Happy Birthday!

Today is Metisha’s 32nd birthday! Happy Birthday Tisha! We know you will celebrate many, many more birthdays!

Mark and Tisha made it home from Mexico. They had a great trip! They snorkeled, went scuba diving, repelling and rode zip lines through the rain forest.

But they are only home for less than 3 days. Tomorrow morning we leave on a family vacation to the mountains of New Mexico. Dad and Mom took me and Metisha to Red River every summer while growing up and so it is one of our favorite places and our annual Red River trip was the highlight of our summer. We would have a cookie and lemonade stand every year to earn our spending money and thanks to a few loyal and cookie addicted customers, we always had a nice stack of cash! When we were little we would spend hours throwing rocks into the river and playing catch at the softball fields and always looked forward to riding go-carts and horses. As we got older we were allowed some freedom to be parentless for a few hours every day which usually turned into hours at the skating rink (and huge blisters) and riding bikes around town. Without a doubt some of our best childhood memories are from Red River. Our whole family hasn’t been there together for about six years so we are all looking forward to this trip and to starting it off with a Birthday celebration!

The next step in her cancer battle will be a new set of scans which will happen during the first part of August. Keep praying for Metisha. Pray for decades more of birthdays!

Cancer Markers Up

The blood work came back to show Metisha’s cancer markers have risen since her last round of blood work. This isn’t the results we were praying for but the doctors want to give the current drug therapies more time. They will schedule scans the first part of August which will tell them if or where the cancer has grown.

Mark and Metisha typically take these types of test results better than the rest of us but we are all tired of getting bad news and are VERY ready for some good news. But as hard as it is to discount all of the medical “facts” we have to focus having a faith that she will be physically healed. This faith is a choice, a conscious decision and one that is constantly attacked. But God does give us promises of healing in the Bible. We have to believe those promises and chose to have faith in God’s physical healing no matter what the test results say. Your prayers are a part of that faith. In James chapter 5 God it says:

Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.

“Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick”. It doesn’t just say to pray it says to pray in faith. We have to pray for Metisha’s healing and have faith that God will answer. Please pray with us and pray in faith. Pray for physical healing and pray for good news. We are continually grateful for your prayers!

Bone Treatment Today, Scans in August

Tisha is spending her day at oncology. They took her blood too late to get results back today so we won’t know what her counts are doing until Monday. The doctor also wants to wait until August to do new scans because she has only been on the current drugs since the end of April. He says they need more time to see if they are working or not. Pray that her counts are WAY down and that the cancer will go to hell before August!

She is getting another IV treatment for her bones today so she’s hanging out in the chemo room. Last month the treatment went much better with some achiness but no nausea. We are praying this treatment is easy this month also and does not have any side affects!

Mark and Metisha celebrated their 9th wedding anniversary this week! We look forward to them celebrating their 10th and many, many decades beyond! They are taking a vacation to Mexico this month and definitely deserve some time in paradise. As you can see, Mark is ready to go!

Busy Summer

I wanted to give a quick update on what’s been happening in Metisha’s world. She’s doing great and is staying busy this summer. She is traveling a lot this month and spending time with family and friends in Texas and Oklahoma. We are so thankful that her current treatments are non-invasive and allowing her to have a great summer! She looks so good people can’t believe she’s fighting cancer! She came to visit me at my office and people kept asking me how many sisters I have because they thought there was no way she was the sister fighting cancer!

Metisha does go back to her oncologist in Fort Worth on Friday for blood work and a checkup and then should have another round of scans. We are praying that the blood work on Friday will show her cancer markers to be down and that the scans will show no new cancer spots. Of course we are always praying that the scans will come back 100% cancer free!

The last few months have been an emotional rollercoaster. And while the ride itself is unfortunately familiar, those first stomach wrenching drops and sharp turns are always hard to endure and take some recovery time. But with all of your support and prayers we are able to get our footing again. Metisha has moments when beating cancer feels unachievable but most days are filled with happiness and trust that God will again give her a cancer free life. Every day that the cancer is kept at bay is a day closer to finding a cure for stage IV breast cancer. There is a promising new drug in trials now for stage IV breast cancer with genetic links. While Metisha’s cancer does not have these links, these types of trials provide hope and promise of more advances in cancer treatments in the near future. There is hope in medical advancements and always faith in God’s healing.

