Jan. 15th Update

Thanks to all who have been praying for us .. we had a wonderful time celebrating the Lord's birth and the coming of another year to love and serve Him with all our hearts. I was able to attend most of the activities we had planned and am grateful for the Lord's grace in granting me such special times with Carol and the boys. Like all of you .. we are now back in full motion with school, sporting events, birthdays etc.

As far as my health, we are going to concentrate on the neurological issues stemming from the cancer and surgery at the T10 spinal vertebrae. First is mobility .. this not only involves pain management but also muscle stamina increase. We will be getting one of those beds that will slowly be inclined to help me adapt more to an upright position. I will begin to work with another physical therapist in this area. You can pray for all aspects .. stretching,, exercises, dizziness, numbness in legs and feet, walking etc. Second is the whole GI arena. The nerves that control my digestive track have been affected, so I'm having all kinds of GI issues. I will be running tests on all aspects from swallowing to upper and lower GI studies.

I really feel like once I can get these two areas under better control, I will really see some significant improvement in my overall health and vitality which will only help my body fight the ongoing growth of the cancer. Of course, we are always on the look out for new treatments for my very rare form of cancer and would be open to undergoing new procedures as they are available. My Oncologist is in touch with some Dr.'s in Europe and also with the Duke Spine and Brain center for breakthrough treatments on the horizon.

I will keep you updated as the diagnostic measures get set up .. we thank all of you for sticking with us in this journey and we pray for '09 to be a miracle year of health and healing!!!!!!!!!