Chevy's second home service hair cut in three weeks.  I think the new style suits her very well!  :-)

     

Achie's second chemotherapy went well today.  I was with her throughout the entire almost 7 hours.  She slept through a good part of it because of the Benadryl that they gave her to prevent an allergic reaction.  I had to wake her up when it's time for her to eat.  When she was still alert, she read from a booklet called HOPE by Joni Eareckson.  She also chatted with the other people undergoing chemotherapy.  I think it's therapeutic for her to share stories with these other patients.  Two patients receiving Taxol complained of pain or burning on their vein as the medicine runs through.  But Achie was comfortable, praise God.  Most of the patients there lost all their hair from the day after chemo to 7-10 days after.  Twenty days after her first chemo, yesterday, Chevy still had a thick head of hair, despite several mild shedding.  This morning was difficult and her hair thinned out significantly and she now has patchy alopecia at the top of her head.  Please pray that she will quickly get used to this and accept this as part of her new life in the Lord.  She is sporting a new hairdo (see next post), and God willing, she can enjoy it for at least several days.  She is very brave and an inspiration to us all!

 3 I will proclaim the name of the LORD.
       Oh, praise the greatness of our God!

 4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
       and all his ways are just.
       A faithful God who does no wrong,
       upright and just is he.

     

Tonight we held a Thanksgiving and Prayer Service to celebrate the Lord's goodness and to pray for healing for Chevy.  For the Thanksgiving part, we sang songs like Great is Thy Faithfulness and I Could Sing of Your Love Forever.  For the prayer portion, we sang songs like Heal Me O Lord and God Will Make A Way. 

I shared from Psalm 145.  We celebrated the Lord's attributes (greatness, power, righteousness, goodness, graciousness, compassion, faithfulness, love) and what the Lord does for us (sustains, raises up, provides, satisfies our desires, loves, is always near, hears and saves, watches over us).  Several people gave testimonials of the Lord's goodness.  Pastor Tim shared from Mark 11:22-25 about how we should believe that we will receive whatever we ask for in prayer.  He also shared how God heals in many different ways, e.g. touch, spoken word, using other people, etc.

• Cleansing.  Conviction of known and unknown sins, so that our prayers will rise up to Him unhindered.
  
• Strength, hope, encouragement, JOY, and peace for Achie
  
• Strength, hope, encouragement, JOY, and peace for all family members
• Minimal side effects for Achie, specifically, no nerve damage, no baldness, mild nausea only, no bone marrow suppression, no infections
• That Achie will tolerate all six chemo cycles and all other cancer drugs she may be taking in the future after her chemo (Note:  Second chemo is tomorrow at 9 AM)
  
• That Achie will have good appetite, good sense of taste, and high energy
• That Achie's cough will improve or disappear
  
• Wisdom for her oncologist
  
• Compassion, care, and meticulousness of all hospital staff that will be involved in Achie's care
• That friends and family will remain faithful in prayer for Achie all the way to the end, even if the battle takes years
• Complete miracle healing for Achie
• That Achie and the family will be completely surrendered to God's will and that they may drawer nearer to Him
• That the family will draw closer to one another 
• That all the family will be disciplined in spending daily time in God's Word
  
• That we may all heed Romans 12:12 (joyful in hope, patient in affliction, fervent in prayer)
  
• For my husband David

       

Chevy is feeling better today.  No fever.  Breathing not too rapidly.  (Thank you for all who prayed when we were worried about her fever.)  We went to see her oncologist.  She will have a pre-chemo CBC tomorrow, and chemo will proceed on Friday if the CBC is normal.  She shed the most hair today, which scared us all.  Her doctor wants her to shave her head.  But I think she has decided to just wait.  If the Lord blesses her with no baldness, then good.  But if He takes away her hair, it's okay, too.  We still pray and hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.  We are going shopping tomorrow for some things we need in the house, and perhaps shop for bandanas.  More friends came to visit today, and more will come tomorrow night.  Thursday night, we will have a Thanksgiving and Prayer gathering in our home.  I am excited about this bec. I was not here for the first big prayer meeting in our home. 

Let me share from a devotional written by Ed Dobson, a pastor from Michigan who is suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. 

When God wants to drill a man

And thrill a man

And skill a man,

When God wants to mold a man

To plan the noblest part;

When He yearns with all His heart

To create so great and bold a man

That all the world shall be amazed,

Watch His methods, watch His ways!

How He ruthlessly perfects

Whom He royally elects!

How He hammers him and hurts him,

And with mighty blows converts him

Into trial shapes of clay which

Only God understands;

While his tortured heart is crying

And He lifts beseeching hands!

How He bends but never breaks

When his good He undertakes;

How He uses whom He chooses

And with every purpose fuses him;

By every act induces him

To try His splendour out ---

God knows what He's about!

Source:  Living Beyond the Daily Grind by Charles Swindoll p77

Words of encouragement from the Word through Rev. Shao this morning...

 22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
       for his compassions never fail.

 23 They are new every morning;
       great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:31-33

 31 For men are not cast off
       by the Lord forever.

 32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
       so great is his unfailing love.

 33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
       or grief to the children of men.

And so we sing...

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases

His mercies never come to an end

They are new every morning, new every morning

Great is Thy faithfulness, O Lord

Great is Thy faithfulness

Pic1 - yellow paper roses from Sa-i

   

these are the flowers I received since got sick. My dying garden also got an instant upgrade bec my Akim brought vandas and dendros to fill the empty pots/space.

pic1, carnations - from shobe. sent the day i got out of the hospital after 1st chemo
pic2, lily, etc - from jocelyn yu
pic3 - from ana and janice. medyo lanta na nun maalala ko to take a picture
pic4, roses - from alfonso family

       

Two weeks after Chevy's first chemotherapy, and she is still doing great by God's grace.  Today was the day when the side effects supposedly peak but they are almost non-existent.  Praise God for answered prayer!  Two days ago, her cough got worse, but immediately got better the next day.  Her rash has continued to get better.  And as you can see from this picture taken today, she is NOT wearing a wig!  :-) 

Who's who in the picture:
Back - Michael (Chevy's younger brother)
Middle row - Jed (Peanut's husband), Peanut (friend whom we had not seen in 10+ years!), Chevy, Mama
Front - Cheryl (Chevy's younger sister)

Additional specific prayer requests:  Follow-up with oncologist on 11/25.  Doctor says she will propose an additional drug.  Second chemotherapy on 11/28.  Please pray that she will tolerate the drugs as well as she did the first time around.  Please pray for each member of my nuclear family, that we may draw closer to, first, the Lord, and second, to each other.  Please also pray that we will find a good balance with Chevy living a "normal life" (as her doctor wants her to do) and us not tiring her out or exposing her to crowds. 

Praises

• Cheryl had a safe trip to Manila.
• Chevy has had a good appetite for 3 days in a row now and has regained some of the weight that she lost.
• Chevy still has her sense of taste;  in fact, it's heightened.
• Mama feels well and her heartburn is under control despite the recent stresses.
• For caring friends and family
  

• Chevy has had an itchy rash for 2-3 days.  It is getting better, but the doctor doesn't know where it is from.  We're not sure of any allergy.
• Chevy shed some hair yesterday and today.  This doesn't bother her, but we know that the Lord is involved even in the "littlest" details of our lives, and are praying that she won't lose all her hair.
• For David and Cheryl as they spend weeks and Thanksgiving Day apart.
• For Michael as he sees his eye doctor this week.
• For continued strength, hope, peace, and encouragement, as well as increasing faith