Prayer for the weekend

As you head into your weekend, please remember to pray for Teresa and her white blood cell count. It needs to be above 1.6 for her to be able to have chemo on Monday morning. She will have a blood test Sunday night to determine the count. Keep praying as she is feeling your prayers!

As you pray

As people have prayer meetings and prayer lists, I thought it would be good to brainstorm all of the specific prayer needs for this situation and that way people would know exactly who and what to pray for. And as the needs change, I will update the list. I am risking forgetting something or someone in doing this so I am asking you to call me or email me with additions, changes or updates. The list in the sidebar is what I can think of off the top of my head. I will keep it in the sidebar and update it as needed.

Teresa plays a not so funny joke...

This will make you smile. The Ramey's and the Saunders' have a love-hate relationship with IU and Purdue. We love IU, they love Purdue. We are constantly playing jokes on each other and making comments about one another's team. This morning, Teresa called down in a disguised voice and said she was Sandy from Tom Crean's office in Bloomngton. She asked if we knew of anyone who could suit up for the Hoosiers. Sandy said they had invited the managers to play but they weren't sure if that would be enough. In case you don't know the story, Tom Crean is suiting up one of his team managers for the Hoosiers' final game. HA, HA, HA!

Recap of the Prayer Meeting

As I said in the earlier post, there was a prayer meeting led by Debbie Froedge (which is meeting every Wednesday and anyone can attend) for Teresa and family. Here is a summary of what they prayed for:

• Rob, this hardship and for his spiritual life.
• The girls
• T's parents
• Her church family
• T's mother-in-law and how hard this must be for her watching her son go thru this with his wife
• that we would all be used
• any of T’s friends who are around her and are not saved; that T would be bold and witness to them

T is at peace with this and it was just comfort for me to find this out. She is not afraid to die. We thanked God for the earlier breast cancer which I believe now, prepared her for this time.

Debbie

The Father's View

Yesterday, Debbie Froedge led a group of women in prayer for Teresa. They used this devotion as their basis:

In the message "Cut The Lifeboats" we were encouraged to cut away those areas of our life which still cling to the world's answers for fulfillment and security - those areas which keep our hearts from being fully devoted to God. But at the same time, we acknowledged this can be a difficult process. One reason for this difficulty is our extremely limited view of our life and the world around us.

Our flawed perception is not unlike a tiny ant. These small creatures seem to never stop working as they scurry about frantically moving little grains of sand from here to there in the hope of building a secure home. If we could ask an ant to describe his world, he might tell us about his hole in the ground, about the few thousand members of his family, and maybe something about the few surrounding meters where he gathers food. Obviously, the ant has a very limited view of the real world.

But as our Heavenly Father watches us build our homes of security - watches us frantically moving from here to there, trying to climb to the top of the hill - He also sees a creation with a VERY limited view of the real world; "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9).

As seen from God's perspective, we have almost no understanding of how the little corner of our life fits into His plan or how our current problems are leading us closer to Him. From God's perspective our view is as limited as the ant. But, though we may not fully see or understand, He is calling us to trust.

Proverbs 3:5-6
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

Many of us are facing difficult circumstances. We want to walk along God's path and live a life pleasing to Him, but we're not sure which direction to turn. Our indecision is often because we only trust in what we clearly understand - and we've begun to realize our understanding is not very clear. But God's promise is that as we love and trust Him with all our heart, the path directly in front of us will become straight - as we trust, the decisions will become clear and we will KNOW our next step!

We must truly believe that our Heavenly Father sees and hears ALL, and that He's infinitely complete in understanding. Where we are fortunate to see a few short steps down the path, He sees the entire journey - the journey leading us "to be conformed to the likeness of His Son" (Romans 8:29), and the destination of spending all eternity praising His name. We must keep stepping out in faith, but we must do so by leaning on Him, continually seeking His direction, and trusting the Father's view.

Finally got some sleep...

Just wanted to post a quick note updating you on T. She finally got some sleep yesterday and slept last night. She sounded perky this morning and said she felt pretty good. Please continue to pray for her to get stronger, for her white blood cell count to stay up and for her to heal and get rest.

More Details from Rob

We were at the center for approximately 5 hours. The filter on the Taxol was a little stubborn and made things go a little slower. However, everything went very smoothly. The Benadryl caused her to be overly excited. So, she has not really slept during the day. We asked about her not getting the Benadryl but it is neccessary with the Taxol. The big thing is for her white blood count to not fall below 1.6. Today, it was at 2.3. It will no doubt go down with today's dose of chemo. We just hope that it does not fall below that magical number. If it does, she won't get chemo on Monday. In addition, she also becomes very vulnerable to any type of illness as the count drops because her immune system is basically wiped out. We will go out to the hospital on Sunday to get her blood test. The nurse will get the report first thing on Monday and let us know if it is too low to come in. She explained that they are treating the cancer very aggressively and it is not uncommon for the white blood count to drop on day 15.

Teresa continues to amaze me with her strength and courage. She has kept a positive attitude throughout the last 4 weeks. She understands that we cannot change what has happened and is not dwelling on the negative. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

Rob

Pray for the White Blood Cell Count to stay up

Teresa did well with the chemo today. She will have a blood test done Sunday evening which will indicate her white blood cell count. We need to pray that this stays up so that she can have chemo again on Monday.

So...Pray that:

• her white cell count stays up
• that she does not get sick from the chemo today
• that she gets her strength and energy back quickly
• that she stays healthy (no cold, flu, etc.)
• that she rests comfortably at night and during the day

Hopefully Rob will email me more details later so I can be a little more detailed. Keep praying!

Prayer Meeting Info from Debbie Froedge

We will begin the prayer meetings for T this Wednesday at 10 am at Fab All. We will meet weekly. You are welcome to bring scriptures, but you don’t have to. If you cannot attend in person, please pray with us each week during that time. We will plan on beginning our prayer time by 10:15 to wrap up around 10:45 or as God’s leads. Then be all wrapped up by 11. If you need to leave earlier that is fine, just stop by for a bit. If this time doesn’t work, we are flexible and can change it until we get a time that works for the most people.

Fab all is located on old oak hill road – across from the church on the left – I forget the name? sorry. Go past froedges, turn left and you will see the building on your right. Go in the door on the south side –

Call my cell if you have questions or reply to logcab@in-motion.net

Debbie Froedge

Gearing up for Chemo Monday

Teresa had a nice weekend with her family. Rob's dad turned 60 and she attended a dinner for him over in Indianapolis. She said she felt good and that it was nice to get to spend time with everyone.

Tomorrow is the big, "Double Down" day for T. She will get her second round of Taxol in addition to getting her first dose of Avastin. She is scheduled to start at 9:20 a.m. The treatment should last about 4 hours. Pray for this medicine to be effective in treating this. Pray for strength for Rob and Teresa along with the rest of the family. Pray that everyone stays healthy and that all of the medicines don't make her sick. Pray that she bounces back quickly after getting the treatment. Pray, pray, pray!

If you are on facebook, make sure you sign up for the Chemo Monday event which is just committing to praying for Teresa tomorrow especially.