Weekly Updates
"We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships...in our hearts
we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves
but on God, who raises the dead...On him we have set our hope that he will continue
to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then
many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer
to the prayers of many."
2 Cor 1:8-11
Saturday Update - 12/28/02
We are grateful to God that
we can report that Sandi has felt GREAT all week! She has had no negative
side effects from the chemotherapy she received 2 weeks ago. Thanks for
all of your prayers.
We received the results of the medical PET Scan (i.e. full body scan) this week. This test confirmed that the cancer is located in the general area of her left breast and under her left arm, but has not spread to any other parts of her body.
A number of weeks ago, we were told that Sandi would be "wiped out" during most of the Christmas season, but it turns out that she was able to be involved in a full week of Christmas activities with 100% of her energy. During the Christmas eve services at our church, Sandi played guitar and sang a Silent Night solo in Spanish and German. She then led the congregation in singing Silent Night in English. In the picture, she is shown with our church's new Worship Director, Cindy Nelson, who moved to Colorado Springs with her family from Texas. Sandi and Cindy have become very close friends.
We received six generous financial gifts ranging from $50 to $1000 to help us with our out-of-pocket costs associated with Sandi's cancer. We are sincerely thankful for these thoughtful and caring gifts. In some cases we know who sent donations and other times the gifts were given anonymously.
Sandi has not lost any of her hair yet, but she will likely lose all of her hair within the next several days.
Sandi's next chemotherapy treatment is scheduled for this Thursday, January 2nd at 2pm. Please be in prayer that her body would respond well to this treatment.
Saturday Update - 12/21/02
We are so very grateful for
the love and prayers of hundreds of people on behalf of
Sandi
and our family. We want you to know that your prayers are making a real
difference in our lives! We are grateful to report that Sandi has felt GREAT
all week and has had 100% of her energy and has not experienced in her first (of
eight) chemo treatments some the serious side effects many people experience (i.e.
nausea, fatigue, vomiting, mouth sores, etc.). PTL!
Because Sandi has felt so well, she has been able to fully participate in our family's activities this week (i.e. going on a school field trip to see the "Nutcracker Ballet" with Bethany, going to a Christmas dinner program with good friends from church, going to a family's home Friday night for a relaxed evening and meal, doing an evening of Christmas shopping with Brian, and taking our children Christmas caroling with other families from church. This week, she will be participating on our church's worship team and singing a Silent Night solo during our church's Christmas eve services.
We are thrilled to be able to report that after just one chemo treatment and the prayers of so many people, the cancerous swelling and masses in Sandi's left breast and under her left arm have begun to shrink and soften! Sandi feels strengthened and carried by your prayers. Your continued prayers are much appreciated. By the end of this week, Sandi should lose all of her hair as a normal side effect from the chemo she is receiving.
This past Tuesday, Sandi had one more major medical test take taken. The PET scan she had done does a detailed scan of her entire body looking for any possible spread of the cancer (beyond her breast and under her arm) that the previous 5 tests/scans might have missed.
This week, a charitable gift
account has been established with the help of our doctor, a church leader and
a caring donor through a national Christian organization, Helping Hands Ministries
(www.hhmin.org) in Georgia. We are grateful
to God for three generous financial gifts we received this week. Medical
bills and other expenses have just begun to come in, and as expected there will
be thousands of dollars that are not covered by our health insurance plan.
For anyone that may be interested in being of help, click
here for additional details on where donations can be sent.
We thank the Lord for over 400 friends and family in our church, community, country and around the world that are part of our email update list. Your love and prayers are so valued and appreciated.
Last Sunday night, we were "guests of honor" at a 160-person medieval Madrigal banquet celebration at the Glen Eyrie Castle in Colorado Springs. As the special guests of honor, we were robed in medieval costumes and sat at the head of the table with the Lord & the Lady of the Castle for a 4 hour banquet with wonderful food, music, dancers and entertainment. This was truly an enchanted evening! After the banquet, we were given a private guest room in the castle to stay overnight. In the morning we had breakfast and went for a hike in the canyons near the castle. We are forever grateful to Jack McQueeney and Craig Dunham who attend our church and are in leadership at Glen Eyrie - - they made all the arrangements for our participation in this memorable event (this is another unbelievable example of God's love touching our lives through the caring generosity of others). To see more photos of our attendance at this fairy tale event, click here: Glen Eyrie Castle Madrigal photos.
