Friday, February 29, 2008

Return Delayed

Christen had a slight setback this evening. She had a fairly rare complication to one of the nausea medications which caused very painful muscle contractions in her jaw. Thankfully that episode didn't last very long, but it was enough to make the Dr. decide to keep her overnight. :-( Thankfully she had some friends visiting at the time, so that eased the disappointment.

The rest of the kids and I were all home this evening, and that was very nice, though we really missed Debbie and Christen. God willing tomorrow we will all be together.

Please pray that Christen will be able to feel well over the next several days, and that we will all enjoy the time being together as a family.

Steve & Debbie

Home Tonight?

The Dr. just told us that there is a good chance that Christen will be able to come home this evening. Please pray that she continues to improve throughout the day.

Steve & Debbie

Still Waiting

Thank you so much for the prayers! Christen started taking a turn for the better last night, so we are cautiously hopeful that she will not have to go on the TPN. Debbie should be hearing from the Dr. sometime this morning about that.

Steve & Debbie

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Prayer Needed

Christen really needs prayer today. Our Dr. just told us that all of Christen's counts are ok enough to go home. The thing that is keeping Christen in the hospital now is that she needs to be able to start eating some on her own and taking in enough liquid on her own. The Dr. said that today will be the determining factor---if she doesn't do better today, then they will have to put her on TPN (total parenteral nutrition) because it has been eight days since she's really been able to eat much of anything. If they do put her on TPN she will have to stay in the hospital for the first few days of it to make sure that she is progressing. Today could go either way. She is starting to get the mouth sores which probably also is indicative of what is going on inside her ---esophagus, etc.

So please pray that she will be able to eat and drink and keep it down! She is still very nauseated today. Debbie is coaxing her to drink fluids as much as she can.

Thanks,
Steve & Debbie

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Still in Hospital

Thanks for your continued prayer for Christen. She is still in the hospital waiting for the intestinal bug to clear. As soon as it does she will get to go home since the Dr. decided to delay the next chemo treatment until next week which will give her a welcome break from the hospital.

Steve & Debbie

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

The Monday Blues

Today was blue Monday---for one thing, we're still here; for another thing, Christen was literally a little blue around the edges for lack of a high enough level of oxygen. Thankfully, our doctor this morning put her finger on the problem right away---methemoglobinemia, caused by Christen's one little once a day antibiotic pill called Dapsone. It can cause your iron in your blood to change so that the hemoglobin can't carry oxygen. This was confirmed by a blood test.

We are still not absolutely sure why the intestinal bleeding as all of the results haven't come back, but at this point the doctor thinks it probably is c-dif, an intestinal bug common in hospitals particularly to those with suppressed immune systems. Thankfully, the bleeding seems to have subsided after two days of intestinal rest which means that Christen couldn't have any food or drink in the last two days.:-( Hopefully they will be able to let her start eating lightly tomorrow.

Christen has mostly slept through both day and night for the past few days as she has been nauseous and the anti-nausea meds make you sleepy. She did wake up enough this afternoon for a little while to visit with her grandparents who dropped in and a little this evening to visit with her dad, but hasn't felt well enough to sit up in bed. She also was grateful to have Mr. Rice chauffeur her sister and friends down here for a short visit Sunday evening while she dozed in and out of the conversations.

We don't know yet when we will get to go home. She is still scheduled for chemo (the real tough one) this Thursday. It's possible that we won't get home before that starts. If not, I can see us still being here for the next seven days or so. Pray for contentment of heart to accept that "this is God's will concerning us" at this time; that we would allow Him to have His way with us. He is the Potter; we are the clay.

I am very thankful for the many ways throughout each day that God shows us His love in the midst of this trial. "It's as if God is placing sticky-notes in our lives as daily reminders of His presence and provision."
(C.J. Mahaney). We serve a risen Savior. He's alive and real!

Love and thanks to you all,
Debbie, for all of us

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Prayer for Faith

God provided an wonderful encouragement to our faith this morning by way of a sermon by Paul Wolfe on Habakkuk 3:17-19.

Habakkuk 3:17
"Though the
fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places."

It is tempting for us to think sometimes that God has "stepped over the line" if you will. That the hand we have been dealt is just too hard. That He has given us more than we can take. But in reality He hasn't done so. He promised not to give us more than we can handle. He doesn't want us to put our ultimate satisfaction in anything other than Him, as this passage points out. So Christen is dealing with cancer, and all the painful things the treatment brings about, and the rest of us have the pain of watching her go through it, and not knowing what the future holds, and having had life thrown on it's head in many respects.
Please pray for Christen, and for each of us, that we will have the faith and spirit that Habakkuk had.

An update on Christen's situation: she is still in the hospital, her chest scan was clear, but now we are dealing with a likely intestinal infection which will delay her release from the hospital. She has slept most of the day from the meds that she is being given. She also had a blood transfusion today to help her oxygen level. Pray that she will be able to come home tomorrow.

