Round 5 in Progress

Loved Ones,

What a long day!

Our meeting with the genetic doctor went well. They do not believe that Ray's cancer is due to hereditary factors. With such a large family and almost no cancer history it is extremely unlikely, and most gastric cancers (70%) are simply unexplainable. And unexplainable it is as Ray has no risk factors for gastric cancer except for being male. Of course now that it is in the family we'll have to watch carefully. Hopefully our great new cancer fighting diet will help.

Chemo Round 5 is in progress as I write this. When we arrived they were a little concerned about Ray's low platelet count but they decided to hit him with the full dose of chemo anyway. We were glad. That's on our prayer list for tonight as if the platelets get too low it can cause bleeding and delay treatment.

Ray's liver fuction numbers were mixed. Two have continued to improve, one is holding steady and one fluctuated the other direction. Ray's doctor tells us not to worry as liver numbers tend to move around a little bit. But that is another prayer. That these are simply fluctuations and that the cancer in Ray's liver and stomach will continue to be miraculously responsive to the chemo! And that the numbers will reflect this!

Each time Ray goes for chemo we renew our prayers for total healing. Especially today as we jolted back to the cancer reality from our wonderful time at White Lake, our hearts were filled with prayers.

Thank you for yours. Just as we went in for labs, we got an email from a special friend saying that she was fasting for Ray each Wednesday and hoped that others would join her. Thank you. Each prayer that is said, each sacrifice, we know that God hears.

This is a different battle we fight. Victory comes not to the strongest one, but to the one in which the enemy cancer can be defeated. We are doing our very best to fight but truly the battle in Ray's body is the Lord's. And thus, we take comfort in these verses:

"Let them give glory to the LORD and proclaim his praise... The LORD will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies." Isaiah 42:12-13

not alone and not afraid --

kristin and ray