I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Jeanie and Kecia actually hosted for our family gathering this year and it was a great treat. Just like old times. Kecia felt pretty good for awhile then went to be for the night around 4. But just having her up and about with us for the afternoon was nice. They have received some good news this week. But first let me back track....after all the changes with Kecia's cancer treatment center closing down, she was forced to find a new doctor so that she could get treatments locally without having to check into the hospital for every treatment. She may go back to dr wazenski once he has reestablished with a new clinic but for now she has found someone else. He ran some more scans...now back to the good part....and they came back very positive. She had not been able to get any of her chemo except the one that protects the brain, during this whole dr switch time. She was concerned for how much cancer would have grown back. But her cancer markers were at ZERO. I don't know exactly what that means but it's good! Her brain scan revealed the tiny spots on her brain are still there, but no new growth! AMEN! Her heart function has improved from the low 20's to the upper 40's. He would like them to be above 50 for her to recieve any more chemo and since there has been no new growth he wants to keep off the big chemos and just do the herceptin (which is a preventative) and the brain preventative that I can't remember the name of. She will continue on her heart meds and her shots that prevent her body from producing estrogen. So in a nutshell...she stays on preventative meds and heart boosting meds but stopped taking the heart killing meds because there is no active cancer that needs attacking. YEAH! Emotionally Kecia is so encouraged by this news. Thank you all for your continued prayers. Maybe now she will start feeling like getting out there and reconnecting with friends. Thats one of my next prayers for her right now.

Well, Kecia came through her gamma radiation ok. Said the first day was horrible, but the second was faster and not so bad. She found out that the center where she gets regular treatment was closing and has been looking for a new place to get chemo since then. Yesterday, after spending hours on the phone it was decided that she would go to a hospital in Mckinney for treatments and go to her dr's office across the street for regular appointments. Its a much longer drive than she has now, and she will loose the personal care she got from the cancer center staff but we are praying that there is someone special with whom she will cross paths during this process of change. She has been sick for the past few days (more than usual) so she thinks it may be a virus (although Im sure it's hard to tell them apart at this point).
Our church has been putting together small individual meals that Kecia and Jeanie can heat up easily, which has been a huge blessing since neither feels much like cooking healthy much anymore. They asked me to send a BIG "THANK YOU" to all who have sent food, prayers, and well wished thier way!

Another Spot found

Kecia just called and told me that while reviewing the scans taken while they were measuring for her gamma radiation treatment, they found a 4th spot on her brain. She is so disappointed! She knows we are praying that the 3 spots be gone and not that new ones are added so she was a bit suprised to hear this unexpected news. They are still planning to do the gamma radiation on Thursday and Friday (about 2-3 hours each time) and have decided to go ahead and put her back on one of the preventative chemos. Her heart is a little better although not at all where her doctor would like it to be. Please pray for Kecia's health (specifically that her heart will continue to strengthen and not decrease function, and that the spots will be dead and gone) but also that the Lord will make himself known to Kecia in an undeniable way. She is so tired yet not at all ready to give up. She needs the kind of strength that only God can give her. He breathed life into her at birth and she is needing that breath of life again now.

Kecia just got finished testing her heart function and the numbers have improved from 25 to 42. I don't really understand what that means, but higher is better so PRAISE GOD! She goes in for measurements tomorrow. You may remember from last year when they did gamma radiation on her brain. She spends a day getting measured down to the millimeter (actually probably closer than that) and then next week they will do the actual radiation on thursday and friday. I have been praying a very bold but exciting prayer and I want to ask each of you to join me. Please pray that after doing all this measuring, worrying and praying, they will go to do the radiation and find that the 3 spots on her brain are already gone. They are not treating that right now in any way so if they aren't there, its because God removed them before they had a chance to. Wouldn't that really blow the doctor's mind!!

Kecia just texted me asking for prayer. I didnt even realize that she had gotten scans done this week but apparently she did, as she found out today that there are 3 active cancer spots on the brain again. She also found out that the cancer center where she gets treatment is scheduled to close this week as well. She has very little information about either situation and is obviously very saddened by this flood of bad news. She said she will find out the course of treatment, and where she will receive treatment early next week. She is asking that everyone pray for God to take care of these 3 spots just as He did the last 3 so that there will be no need for radiation or that horrible gamma knife again. I will let ya'll know more when I hear. Thank you!

Ready for some good news?

Kecia went in to see Dr Wazenski, her oncologist, today and he told her that her heart function was up slightly from 25 to 28. Not sure exactly what that measures (i thinks it how much it can pump out) It is supposed to be up in the 80 range so while it is impoving, it still has a long way to go to be out of the danger zone. He then found out that her lung scans from the previous day were ready to be read. He is very open with Kecia and honest about everything she has been going through so he once again brings scans in to read out loud to her and Jeanie even before he has had a chance to review them. He was dumbfounded and said "well, people are REALLY praying for you arent they? " The lining of her lungs has become think due to the cancer lesions growing all over it. The legions were relatively small, but there were tons of them covering both the upper and lower portions of the lung. He told her there are absolutly NO legions that can be detected and the lining of her lung has returned to normal thickness! I dare somebody to try and explain that away as something other than God! Dr Wazenski is one of the best in his field and he knows this is so much more than medicine. He asked Kecia "You are praying people, right? Christian? Well PRAISE JESUS! This is amazing. I don't know what to say except you must have alot of people praying for you." (Dr. Wazenski is Jewish but Kecia thinks he is a Mesionic Jew) Kecia and I discussed how this is becoming her testimony and how she is "accidentally" touching lives with her story and faith. My girls are so excited to see God working for Kecia in this way. We stopped praying that God would "please heal kecia" several weeks ago and began instead thanking him for the miracles he has already done for her and for the ones he is doing right now. We just believe He wants to heal her and we are thanking him in advance for the healing that we know he will do! WOW! I have goose bumps! Im so happy to be able to share good news with my faithful prayer warriors who know that our real battle is not with flesh and blood but with the forces of evil....who did NOT win this battle! (I cant stop smiling)

Kecia met with several different doctors this week and it was discovered that she has many small spots of cancer on/in her lungs. They are not going to be able to get her back on her original chemos due to the damage to her heart. Tests show that even though she has not been on the chemo for several months, and she is taking the heart medicine, her heart is not showing any recovery and is actually a bit worse than at her last visit. Her doctors have consulted with the leading cancer specialist worldwide and she told them to try two different chemo meds (don't know which two) because they are shown to do little damage to the heart. She will loose her hair again, which is not a big deal in the whole scheme of things, but is important to her. This specialist says there is a new drug coming on the market in about a year and another in about 18 months which are supposed to do big things for breast cancer patients. I think she is trying to give Kecia some hope about a future cure. It may comfort Kecia later, but right now she is sounding pretty down and worn out. The thought of "starting over" after already battling for 3 years is exhausting to her. She is tired of being sick! I am still praying for Kecia's miracle healing. I want to see her cancer free and drug free! But in the mean time, I pray that God will make himself so real to her. I dont think there is a "hope" big enough here on earth to comfort her. Her real comfort will have to come through him and I pray that she will seek that with her whole heart. Please join me as I pray for Kecia and her family. Your support is priceless to us!