesday. That was especially surprising since I didn’t have chemo last week, just Herceptin, so there should have been time for the counts to come up. Low neutrophils means my immune system is too weak to handle the chemo. But my hemoglobin is doing a bit better, which means I’m less anemic.
Wil was elected the Social Chairman for next year on Student Council. He’s on a field trip with his class today to visit Mt. St. Helens on the anniversary of its eruption. We look forward to seeing photos when he returns. He was able to caddy last Saturday, so is encouraged to continue doing that Saturdays until school gets out (June 2nd is his last day) and then more regularly. Dave has put in a lot of hours helping another Dave with a deadline he needs to meet on a carpentry project.
Thank you for your concern for us. Please let us know how we can be praying for you.
Posted by David at 10:36 PM
May 15, 2006
Mid May Update
The weatherman says the temperature today will reach the high 80s Fahrenheit. That means we can plant corn and beans and will have to do a lot of watering to keep the new grass and already planted raspberries, strawberries, beans, peas, and lettuce from drying out too much. It may also shorten the season for the beautiful rhododendrons at the front of the house as I don’t know whether they can take that much heat. We’ve enjoyed the gardening, getting acquainted with neighbors, and all the beauty around us.
We also enjoyed hosting the OMF monthly prayer meeting May 9th and look forward to appointees and others with an interest in OMF joining us in the future. I marvel at the way God enables us to pray for people we’ve never met, as well as for some who are already close friends serving in very varied situations in Asia. Our hope of visiting the Philippines this summer isn’t going to materialize. Just when we thought we had enough frequent flyer miles for two tickets, we learned we would need twice as many miles to fly in August!. Wil is gradually accepting that disappointment.
Today Wil is giving a speech and the voting will take place for next year’s Student Council. He is nervous about giving the speech. He said he has lots of ideas in his head and hopes they will come out clearly. He didn’t write out a speech. He seems to have caught a virus from one of our visitors, but threw it off quickly and was able to come with us to a Mother’s Day concert of young artists from the Portland area. It is hard to believe the level of talent God has given to these accomplished musicians between ten and sixteen! We witnessed some very professional performances.
We attended an excellent seminar session on evangelism during the Sunday School hour at church yesterday. A refreshing and challenging reminder of how to get past and break down the barriers that separate us from the unsaved, or as the leader called them, “those still missing from the family of God”.
Posted by David at 8:27 AM
May 7, 2006
Active Springtime
Spring is bringing visitors as well as incredible flowers and blue skies. We enjoyed having family and friends with us in April, and look forward to having former OMFers Wilfred and Renate Otterbach from Germany here May 19-26th.. For those of you who haven’t been to Oregon, Spring is the best time to enjoy it’s beauty. We now have a lawn planted out back, and flowers and vegetables in, so are more ready to welcome guests! Ministry continues through Bible studies and on the 20th I’ll be speaking at a women’s meeting at a friend’s church.
My Uncle Owen whom we visited last month died on April 22nd. I wanted to go to the funeral, but had to accept that it was going to be too much to get there for a Friday funeral when I’d just had chemo on Wednesday and would have had to spend all of Thursday traveling to Ohio. Having missed so many important family occasions during my years in the Philippines, I badly wanted to be there. But if I had gone, I’d have missed seeing Dave’s sister Gail who came to visit from Rochester, New York. She had been wanting to see us in our new home, and timed her visit so that she could see Wil in his school play. He did a great job, and even led community singing at the beginning. The drama coach had asked Wil to try out for the play after seeing him in another school event, and when the choir director heard him singing, she asked him to try out for choir! He is also applying to be on the Student Council at school next year as Social Chairman. He certainly is social, but not flighty. His Bible study continues twice a week before school. This weekend he is at his youth group retreat. Maybe next weekend he’ll have time to caddy at a nearby country club.
My next CAT scan will be May 26th. Since I’ve been experiencing some tightness in my chest, the doctor wants a scan of my lungs as well as my liver. Please pray that I’ll be able to get my left (frozen shoulder) arm back far enough to do the scan. The last time I had one, I could just barely hold it back far enough for the liver scan and this time I’ll have to go further into the machine. I’m doing better now in terms of range of motion, but this is will be a challenge. My blood counts have been good and I’ve been able to carry on a more normal life in recent months.
Last week I was at a school board conference held in Seaside, on the Oregon Coast. I found the speakers stimulating and challenging. My training is to teach, but most of my teaching in recent years has been Bible studies, so it was good to learn more about issues facing teachers, administrators, students, and Christian schools trying to maintain Biblical standards in a world where everything seems to be tolerated but faith in Christ.
June 11th is not only a significant birthday for Dave, but a get-together of Filipino churches to celebrate their Independence Day. We’re planning to prepare a newspaper-style article for that event on the vision of seeing 200,000 Filipino missionaries by the year 2010. Pray this will get Filipinos attending excited at how they can play a part in reaching this goal and lead to opportunities to share more with individuals and Filipino congregations.
Seeking to serve as God leads,
Dave and Karen
Posted by David at 8:08 PM