We received a letter from
the White House from President Bush. Our good friend, Ed Moy, who is a senior
official in the Bush
administration, arranged for this encouraging letter to be personally signed by
the President. (Click
on the letter to the right to enlarge it and read what was said)
Saturday Update - 12/14/02:
Sandi felt a little sick on
Friday from the anti-nausea medicine she was taking, but on Saturday she felt
much better.
Our good friends from Milwaukee, Matthew & Susan Leonard, have been with us this weekend. On Friday night we went out to a Chinese restaurant with the Leonards, our family, and our extended Colombian/Malaysian family (click on the group picture on the left to enlarge it). The Leonards were a great help to us with a variety of projects around the house.
Thursday Update - 12/12/02:
After yesterday's first chemo treatment, we are glad to report that Sandi has felt good all day today - - no feeling of fatigue, no nausea, no vomiting (all of these are fairly common with the type of chemotherapy Sandi is taking).
This afternoon, Sandi attended a ladies luncheon at our church. Everyone was thrilled to see her there. Tonight, we will be going to Joshua's 4th grade Christmas program at his school.
On Friday, our good friends from Milwaukee, Matthew & Susan Leonard will be flying in to see us for the weekend. Their coming is a special gift made possible by free airline tickets from our Milwaukee friends, Bruce & Tracey Swezey. Bruce is a pilot for Midwest Express Airlines.
Wednesday Update - 12/11/02:
Because this will be Sandi's first treatment with chemo therapy, people have been asking, "How is Sandi feeling about today?" Sandi said she woke up this morning with a wonderful joy and peace in her heart. We thank God for people's prayers during this time. Because of the outpouring of love, concern and support that has been shown from hundreds of people - - we both feel like George Bailey's family at the end of the Jimmy Stuart "It's A Wonderful Life" movie when there was such a tremendous outpouring of love and support for George Bailey and his family.
Today we had an instructional session about chemotherapy at 11, a meeting with our doctor at noon and Sandi's first chemo treatment at 1pm. Everything went well. We were blessed by the presence and help of Linda Gould, a dear friend from church, who survived breast cancer.
The VERY, VERY, VERY GOOD NEWS is that all 5 of the medical tests that Sandi went through the last several days came back showing that the cancer HAD NOT SPREAD to any other parts of her body.
Today, our friend, Tim Glenn, from Channel 13 TV, came to our doctor's appointment and first chemo treatment and began shooting a story he will produce about breast cancer and our family's journey through this experience. He also wants to use this story to show how a person's Christian faith can make a difference when they go through tough times. Our story will begin to appear on the early morning and late evening news in 3-4 weeks. He will then shoot additional segments of our journey in the future so that the viewing audience can track our story in the months ahead. For more details about this, see the notes below from the Thurs 12/5 update.
Tuesday Update - 12/10/02:
There are now approximately 300 people on Sandi's email cancer update list. There are friends, family, and praying "strangers" on this list from our church, our community, around the country and around the world (China, India, Siberia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Venezuela, Colombia, Equator, New Zealand, Australia, and the Fiji Islands)! One thing is for certain, there are many, many prayers reaching the throne room of heaven on behalf of Sandi and our family. We truly FEEL these prayers!
Last night, Sandi and Brian had a wonderful evening at the church's staff Christmas party.
Last night and today, Sandi went and looked at wigs since we have been told that she will lose her hair following the 2nd chemo treatment. The whole family went with her last night and today just she and Brian went together. "Wig shopping" is a weird experience, but not without some laughs. Just for the fun of it, we found out what Sandi looks like in blonde hair and in long hair!! (SMILE)
Today, Sandi is getting 3 major medical tests done. We should know the results of all her recent tests by the end of the week. As soon as we know the results of all these tests, we will post them on this website.
Tomorrow, Sandi is scheduled for her first chemotherapy treatment with Dr. Carmen Matei at 1pm (Mountain Time) at the Rocky Mountain Cancer Center about 15 minutes away from our house.
Monday Update - 12/9/02:
Our family had a a memorable
3 day getaway trip to Denver this weekend.
