The Suffering of a Dear Friend

Dearest Living Room Community,

Just was we rejoice that Lois does not have cancer, our dear friend, Sue, wrestles with the devastation of recurring cancer in her mother. Please read her email update in the text below and cry out to God in prayer for her entire family...

Sue writes today...

My mom just got back from her oncologist [follow up visit to radical mastectomy surgery last week] and the news was much worse than we had anticipated. The cancer she has is completely different than the one from two years ago. This one is extremely aggressive and our fear is that they've been moving a little too slowly on it. Whatever this cancer is, it could very quickly spread to her ovaries and elsewhere — and even though the PET scan was clear, he needs to go over it again, just to make sure. He's not convinced it hasn't spread. She also recently felt a hard lump under her arm, in the same spot as the surgery (where they removed the lymph nodes) — he didn't like that at all (a new tumor? Already?!) and told her to call her surgeon and request an emergency visit. So ... they're going to try a different kind of chemo (I think) - much, much more aggressive, every three weeks for the next several months. Along with that will be two drugs: herceptin (which could damage her heart) and taxo-something (which could cause severe allergic reactions). He stressed the importance of this starting A.S.A.P. -- there is absolutely no time to lose.

We are scared. Tremendously scared. My mom came home with a look of shock on her face. It's hard not to cry. You can't help but feel that this is so sinister, just really out to get you. We have no idea what other scans will show. She has to have a muga scan tomorrow a.m. to see how her heart will hold up with all of this. This truly was devastating news today. Just when we were starting to feel better about things ... wham. It's getting to be rather cyclical! Please, please keep us all in your prayers — for my mom, that she will have an extreme dose of strength to get through this, to fight this, that her spirits will be up, and that she will win and be healed. For the rest of us, that we will be strong for her and be able to do what needs to be done. Above all, please pray for healing — we can jump through fire, walk over coals, do whatever it takes, just to beat this horrible thing. I'm sure we'll know more in the next few days — I'll keep you posted.

Thanks so much for your prayers.
-Sue

Dear Living Room Family Members,
Please post comments to this email as responses to Sue. She checks this blog daily and may find comfort and encouragement from knowing that you are joining with many others in prayer and concern for her dear mother.

Thank you so much.