Stress and mistakes - a challenging week

I'll begin today's post by thanking all of you who have kept us in thought and prayer. Again, your encouragement means so much to us.

It has been a highly difficult few days. Karen had the treatment last Friday that injects the chemotherapy into the abdominal port. As soon as it was started, she told them she felt burning. It was started two more times and she continued to feel burning. She had to be taken up to radiology and had the longest possible needle to do the chemo. Then it was fine...but then on Saturday she began complaining of swelling and pain in the abdominal port area, then on Sunday I took her to see the on-call oncologist at Methodist Hospital, who didn't think there was an infection or any other problem. She was started on Augmentin - a powerful antibiotic that is, FYI, used on horses - and this made her sick.

The pain became worse and on Tuesday and today (Wednesday) we went back to Methodist to try to get to the bottom of this. It turns out Karen has a chemical burn from the Friday chemotherapy. She's in considerable pain from it and the swelling is significant. She doesn't want to take chemotherapy until the swelling is down and the pain stops. It was an unnecessary complication.

Last weekend Karen got all the hats and scarves we ordered from somewhere called Headcoverings.com. She's opting for these instead of the wigs. Her hair is nearly gone - tragic, but also short term.

So we go into Thanksgiving tomorrow with some concerns, but we know God can handle it. That sounds like a song, doesn't it? "God Can Handle It". Times like these bring out the worst in some people, sadly enough - but it brings out the best in most.

We're thankful for your prayers and the constant love and concern expressed by so many of you. Thank you.