To see more
pictures, click here. We are grateful for the unexpected financial gifts
from our church elders and a special friend that helped underwrite part of the
costs for this enjoyable weekend.
With
the wonderful help of Leana Daza who drove to the Denver hotel to watch our children,
on Friday night we were treated to an enjoyable dinner in Denver with our church's
new Worship Director and her husband, Cindy & Greg Nelson.
There are no medical tests scheduled today, but Sandi will have 3 important tests scheduled tomorrow. We should know most of the test results by the end of the week.
We've now received and personally responded to over 200 caring and loving emails from friends and family across the country and from other parts of the world.
This weekend, we were given and read an encouraging book by Mrs. Dodie Osteen from Texas. She was a pastor's wife that was diagnosed with Stage 4 (inoperable, incurable, terminal) liver cancer. Twenty three years ago she was sent home with only 2 weeks to live and is still alive today! Needless to say, God had a different timetable for her life than the doctors had! Through reading her story, we are mindful of Psalm 139:16 which says, "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
Friday Update - 12/6/02:
We're grateful to God for the former pastor of our church, Dr. Greg Fell, who offered to preach at our church worship services this Sunday so that we could go as a family for a get-a-way weekend to Denver before Sandi starts her first chemotherapy session next Wednesday. We are going to stay at a hotel, swim, visit the Museum of Nature & Science, see a space ship exhibit, go to the Space Station Imax Theater movie, and do some other fun things and attend one of the Denver churches.
Sandi will be having 5 different
medical tests and scans (2 today and 3 on Tuesday) to make sure that the cancer
has not spread to any other parts of her body or organs. We do not know
when we will know all the results of the tests. Regardless of the results,
Sandi's first
chemotherapy
treatment will start next Wednesday. She will then have chemotherapy treatments
scheduled every 3-4 weeks for the next 6 months.
Our church elders came to our home this morning, anointed Sandi with oil, and prayed for her healing and for God to be glorified through her life and our family's life. We're grateful for all the love and support we are feeling from our church family.
Thursday Update - 12/5/02:
During the last few days, we have been corresponding by email with a friend, Tim Glenn, who works at a local TV station (Channel 13 - KRDO) as a broadcaster, morning show host and producer. A few days ago, he wrote us the following email: "...I'd like to tell your family's story. I want to tell people how a family of Christian faith handles the stress of a loved one being diagnosed with and treated for cancer...It would mean a series interviews throughout the coming weeks/months...It would mean showing the good days as well as the bad...the joy as well as the pain. But here's why I think it would be a great story to tell. It's not only a chance to show the "real side" of breast cancer, it's also a chance to show a family relying on God, showing their faith, sharing their faith, the importance of prayer support they receive, etc..." Since Sandi has such a strong desire to glorify God in what we're going through, we have told Tim that we would be interested in going ahead with this. Please pray that the Lord would direct this matter in a way that would bring glory to Himself, spiritual help to many, and encouragement to families facing cancer.
Wednesday Update - 12/4/02:
More emails with encouraging words, loving notes and promises of prayer continue to come in on a regular basis. A number of the emails have made us cry because of the thoughtful comments and caring words about what we have meant to people.
Brian & Sandi met with Dr. Carmen Matei, oncologist (cancer doctor) to go over Sandi's recommended cancer treatment schedule. Based on the latest breast cancer studies, she is changing Sandi's planned treatments to include 8 sessions of chemotherapy (each chemo session will take place every 3-4 weeks over the next 6 months). Following the 6 months of chemotherapy, the Doctor is currently recommending surgical removal of both breasts and Sandi's ovaries (because of a family history of ovarian cancer), followed by two months of radiation therapy. All of these treatments would take us at least 9 months to complete (December 2002 through August of 2003).
Sandi's cancer is considered "Stage 3B Cancer", which is only 1 stage away from Stage 4 Cancer (which is considered "incurable and inoperable terminal cancer"). Dr. Matei has also ordered a Brain scan, Bone scan, Cat Scan (scan of the chest and abdomen), and Pet scan (scan of the entire body) to make sure that the cancer has not spread to other parts of the body. If ANY of these tests turn up any cancer in other parts of the body, Sandi would be reclassified as having Stage 4 Cancer (incurable and inoperable terminal cancer).
