The Name of the Lord Be Exalted

"Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted..."

~ Psalm 148:13 ~

Hmmm... I just realized that I never wrote an update on my dad after the last one in December. So I thought I would do that. :) You can skim over this next paragraph for a quick recap on the last thing I mentioned in that post:

"We'll see what the results for the MRI are, and if he has a new lesion they want to do another lumbar puncture to see if they can find anything indicating what this is... because he still hasn't been given a diagnosis! We've been dealing with this since May of this year and all the doctors are stumped.... They also want to try not to give him any steroids if possible, because he's had them every time and they want to see what the lesion does without them. (That is, if they really do find a lesion.) The steroids have been the only thing to take away his symptoms, though. So if he gets as bad as he did last time he will most definitely have to have them."

Well, he ended up getting the steroids. :) Another lesion was growing, but this time it was not located on the brain stem. Instead, they found it on the right side of his corpus callosum. That was something new. He went for a lumbar puncture on a Monday (the week before Christmas) and afterward suffered from what they call a "spinal headache". At first we weren't completely sure if that was the cause of the headache because he had already had a bad one for a couple of weeks, before the lumbar. For a few weeks all he would do was lie in bed every day. So by the next Monday (Christmas week) his doctor said it sounded to her like a headache resulting from the lumbar puncture because it was worse for him when he would sit or stand up. She said he could either come back to the hospital to have a "reverse lumbar" done, or he could try drinking a lot of caffienated liquids. He decided to try drinking lots of liquids! ;) The doctor said if it didn't work she would be on-call Christmas Day and the day after, and she would meet Mom and Dad in the emergency room to perform the reverse lumbar herself! ...Thankfully, it worked!! Christmas Eve was the first day he came out of his bedroom for weeks. We were all so happy! Therefore, we were all able to enjoy a very nice Christmas together. :)

Dad was slowly starting to feel better again. For about two weeks he felt so good! He was laughing, smiling, taking care of the barn animals, burning trash, putting new rock on the road, etc.... all things we take too easily for granted. But unfortunately, (hey! this sounds the same as my last update--unfortunately) last Saturday what seems to be his "I've-got-a-new-lesion-growing" headache started again. Sunday morning we didn't make it to church because it was bothering him too much. We also noticed when he opened his eyes that they weren't working together properly. Now today he's unsteady on his feet as well. The doctor made an appointment for him to have an MRI tomorrow. So now we're waiting to see what shows up there I guess.

~ All of this being said, I can't help but ask that you continue to keep Hope in your prayers as well. It seems she now has an infection in her liver, which is very serious. Her mother is asking that we pray that the Lord would provide her with new strength! Please pray for God to heal Hope of this cancer as well, but most importantly that His name would be exalted in their lives.

...And it certainly wouldn't hurt to pray something similar for our family while you're at it! ;) We really appreciate all the prayers. Have a blessed week everyone!

"Stand up and praise the LORD your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise." Nehemiah 9:5

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"In that day you will say: 'Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted.'" Isaiah 12:4