My Trip

Since Jo was willing to post some of the stuff she's dealing and struggling with, I thought I'd share a little about my trip from the weekend. I visited my sister-in-law and her family (along with my boys) this past weekend. We made the trip in record time, which meant that we came to an empty house. My sister-in-law was at her cancer doctor's office checking her platelets because she had been having a non-stop bleeding nose. They were really low (I believe about 11 and she needs over 40 in order to be given chemo), so she needed to go to the hospital to get a transfusion. So she came back to her house, had me drop her off at the hospital, and then I took all of the kids back and got supper ready for our families, and then dropped off my nieces at church. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law came back later in the evening from the hospital, and by then she was pretty tired.

A few nights later the two of us stayed up talking about what she's going through. My understanding is that she's pretty much exhausted all of the more effective types of chemo. The doctors give patients the most effective treatments at first and then try other types when the body becomes resistant to it. She's been on chemo non-stop since 2005 when the cancer returned, as it started as breast cancer and quickly spread to other parts of her body. She is now Stage IV. She mentioned to me numerous times that she just wants to meet someone who has been in Stage IV and is in remission. I didn't understand why she wanted this so badly until I came home and researched online yesterday. There is no such thing as a Stage V cancer patient. Stage IV is as bad as it gets and there is a statistic that only 20% of Stage IV patients live past 5 years. I've always known it was bad, but if you saw how active and seemingly healthy she is, you'd be shocked that it's this serious.

So, if you get the chance, please pray for her. It's such a heavy burden for all of us, especially since she has two young daughters that she's very close to.