God is good.  He brought Sandi to the hospital on Friday morning with pretty intense pain.  We are so blessed to have a great variety of specialist at our disposal.  Via a cat scan, they discovered that Sandi has a large abscess on lower intestine.  At this time, it does NOT seem to be cancer related.  She is on intense antibiotics and has a drain tube inserted in it and so far we have been able to dodge surgery.  Her spirits are good and she still has enough energy to smirk at my stupid jokes (and we all know that takes effort!).  Please pray for Ron and Sandi.  We would appreciate every prayer!  Pray for healing in all areas.  We will continue to keep you posted.

Another week of chemo behind us!  Sandi's mouth is healing nicely and she maintained the weight again this week.  We are still battling the low sodium but we are hoping to have that figured out this week.  We are so thankful for all of you who are still praying.  It matters and it does make a difference.  We can't imagine walking through this without God, friends, and family.  Love to you all.

Sorry for the delay on the update!  Our computer is...well...not happy.  On another note, we have AMAZING news to share.  Sandi not only maintained her weight this week, she gained!  Whoohoo!  We also have had another reduction in pain and in meds.  Double whoohoo!  We felt so encouraged this week.  Truly these blessings are from God.  Please continue to pray for healing of the mouth, for continued reduction of pain, for wisdom for our team of doctors,  for rest for both Sandi and Ron,  and as always complete healing.

Tomorrow we go back to see the oncologist.  We are assuming we will be resuming chemo and are praying for good blood results.  We also need prayer for Sandi's mouth.  She has sores all over in her mouth and it is quite painful!  We will keep you posted on how our appointment goes tomorrow.

~Dawn

Ron and Sandi are requesting prayer this weekend.  Please pray for direction for them from the Lord.  They need peace, guidance, and wisdom.  We also need normal labs for Sandi this week.  Thanks in advance!  

Sandi is home!  Please continue to pray for strength, weight gain, normal labs, healing, and for a MUCH calmer week!

It was so good to see Sandi looking so much better today!  She is eating well and even taking strolls in the hallway.  We are so thankful to see such a change from the weekend!  Sandi is expected to get a blood transfusion to stabilize her hematocrit. I know, one of those fancy words again.  Don't worry, we keep saying we have learned everything we NEVER wanted to know about cancer!  Anyhow, the hematocrit levels can let the doctors know if Sandi is low on red blood cells.  Most likely, it is just due to the bleeding prior in the week and the transfusion should resolve the problem.  Maybe she will go home tomorrow. Keep praying :)
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Okay, deep breath, here is our update.  It has been a long week to say the least.  Sandi's kidney tumor started bleeding this week.  So much so, that she was bleeding more blood than she could make.  This in turn, caused her blood to drop almost to the point of needing a transfusion.  The doctor recommended a chemical embolization of the kidney tumor.  A what, you ask?  Well, since you asked, the doctor basically injects small little particles into the arteries they suspect to be bleeding and hope the bleeding stops.  On Thursday, we proceeded with the procedure and as far as we can tell it seems to be working.  Huge praise!  Then on Friday, Ron took Sandi home and by the afternoon she was not feeling well.  By evening, she was feeling horrible.  Ron took her to the emergency room where they decided that she was having an adverse side effect from her pain medication.  Sandi has had a reduction of pain and a bit of weight loss which both contributed to her feeling the way she did.  She has been in the hospital for most of the weekend but is doing MUCH better.  Another praise!   She will probably go home tomorrow and be able to resume chemo on Wednesday.  Please continue to pray.  Please pray that the bleeding will continue to cease, that Ron and Sandi will get rest, that Sandi will continue to increase her strength, Sandi will gain weight rather than lose weight (bet she never thought she would request that one), that all those around us will feel trust in God's plan, and of course as always HEALING!