Friday, October 16, 2009

The Name of the Lord Be Praised!

"The Mighty One, God, the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets."


Hello, everyone!

We have had one of the busiest and craziest weeks. As many of you may know, we found out that Dad now has a third lesion on his brainstem. (Directly between the last two.) It was Sunday a couple of weeks ago that his symptoms started coming back. Each day they continued to progress and get worse. We called his doctor and they scheduled an MRI for that Thursday, which is when the third lesion was revealed. They quickly decided to schedule another kind of MRI for that same day hoping it might give a conclusive answer as to if this is Lymphoma or MS we're dealing with. Of course, it didn't. They decided to put off giving him steroids so they could get some testing done without having to worry about the steroids affecting any results. The soonest they could schedule anything was that Monday. Therefore, he had to endure all of his symptoms through the weekend, until Monday got here. When Monday FINALLY arrived, he had his fourth lumbar puncture (the first w/o steroids), lots of blood work, and chest, abdomen, & pelvic x-rays. By the time all the tests were done it was too late for him to go to the doctor's office for any steroids. He had to wait another day. Then we got a call that a nurse would be coming to our house the next day to give him the IV and steroids. PRAISE GOD! We could not wait. On Tuesday it happened to be raining non-stop and the streets and our driveway were flooded. Me and Mom were so anxious that the nurse wouldn't be able to make it. Then Mom turned around to me and said, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6, 7) Soon, the nurse did arrive (the rain still pouring!) and we were all so thankful! Wednesday he woke up feeling a little better, (his headaches were gone) and another nurse came to give him more steroids that afternoon. (The doctor ordered him 5 days worth.) He was able to go to church (only using a cane) that evening. By yesterday (Thursday) he was actually not doing very well. His walking appeared to be a little worse but that was because he was feeling really dizzy. (Mom said that maybe that could be caused by the swelling going down around the lesion. So we didn't worry too much about that.) In the afternoon they had to leave for some more tests. (I honestly don't remember what all he had done!) And now, today the nurse has already come and he is feeling quite a bit better. Tomorrow will be his last day for steroids. We haven't heard from the doctor about any test results yet.

Anyway... all that being said, we are very thankful to the Lord for getting us through this last week. It is His sustaining strength and amazing grace that helped us through it all, and we praise his glorious name for watching over us! We are also very grateful for the continued prayers! We still don't know what exactly is in Dad's brain, but God most definitely does! :) His plan is still perfect and He is still worthy! May the name of the Lord be praised!

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised."

PRAISE THE LORD ALL THE EARTH! :)

6 comments:

Lindsay said...

Wow, Taylor, it sounds like y'all have had a crazy week!

I just love your family's outlook in this whole situation though: "We still don't know what exactly is in Dad's brain, but God most definitely does!" What a wonderful reminder to completely trust in God for everything!

Thank you for this post, dear friend!

~ Love,
Lindsay

PRAISE THE LORD ALL THE EARTH! :)

Taylor said...

Thank you, too, dear friend!!

~ Love,
Taylor

emii said...

Hey Taylor,
Wow, praying for your dad & your family..

I just found your blog, btw (Obviously!) :)

Luv,Emii

Taylor said...

Hi Emii,
Thanks for leaving a comment... and thanks for praying!!

~Love,
Taylor

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a busy, stressful week! I am praying for your dad!

Taylor said...

Thank you, Maggie!! :)