Posted on 09/23/2006 5:32:40 PM PDT by Hi Heels
From Tom, ZM's husband:
Sorry for the long silence.... It has been quite a ride.
On Monday 8/28 we met with ZM's oncologist to learn the results of the chest and abdomen CT scans. As I told you in my last update, all the news was good and we decided to switch to the chemo pill since ZMs veins were shrinking. We had great fun for the rest of the week planning how to use the time we would be getting back since she would not be sitting in the infusion room for 4 hours every Friday.
Over the labor day weekend (Sept 3,4) ZM began to have problems moving her left side and she become quiet and hard to communicate with. On Tuesday morning (Sept 5) she slipped into a near comma state and was taken to the hospital via 911 services. In the ER they ordered a brain scan and delivered the news that the cancer had spread to her brain and she had multiple tumors causing lesions in the right side of her brain, some as large as 5 centimeters. These were also causing swelling in her brain and increased pain. ZM's oncologist ordered more test and then told us that the tumors causing the lesions were inoperable. We were told that our options were to (1) simply give up and go home with hospice care or (2) try some radiation of the brain. The radiation may result in some temporary improvement or at least make ZM more comfortable.
So on Thursday (9/07) we moved ZM to a hospital in Plano, TX where she could receive radiation treatments as an inpatient. By now ZM was basically in a coma and could not move her left arm o r leg and could not even force her eyes to look to the left. That afternoon, they developed a treatment mask for her and did the first radiation treatment. After a 3 hour sleep ZM woke up able to move her left arm and leg some. A combination of steroids was prescribed to shrink the swelling in her brain. On Friday afternoon she received a 5 minute radiation treatment and following an hours sleep she woke with full use of her body, sat up in bed and pronounced herself hungry for the first time in weeks. Radiation is only done Monday thru Friday, so we hung around in the hospital over the weekend with ZM improving by the hour. The Doctors have all said they are astonished with her recovery/progress. They are now referring to her as their September miracle.
Following radiation on Monday (9/11) she was released from the hospital and I brought her home. She is 100% off the oxygen now and has had no pain medication since Thursday (9/07). She requires a walker to get around, but is getting stronger each day. We return to the hospital in Plano (30 miles each way) for radiation treatments and she continues to take the steroid to reduce the swelling. All this activity has left her with a bit of confusion, but today she tried to get on line and read some of her email.(Since she hasn't looked at email in well over a month you can imagine the stack of mail she has.)
We will continue the daily radiation treatments on Monday and Tuesday (9/26). After that she'll continue on the steroids but will return to her regular daily activities. ZM and I believe that -- Thanks to the prays and good thoughts - this is a permanent fix. However, she'll be returning to the doctors for blood work and check-ups on 10/10. Hopefully she'll get a clean bill of health at that time.
Thanks so much to everyone for the cards, emails and keeping her in your prayers.
See? OUr "treatment" is working. PLEASE keep this wonderful FRiend in your thoughts and prayers! God bless!
prayers continue
Prayers for you, Zacs Mom, and for your family.
Please post your replies to Hi Heels; Zacs Mom; bitt
Zacs Mom, I'm praying for you. I'm asking God for a miracle. God's protection and healing for Zacs Mom...God's comfort for her family and friends.
Blessings,
trussell
If you want on/off my prayer ping list, please let me know. All requests happily honored.
Thanks for the ping, bitt.
Prayers continued for comfort from the Lord for your family.
Amen to your heartfelt prayer.
My prayers for you and those around you.
prayers for healing and comfort for you and yours.
Isaiah 53:5
Prayers for God's blessings on you and your family, Zacs Mom.
Very sad. Prayers sent for Joan and for Tom and the rest of her family.
My prayers are with you and all whose hearts are heavy with worry. May God remain at your side, providing comfort, peace, and strength.
Praise the Lord Jesus for his miracles. For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, now and forever, Amen.
Prayers and best wishes for ZM and Tom and their family!
Heartfelt prayers.
Excellent and wonderful news! More prayers for ZM and family.
Prayers Continuing for Joan and Tom, in our Savior's Holy Name.
This excerpt from her writings (Ad medicum Castillo: edit. L. Getino, La Patrona de America, madrid 1928, pp. 54-55) extolls the beauty of divine grace and is used in the Roman Office of Readings on her feast day, August 23.
Our Lord and Savior lifted up his voice and said with incomparable majesty: “Let all men know that grace comes after tribulation. Let them know that without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. Let them know that the gifts of grace increase as the struggles increase. Let men take care not to stray and be deceived. This is the only true stairway to paradise, and without the cross they can find no road to climb to heaven”.
When I heard these words, a strong force came upon me and seemed to place me in the middle of a street, so that I might say in a loud voice to people of every age, sex and status: “Hear, O people; hear, O nations. I am warning you about the commandment of Christ by using words that came from his own lips: We cannot obtain grace unless we suffer afflictions.
We must heap trouble upon trouble to attain a deep participation in the divine nature, the glory of the sons of God and perfect happiness of soul”.
That same force strongly urged me to proclaim the beauty of divine grace. It pressed me so that my breath came slow and forced me to sweat and pant. I felt as if my soul could no longer be kept in the prison of the body, but that it had burst its chains and was free and alone and was going very swiftly through the whole world saying:
“If only mortals would learn how great it is to possess divine grace, how beautiful, how noble, how precious. How many riches it hides within itself, how many joys and delights! Without doubt they would devote all their care and concern to winning for themselves pains and afflictions. All men throughout the world would seek trouble, infirmities and torments, instead of good fortune, in order to attain the unfathomable treasure of grace. This is the reward and the final gain of patience. No one would complain about his cross or about troubles that may happen to him, if he would come to know the scales on which they are weighed when they are distributed to men”.
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