Testimonials of Sandi's Impact on You

Sandi was always wanting to have an impact on her world. The family invites you to comment on how Sandi made a difference in your life. The family would love to read how she did that for you.  Ron

Sandi's Memorial

Sandi's Memorial will be held on Monday, November 22 at 2:00 PM. It will be held at Praise Covenant Church ( Harvard Campus). The address is 1611 85th St. East  Tacoma, Washington  98445
Please continue to pray for our family as we miss her so deeply.

See you later, Honey

At 1:00 AM this morning Sandi was called home to be with our Lord and Savior. We will miss her a ton. She was a Beautiful Wife, Daughter, Sister, Mom, and Nana. She leaves a tremendous void in our lives. Please pray for us during this very difficult time. We will miss her Humor, Compassion, Care, and Spontaneity. Sandi faced her greatest fear...cancer...and WON.  Her faith was NEVER shaken.  She held strong to the end and claimed victory for His kingdom. We will post the details for her memorial as they are worked out. We love you and thank-you for all of your support.
Ron

Happy Anniversary Sweetie

March 13, 1970 on a Friday, I met this very special girl. Little did I know, over the next 40 plus years, that she would become my Girl Friend, Life Partner, Loving Wife, Mother of our 3 Handsome Sons ( who we are so proud of), Nana of our 5 Beautiful Grand-kids. I just want to say that I am loving each day that God gives us to share with each other. I know enough with the mussy stuff, no I don't think that this will be the last of it! Last night Dad stayed with Mom in her room here at the hospital. Mom is to be released today to go home to the cabin that she has been living in with Dad. Her care will be provided by the family. Dad will be on the sidelines as her cheerleader. Dawn's surgery went well yesterday. She is doing well and preparing to go home. Sandi had her sedation and pain medication reduced to determine where her pain management levels are. She also needed to do this so that she could take over breathing on her own. Nutrition was started last night at 9:00 PM. This should help with gaining strength, working toward more independence from this level of care.Today pray for Mom and Dad as they go home. Pray for Dawn as she prepares to go home. Pray for Sandi for pain management and progress toward gaining strength toward getting off the ventilator. Pray for Peace and patience for Sandi as she tries to communicate with the boys and I while she is still on the ventilator. We appreciate your prayers and support so much, thank you!

Our Journey

Sandi and I could never have imagined this journey. We are not in charge so how could we have known. We are so glad that God is in control and we are here to walk through this together with Him. What a comfort to have "Him" at our side each step of the way. Yesterday was a very full day. Sandi's Dad was informed that his wife was here in the hospital. The hospital arranged for them to have adjacent rooms last night so he could be close to her. He should be released today. Please pray for him as he goes home while she stays here. Our daughter-in law, Dawn had a gall bladder attack yesterday while visiting grandma. The nurses had her rushed down to ER and that is where they figured out what was going on with her. Later she was admitted as a patient too, bringing the total to four of our family here receiving treatment. As I am writing this she is in surgery. Please pray for her. This AM we had a very serious talk with our Oncologist here. He says that Sandi has some very serious challenges here in ICU. This is the war that we must face. Today we are working on Sandi doing some of the breathing on her own. This is the first step in getting off the ventilator. She will also be put back on some nutrition. Please pray for her strength and the ability to work on progressing to breath on her own.

Grandpa is doing well.  He should be here in the hospital for a couple of days.  Sandi is still fighting.  She is so strong!  Her liver enzymes (they were abnormal yesterday) have improved a bit today.  They are going to give her some blood to help perk her up a little.  She is opening her eyes quite a bit and is making eye contact.  We are enjoying that!  Other than that, we continue the careful balancing act of meds and fluids.  We are ready for our dose of compassions today...how bout you?

1. Lamentations 3:22-24 Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."  Most of us are familiar with this scripture or have at least heard it.  It's a great scripture...it's AMAZING when you need it to survive.  This morning we were informed that Sandi's dad has suffered a heart attack.  They will be giving him blood thinners to try to resolve the situation. He will be in the ICU with us.  Sandi is still holding her own.  She is retaining a lot of fluid and also is developing some blood clots.  Neither of these things are a surprise to the doctors considering all that is going on.  Today will be a careful balancing act of meds and fluids.  Please pray for our entire family.  Pray that God will cover us with His love, grace, peace, and faithfulness.  We would love God to deliver us from this ugly beast and pain...pray.

Things are going better this AM. Last night Sandi's heart Rate was higher than they liked as well as her blood pressure was lower than they were comfortable with. Through the evening and night it was a balancing act to get both moving in the right direction.  Today the goal is for them to make small changes that will help Sandi work toward needing less assistance and gain more independence. They did a Electrocardiogram this AM and it appears that everything is OK.
We have met some wonderful people on this journey, I just wish it was under different circumstances. We just keep learning more things that we wish we would never needed to know. What should we be praying for today:
    - Pray that God would protect Sandi from any other complication to arise.
    - Pray that her heart rate would continue to come down. to a lower level.
    - Pray that God would continue to build her strength back ( She is very weak from all that she has been through this week )
    - Pray that this healing process will move along so we can get back to Chemo as soon as possible to fight the Cancer.
    - As always we are open to God's Healing Totally (Our God is able)
It looks like Sandi will be in ICU for another day or so.
Keep Praying God is in control of where we are and where we are going.

Thank you for your support,
Ron

We are still at the hospital.  Sandi's cytology is back on the tissue of the sack around her heart and it appeared to contain cancer.  They have decided to operate on the abscess in hopes that it will help Sandi gain strength.  I am sure it takes a lot of her energy to fight the infection. She is now out of surgery and in recovery and is stable.  The surgeon was confident in the decision to do surgery.  Please pray for a fast recovery.  Pray for wisdom for the doctors and for Ron and Sandi.  Also, pray for a miracle...it's not to big a job for Him.

Sandi has safely had her surgery. She is now recovering and is experiencing a lot of pain.  She will be staying overnight and should be back to Good Sam tomorrow.  The amazing surgeon stayed and talked for a few minutes after the procedure and stole the hearts of the family.  What a great guy!  He indicated that he did not visually see anything suspicious pertaining to the fluid.  Please continue to pray that the cytology will come back cancer free, that she will recover quickly, and that she will have a reduction in pain.

Sandi is tired today...but looking incredibly stunning in her new beautiful hat that Gail brought to her.  It is understandable why she is looking so tired. We have seen more doctors in one weekend than one would hope to see in a lifetime.  We have had lots going on but yet we still feel God's steady hand and are turning to Him to guide us through each obstacle.  Today's challenge brings fluid around Sandi's heart and lungs.  It is not life threatening and at this time it is not causing discomfort.  The doctors would like to know the reason behind the fluid and have decided to transfer her over to Tacoma General for a day or so to have a procedure done that will drain the fluid.  We have met the surgeon and are feeling encouraged to hear about his strong faith.  We are asking for prayer for Sandi and Ron, that God will sustain them through this.  Pray that the procedure will be performed tomorrow safely with little or no discomfort.  Pray that the fluid drained from her will be cancer free.  Pray that the abscess will continue to heal so that surgery can be avoided.  AND last but not least, pray that our wife and mother will be miraculously healed.  Please leave us some comments.  We love updating Sandi on who is thinking about her, encouraging her, and praying for her.