Unexplained Pain, Part 3

Praise God for answering your prayers!

In our last post, we asked you to pray for the following:

• Beth needs her chemo to start Monday.  The stent had helped her liver function but the blood transfusion needs to have boosted her blood counts to an acceptable level.

Answered!  Her blood chemistry was high enough to start her chemo.  As I write this, the nurse is connecting the chemo IV for administration.  Dr. McCollum wants her to receive the whole chemo treatment in the hospital.  Since it takes over 48 hours, we will be here until Wednesday night.

• The pain is unbearable.  Pray for the cause to be discovered or to be miraculously healed.  Everything is easier to tolerate when you are not doubled over in pain.

Answered!  She feels so much better today.  Even though her pain has decreased, she is still receiving the stronger pain medication.  The doctor gave her a pain patch to see if it will be effective in managing her pain over a three day period.  The idea is to use the patch as a replacement for IV pain medication.  If the patch is effective, then we should be able to return home and manage her pain from there.

• Pray for the doctors and nurses as they communicate with each other about Beth’s treatment.

Answered! Her chemo regimen has been successfully migrated to the hospital and we are on our way.

Please continue to pray.

• Her bilirubin is still too high.  The stent is working great, but the liver function still has not completely normalized.  Dr. McCollum is holding off on one of the chemo medicines until Wednesday to give the liver a little more time to normalize.  Pray that her bilirubin level will drop to a normal level by Wednesday so she can get her full dose of chemo.
• The pain is getting better, but there is still some work to do to get her off IV medicine.  Pray for a solution to be found so we can go home soon.
• Beth is still having a hard time holding food down.  Her nutrition is a bit of a concern at this point, but with her pain getting better her nausea might be getting better as well.
• Dr. Moparty found an infection in her esophagus that is being treated through antibiotics.  Pray for it to clear up since the infection is contributing to her nausea and discomfort.

Thanks for all of your prayers these days.  God’s power is being seen.