For now we are praying that her cancer markers will be down and the next round of scans will show a reduction in cancer. We are praying for only good news from these doctor visits and scans. We are praying for a continual strong faith and peace in God’s healing. And we are always praying for a cancer free life!

Just to show how well Metisha is doing here is a picture of her waksurfing just weeks after her last surgery.

You should probably add me to that prayer list because I’m probably going to take a big sister beating for posting this picture! But I think she looks great and am still jealous of her athleticism!

Back to Fort Worth

Metisha and Mark met with a doctor at MD Anderson yesterday afternoon. She reviewed all of Metisha’s records and told them that she would follow the same protocol as her doctors in Fort Worth have been providing and she did not recommend any changes in treatment. So the second opinion confirmed that her doctors are on the right path and Mark and Metisha are heading home. Mark and Metisha are happy to be able to continue treatments in Fort Worth and to hear MD Anderson say they are on the right track.

So the game plan is to continue to use daily drug therapy and monthly IV therapy to keep the cancer from spreading beyond the current spots and all the doctors believe that her recent hysterectomy will also help. While they do not expect the drugs will kill the existing spots, keeping it from spreading further will continue to give her a great life. She has been on this new drug for over a month now so we pray that it is working to prevent further spread.

Metisha is LIVING with cancer and that is important to know. The amount of healthy, cancer free tissues far exceed the amount of cancer in her body. She feels great and is doing everything she wants in life. She is truly LIVING and we are so thankful that she is! No one has put an expiration date on her life. No one has told her there is nothing left to be done. Every day we balance the medical “facts” against our faith in God and His healing. While the medical facts say there is no cure for stage IV metastatic cancer our faith tells us that God can heal her at anytime. We have never stopped praying for total healing and we will not stop now. So we pray over the doctors and the medicines that they will keep the cancer from spreading and these drugs will work for years and years and decades to come. But we also pray that God will show His power and perform a miracle of total physical healing in Metisha.

Metisha will have another set of scans in the first part of July. Pray that these scans will show the drugs are working and there is no new spread. But also continue to pray that God will give her complete physical healing and cast all of the cancerous cells out her body forever. Pray for the cancer to be gone from her C2 vertebrate, her liver, her abdomen structure. Pray for decades and decades of living for Metisha.

At MD Anderson

Mark and Metisha are in Houston and are heading to MD Anderson for thier first appointment at 1 pm today. We don't know what all will happen today (other than a lot of insurance paper work I'm sure) but I will post updates as soon as Metisha knows more.

Pray that God has a miracle waiting for her at MD Anderson.

MD Anderson in Two Weeks

Metisha talked with MD Anderson yesterday and will go to Houston on June 22nd. She does not know what will happen beyond reviewing her medical records but they told her to be prepared to stay for a week. We are so thankful to finally have an appointment for a second opinion! Keep praying for this process and pray for peace over the next two weeks. It’s hard to not know what the long term plan is and if her treatments will continue in Fort Worth or Houston.

Metisha does feel like her hysterectomy is making a difference. She can tell a physical difference (a lot less hot flashes which is nice for a Texas summer!) and so we are hopeful that the cancer is now out of fuel and will die. She is still a bit achy from the bone treatment on Friday but she is not nearly has tired. Today is her first day of summer vacation so she can get some rest before going to Houston. We are praising God that this round was much easier than the last. Thank you so much for your prayers!

Please continue to pray with us for:

• Metisha to be placed in front of the best doctors at MD Anderson
• Wisdom for Mark and Metisha as they evaluate the opinions and plans from MD Anderson and make decisions around her treatment
• Mental and emotional strength for Metisha, Mark and their families
• The cancer on her neck, liver, and muscle structure in her abdomen to die
• No other cancer spots to develop
• Our family friend Debbie who is also battling breast cancer and is currently in chemo
• A cancer cure for all types, forms and stages of cancer
• Metisha to be cancer free again, remain that way and live to be an old woman

Make sure you read yesterday's post. My sister is an amazing person!