The In-Between

After a rough night David is finally resting. The surgeon came in this morning and said the NG tube could be removed. David can only have ice chips at this point to see how he tolerates them but we are thankful for this small step toward recovery.

A little later in the morning we saw the doctor on-call with our oncology practice. He was very nice and confirmed what I (Pam) was suspecting. A combination of the Avastin chemo drug and the steroids most likely caused the rupture in David's colon. It is all a balancing act - introduce additional drugs to keep the tumors at bay but risk other complications. The Avastin was stopped in early December because an MRI showed David had had a stroke - enter balancing act # 2. Stop Avasin and the benefits of slowing tumor growth or start Coumadin (blood thinner) because the greater risk has now become another stroke.

Because of David's high risk for another stroke the doctor's are increasing the dosage of his Heparin injection. This adds balancing act # 3 - keep him from a stroke and slow the healing from surgery or keep the dosage the same and risk another stroke.

A while back I wrote "God knows the end of this journey - and everything in between." When I wrote that I certainly did not know that we would have these complications. All my eyes could see was the journey of brain cancer and how, if God did not heal David, what the progression of the disease would do to him. A ruptured colon, emergency surgery, a colostomy were not in the picture. God graciously does not allow us to see "everything in between". Knowing the end is what gives us hope.

Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. One day sin and suffering will be totally done away with. In the meantime, we eagerly await...

Pam