9-8-10 Kecia has asked me to update everyone and ask for prayer in a specific area. In light of the recent conversation with her doctor, Kecia is feeling very down and discouraged. The thought of going on in this same miserable manner that she has been for the last year is overwhelming her. She wrestles with the idea of just stopping meds and going out gracefully. She doesn't have peace about that though and so would find it anything but "graceful". This past year has been far worse that the first year of her fight. The thought of doing it for at least another year is more than she can handle right now. Please pray that God will give her wisdom on how to move forward and that the wisdom with come with peace!

Doctor's Report

9-4-10 Kecia met with her doctor last week and didn't hear exactly what she wanted to hear from him. She was wanting to know if they could lower her doses of chemo, or maybe drop one of the ones that has the worst side effects, but he felt like that was too dangerous at this point. Last time she was cancer free (a year ago) they significantly lower her dose for a month and cancer spread to her brain. Since having cancer in the soft tissue is just about the worst thing that can happen to a caner patient he feels that they need to continue fighting aggressively for another year. He wants to keep her on 3 chemos at full strength and will lower the one with harsh side effects from 8 pills a day to 6. Doesn't sound like that will decrease her symptoms much but we'll see. We were hoping for some changes that would allow her to feel better but he doesn't think it's safe to do so yet. She really trusts him, so for now she plans on sticking it out a little longer.
Another point of interest is her financial situation. She has been forced to take long term disability from work and so is not collecting a real paycheck anymore. My understanding is that she makes about 35-40% of her usual pay. What she made last month covered only the cost of her prescriptions. She still has co-pays, doctor fees and payment on any special procedures to come up with. She usually goes to infusion monday through friday for fluids and extra "side effect busting" meds but due to co-pays she has had to cut that down to the bare minimum so as not to rake up extra cost. Please be in prayer about this issue. It is very hard for her not to worry about the financial side of fighting this disease when the bills just keep coming in and she doesn't see an end to it any time soon. We know God is faithful to provide for her. He has shown His face to her (and those of us watching) so many times in the past 2 years but worry is our human nature. So please pray for God's provision as well as His peace for Kecia.