Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Update-Sunday through Wednesday

By God's great grace I was able to preach His Word for about 30 minutes this past Sunday. Though I sat on a stool behind the pulpit, my voice grew steadier and stronger as I preached! I never cease to marvel at the power of God Who sustains and empowers me to preach His Word even through my illness. I kept thinking of Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 12:9 when our Lord said to him,"My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness," Paul therefore concludes: "Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." I can only add a heartfelt "amen" to this great truth!

Monday I pretty much spent resting up for chemo on Tuesday. It was a clear, though somewhat brisk day, so Susan and I walked for quite some way, and it felt great. I'm also looking forward to exercising my way back to health besides eating right.

Tuesday's chemo was pretty uneventful, just the way we want it. My hematocrit was 32 which is good for me, especially in light of the fact it had been a mere 15 only ten days before! Dr. Reilly, my naturopath at the Seattle Cancer and Treatment Wellness Center, gave me the goal of getting to 125 lbs. by next Tuesday. I weighed in at a strapping 122 and that was with my shoes on!! That's right, I'm pretty much a walking skeleton, so please pray my diet will kick in to give me a much needed weight gain. And please pray I can effectively control the nausea which is a common side-effect of the chemo I'm taking. I'm no longer on the Avastin; one of the possible side effects is internal bleeding. We don't know for sure, but it is possible this drug promoted the GI bleed which put me in the hospital. --Bryan

Today, Bryan had a rough one! The nausea overtook him which we were hoping would not happen. The doctor called in a new medication, which, hopefully, will help get things under control. It makes it difficult to gain weight when the thought of food turns the stomach. Please pray that tomorrow will be a better day! --Susan

4 comments:

Laura Earl said...

We are praying for you!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the inspiration you are to us all. As I talk about you and ask people to pray for you, it's amazing that you're already on their church's prayer list! A whole lot of prayers are going up!

Anonymous said...

Praise God you were able to preach the Word. When God's Spirit is present, all physical weaknesses can be overcome.
I look forward to hearing your sermon online.

Blessings.
Matt Holst

Bryan and Susan said...

Thanks! Laura

Nancy- We'll take all the prayer we can get. Thanks for passing the word. By the way, pray for my neighbor and our mutual friend, Vicki. She has just been diagnosed with endometrial cancer and is waiting surgery.

Matt-It was amazing to see the strength come upon Bryan as he continued to preach. God is great!!