After the doctor appointment, we went out for a nice lunch together and a good conversation about everything that is happening in our lives since the "cancer news" last Wednesday (just 7 days ago). We continue to feel God's peace and love in our lives. We are confident that He will sustain us through whatever lies ahead. The outpouring of love and support for us has just been incredible. We truly have been "feeling" the prayers of hundreds of people. Thank you for your love and prayers!
We are grateful to our neighbor, Carolann, who helped watch Jeremy this morning, and a school friend's mom, Lisa, who took Jeremy to school for his afternoon kindergarten class.
Tuesday Update - 12/3/02:
Brian visited with a dear friend who works at Focus on the Family. His wife passed away from Inflammatory Breast Cancer a few years ago.
Sandi had a difficult day and ended up going back to see her doctor (with the help of Lisa, a nearby family friend) because of complications with the porta-catheter that was put in her chest the day before.
At a Senior's Christmas luncheon at church where Brian was speaking today, Mr. Lorne Sanny, the retired President of the Navigators, stood up and gave Brian the following verse that has sustained he and his wife during the last 5 years of serious medical problems: "You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light." (Ps 18:28).
People from church brought food last night and Leana & Lisa (& Ian Ang) (our "Colombian daughters") were a big help with cleaning and Christmas decoration projects around the house.
Because of the number of caring phone calls we've been receiving, we decided to make the decision that between 2:45 and 8:00 when the kids are at home and awake, we will have the answering machine take messages so that we will not be taking valuable time away from them. We will then try to return needed calls later in the evening or the next day.
Brian met with key church leaders last night and they have promised to do everything possible to be helpful, supportive and understanding during this journey.
Monday Update - 12/2/02:
More than 100 emails received from around the country and around the world (India, Siberia, South America, Australia, Hungary, Fiji Islands, New Zealand) from personal friends and churches with encouraging words and promises of prayer.
Sandi and Brian visited with breast cancer specialist, Dr. Laura Pomerenke. Sandi had minor surgery to put permanent porta-catheter in her chest to make it easier to put in chemo medication, other drugs and to take blood tests.
Put up and decorated the Christmas tree with the kids.
Brian developed website to help provide information for people that want to stay updated on what's happening.
Sunday Update - 12/01/02:
Brian told the First Evangelical Free Church congregation about Sandi's cancer in his sermon. Sandi spoke for 5 minutes about how she's doing. Lots of hugs, tears, promised prayer and offers of help given by many, many people. CLICK HERE: To listen what was said in the church service
Saturday Update - 11/30/02
Brian sent out an email sharing the news and asking for prayer from a few hundred family and friends.
Brian and Sandi shared the news with their 3 children (Josh - 10, Bethany - 7, Jeremy - 6). After hearing the news, all the children decided they wanted to gather around Mommy and pray for her.
Friday Update - 11/29/02
Brian and Sandi made phone calls to many of our family and closest friends. Lots of tears and meaningful conversations.
Dr. Pomerenke called and confirmed from a lab report that Sandi does have inflammatory breast cancer.
Thursday Update - Thanksgiving Day - 11/28/02
Sixteen adults and children were at our house for a wonderful thanksgiving dinner. During the evening, Brian and Sandi shared with the adults about Sandi's cancer. Everyone gathered around Brian and Sandi for an unforgettable time of prayer. Lots of tears and hugs.
Wednesday Update - 11/27/02
Sandi visited with breast cancer specialist, Dr. Laura Pomerenke and learned for the first time that there was a 90-95% chance she has the most serious form of breast cancer (To learn more: CLICK HERE - Inflammatory breast cancer).
October/November 2002
In late September, Sandi noticed a lump in her breast. She went to Dr. Oliver, our family doctor, and he prescribed antibiotics. After a few weeks, the lump had not gone away. Sandi was then scheduled for a mammogram and an ultrasound. These tests did not show up any problems. But because Sandi knew that something wasn't quite right and Dr. Oliver sent Sandi to a breast disease specialist, Dr. Laura Pomerenke. During this time, Sandi also noticed a hard lump was forming under her left arm. Dr. Pomerenke ordered an MRI test for Sandi and told her to come back on Wednesday, November 27th to find out the results of the test.
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