Today is the beginning of a new month and almost a month has gone by since my last post....time keeps going no matter how much we want it to slow down and sometimes even to stop for a breather. We have passed throught the first month of a new year and hopefully have been refined a little more. Last week in RS, we were taught that through the refiner's fire, we may become personally sanctified. In the course of many years and many lessons that have referred to personal refinemen through trials and tests, I had not thought of that next step of sanctification.

We have experienced a few more bumps in the road with Rick's hospitalization on December 29 with a generalized infection. Turns out it was a septic shock secondary to Gall Bladder disease. Nothing to do with Cancer, but complicated by it. Once the gall bladded was identified as the culprit, there were decisions to make. Due to recent chemo, history of blood clots, extensive scarring from previous surgery...he did not have the option of surgery to remove the offensive organ....so with the current technology, they were able to drain the gall bladder and push stones through the common bile duct and give him some relief. On January 6th, he was able to come home.

We have seen specialists, generalists, and have tried hard to coordinate all things that occur. Then, last week, the news came that the first round of chemo drugs were only effective for a few weeks, and that the cancer has continued to spread. As Rick(y) put it, it was almost harder to bear that news than the original diagnosis. Then in the process of trying to change over to a different drug regimen, the implanted IV line (port) has decided (yes it does have a mind of its own) to become touchy. So now the process to see if it is in fact working correctly. We pray that it will not need to be replaced, and that we can get on with the new chemo.