God's Provision

1 John 5:14-15 "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of Him." 

Philippians 4:19-20 "And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good! Wayne and I met with Dr. Uhm this morning at Mayo Clinic. We were very impressed with the quality care we received during our visit. Mayo Clinic is very organized and well run. I would highly suggest going there if you ever get cancer or have a complicated health issue. The doctors sat down and spent a lot of time talking through everything with us.  It was a very informative and encouraging appointment. Dr. Uhm told us that the care that we received so far is the exact regimen we would have received at Mayo Clinic. He told us to continue with the plan that is in place (do chemotherapy 5 days on and 23 days off for six months and get MRIs every two months). We asked him about trials and he said that he wouldn't pursue any trials unless the cancer came back. He said that Wayne has many genetic markers that show that his cancer will respond to normal treatment. He said our best bet for now is to proceed with normal treatment and wait and see what happens in the future. 

The other encouraging news that we found out today that is that the Mayo pathologists looked at Wayne's tumor and said that it is a grade 3 tumor. Dr. Uhm said that grading a tumor is subjective and can vary from pathologist. Regardless if it is a grade 3 or grade 4, Dr. Uhm said given Wayne's genetic markers, age, surgery resection, etc, Wayne had an excellent prognosis. Praise The Lord!!

Hearing good news has been a blessing today. Although the future is still uncertain, we are thanking God for this bit of good news. We will continue to take a day at a time and number our days, as we all should, but it feels like a load has been taken off of our shoulders. God gets all the glory for everything that has transpired...the strength that God gave Wayne as he went through treatment and rehabilitation, the strength and peace that God gave me through this entire ordeal, and the health that Wayne has with the diagnosis he was given. Only God can provide complete healing to Wayne. To the medical doctors, brain cancer is never cured. We will continue to rely on God, our Jehovah Rapha-our healer. Wayne's life is in His hands and God knows the future and the number of days He has ordained for Wayne.

The best news of the day is that today was our only appointment at Mayo. They told us to be prepared to be seen for 3-5 days while we were here. They normally have to run labs and pathology results while the patient is in town. I sent Wayne's tumor ahead to Mayo a few weeks ago, so they were able to run all the tests before our appointment today. That means that Wayne and I are going to have what my mom is calling a "mini second honeymoon" in Rochester, MN (don't you know this is the hottest trend in honeymoon?). The room is already paid for and I have my race on Sunday. It is going to be fun to just relax and enjoy each other after a long and tiring three months. A huge thanks to my parents for watching our kids for us!! 

What's next? I will run my 1/2 marathon on Sunday and then we'll head home. June 9th we will go get a MRI at Northwestern and have meetings with all of our doctors. After that, Wayne will start his six month cycle of chemotherapy. We will continue to update the blog and keep everyone posted. I want to thank everyone for all of your prayers. God used them to sustain us through all of this. Continue to pray for us and pray that God continues to receive all the glory for all that happens in our lives. This journey is not over, it has just begun, but we leave the future in the best hands...God's hands!!