PRAYERS NEEDED, PLEASE

[Ms Bear]

Flo, I hope Lynn had a better day today.  All in my prayers.

[flo]

well, we are on the down hill side.  Lynn's last chemo treatment is next Tues. 12/13.  I will be going up to be with her.  The chemo always makes her deathly sick.  Her last radiation treatment will be Dec. 30.  One month later she will meet with the oncologist at KU Med Ctr. to schedule surgery to remove everything.  The tumor has shrunk drastically in size, and has pulled away from her jaw.  Her neck is severly burned from the radiation and her mouth and throat are also very sore.  She has "made" herself eat what soft foods and liquids she can get down, small quantities only, but she is trying.  She desperately does NOT want a feeding tube.  She says, however, that eating what she knows tastes good and not being able to taste anything, makes it all the harder to make herself eat.  At least she is trying.  We are all praying that she will be well enough to come to my house for our family Christmas on Dec. 31.  If not, she certainly has a very good alibi for staying home.  So much to be thankful for, and THANKS TO GOD.  He has heard and is answering our many prayers.  I hope the next update is that she is healed and well on her way to recovery from all this.  It will be a few months yet for her to get back to normal, but that too shall come.  A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL THE FORUM FRIENDS WHO HAVE TAKEN TIME FROM THEIR DAILY ROUTINE AND BUSY LIVES TO SAY SPECIAL PRAYERS FOR OUR FAMILY.  MAY GOD RICHLY BLESS YOU AS HE HAS LYNN.

[flo]

I have returned home this afternoon after a couple days in Emporia to give Lynn some moral support and helping hand.  Glory be to God and the Doctors, Tuesday was her LAST chemo treatment.  That is a long 4 hours. then an hour of fluids following.  This is after she has had her radiation also.  The chemo always makes her to sick so I try to be with her thru that and the next day.  Her chest, neck and lower part of her face is burned very severly by the radiation so they discontinued radiation for the rest of this week and will start again Monday.  Altogether she has lost 60 lbs., but today she did choke down (literaly) an instant breakfast.  We bought some bananas because they are having problems keeping her potassium up, but she hadn't gotten up nerve enough to try one yet when I left.  I offered to mash just a bit of one, but she wanted to wait.  Her spirits are improving because she can now see the end of the treatments.  They will go thru the first week of January.  Then one month after radiation finishes, she sees the oncologist at KU Med Ctr. that we visited before all this began and she will schedule surgery to remove everything.  Thanks for prayers and may all of our forum family have a very Merry Christmas and a blessed 2012. 

[kshillbillys]

Merry Christmas Flo! Praise be to God for the healing He is giving your daughter! If her potassium is low, would she drink a banana milkshake? Potassium from the bananas, cold to soothe and ice cream for much need nutrition. --Jennifer

[flo]

Lynn Smith
Just finished my LAST treatment!!!!!! Now wait 2 weeks for CT to see if tumor is gone and then surgery and then this hell will be over with hopefully. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers these last few months. Feeling pretty weak at the moment but that should start improving now.


Just copied and pasted these words from Lynn.  This is a pretty joyous day for her.  The road ahead will be bumpy and take some time to get back to normal, whatever that is, but the light at the end of the tunnel is shining bright.  Thanks be to God and to friends for their prayers and concern.

[Diane Amberg]

I saw a friend on Monday who had her last treatment for the same thing just a year ago. She too lost most of her teeth.They were able to make molds to shield a few some how, but the tumor was in that area near the tonsils also. She went through the exact same series and she is doing great now but still does not have all her taste buds back to work.  She is fine, Lynn will be too!  Prayers continue.

[flo]

They made Lynn get all her teeth pulled before they would even start the radiation.  Something about it going down through the roots and into the jaw bone.  Given the choice, there really wasn't any choice, had to be done so she could have the chemo and radiation.... just another hurdle to get over.

[Diane Amberg]

If George Washington could do it so can Lynn! 

[Judy Harder]

Praise the Lord on your good news.

Now for the healing to begin.

Each day will find a little more recovery...........I still don't have my salava back, in fact, I keep a water bottle on or near me where ever I go and it was kind of like planning for my next cigarette.........always had a backup plan............except now it is keep the water/liquid on hand.

Taste buds will come back or just develop into a different set of tastes. Some of the things I hated (or disliked) before have come to be favorites now..........and that includes chocolate and raisins.........about the only thing that I still enjoy that I loved then, is peanut butter and all kinds of nuts.
PB kept me healthy and so did Boost and the hardest thing to relearn was the sweettooth, it is coming back only different and Praise the Lord, the cancer is still gone.

Now, if my aging body would just cooperate..........LOL I know, I know.............it is what it is. LOL
Good luck Lynn and remember to listen to your body, it will tell you when the hurdle is past.
God bless and keep you.

[flo]

Lynn has had a bit of a backset.  She went to her doctor appointment yesterday morning and they took her right to the hospital.  She has had problems with dehydration all along and not being able to eat, but yesterday she was diagnoised grossly dehydrated and undernourshed.  When I left to come home last evening she was on her 5th bag of fluids, 2nd bag of potassium and 2nd bag of Magnesium.  These fluids were continued all night and just talked to her and the fluids are ongoing.  If you count these, that is 3 IV's in her.  She was also had her on a heart monitor, however she said they unhooked that this morning.  A nutritionist has been in to see her this morning and they are going to try 5 small feedings of food she can eat and see what happens.  They wanted to insert a feeding tube, but she has declined.  Nutrition can be given through IV's and that is what she will opt for, if necessary.  She is very weak and very disapppointed that she has had to be hospitalized.  Her throat continues to give her a lot of pain and the radiation burns, although better, are very much visable on her face, neck and chest.  We have faith that God will help her and hear the prayers that we pray for her healing, her health and her comfort.  Prayer is about all we can do for her right now.   God's blessings to each of you and to my family as we try to help her through all this.  I sometimes feel so helpless.  I went to the hospital yesterday knowing there was nothing I could do but just be there for her.  She did appreciate it and in my mind I hope my company was a bit of comfort to her.