Debbie and Christen have really enjoyed the visitors. The hospital stays get more difficult every time, so the visitors really help.


Steve & Debbie

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Quick Saturday Update

Christen slept most of the day again yesterday, but thankfully the nausea hasn't been as bad this time. She is feeling much better today, is sitting up in bed listening to music that Jacob gave her (thanks Jacob, she has really been enjoying it!!).

Christen for sure will not come home today, and it's doubtful tomorrow since her oxygen level has been lower and they are trying to figure out if she has a small clot in her lung. Please pray that gets resolved soon.

Thanks!

Steve & Debbie

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Back in the hospital for round number 3

Christen and Debbie are settled back in the hospital at UVA for the 3rd round of chemo treatment. They spent most of the day waiting to get into the room where she will be staying, but they finally got there. I think it tried Mom's patience a little. :-)

Thank you all so much for the notes of encouragement. We receive a steady stream of cards in the mail, comments on the blog, e-mails, etc. and those are very encouraging. To know that you guys are walking with us is a wonderful blessing that we can't begin to describe. God is using each of you in a very real way.

They actual chemo is being administered now, so tomorrow will likely be a difficult day for Christen.

Steve & Debbie

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

3rd Chemo Starts Tomorrow

Christen's blood count numbers are good enough to start the next dose of chemo tomorrow. She will be having the same medicine as last time so we expect some nausea but not as bad as the first treatment. (The treatment next week will be the bad one again.) Thank you for your prayers.

She is feeling very discouraged this evening. Please pray for God's presence and comfort for her. One can only imagine what it must be like for her. She said that the worst part of the whole thing for her is all the things that she is missing. It feels like life is "going on without her" in a sense.

Psalm 61:1 "Hear my cry, O God,
listen to my prayer;
2 from the end of the earth I call to you
when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I,
3 for you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the enemy."

Steve & Debbie

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Nausea and Weariness

Christen was very tired all day, struggled with nausea, and threw up twice. She was disappointed to not have been able to work on her school. We hope she will feel stronger tomorrow. Pray that her blood test results tomorrow would be good enough so that she can continue her next chemo treatment Thursday.

Steve & Debbie

Monday, February 18, 2008

Monday Update

Christen didn't feel well enough to go to classes today and slept most of the time. She is doing better than the 1st chemo treatment, thankfully, as this medicine was not as difficult as the last one. Pray that she will be well enough to go in for the next treatment this Thursday. She will be getting the same medicine again, but won't be quite as strong going into it.

Thank you for your prayers. One and a half months complete, hopefully only 8 and a half more to go.

Steve & Debbie

Sunday, February 17, 2008

A Special Valentine


Well, Valentine's Day was the beginning of Christen's 2nd round of chemo. In the midst of a "bad" 4 day weekend, God provided many special signs of His love. The 4th floor oncology nurses all signed a Valentine's card for Christen. Then, upon entering her inpatient room, one of Christen's student nurses from several weeks back popped in briefly as she was leaving for the day. She said, "I heard you were coming in, and I wanted to give this to you." She had a beautiful hand made Valentine wrapped in a bow with a very pretty pair of pink Valentine's socks. Her card said that she and others were praying for Christen. God has His angels everywhere doesn't He! Little signs of His love being poured out through His people. It brings Christen and all of us so much thankfulness for God and for being a part of His family. Several of Christen's friends came on Valentine's evening. They brought flowers, a heart balloon, a movie, cupcakes, and party food and of course had a party! We'd just stepped out to go downstairs to the cafeteria, when the doctor came in to check on Christen and found them in the midst of their cupcakes. :-) The next night he stopped by to find a different set of girls---he said, "Wait a minute, you're not the same girls who were here last night, are you?" Our nurse gave us both a hug and a kiss when we left today. I must say that UVA has a wonderful set of nurses, medical students, nursing students, doctors, and personnel staff all the way around. We are very glad to be under their care.

We arrived home to a large pink box from our church all decorated with hearts and filled with cards, cookies, and gifts for everyone. Christen is blessed with prayers and friends far beyond what she could have ever imagined. She received a special card from one of her "blog followers" whom she's not yet met, but whose family has been praying for her. She has a mother praying for her whose daughter is friends with someone in Christen's class... I could go on and on, but it's just to say...God is truly wonderful. It is His moving and working in the hearts of so many...all of you. May He truly be magnified through Christen's present illness and through her life, and may many be brought to share in His amazing love because of this trial we've been allowed to go through.

Christen didn't attend youth group tonight in order to try avoiding catching the flu...sorry guys, yes, she is the cause of a number of the youth skipping out so as not to have her home alone---without friends that is :-). Thanks for so graciously giving them up for her cause...she is very grateful to have their wonderful presence!

Thank you, God, for your presence that never leaves us and and for YOUR NEVER ENDING LOVE to your children. Thank you for answering the prayers of so many and giving Christen strength and health and courage and trust in You.

For Christen and her family

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Likely Coming Home Tomorrow

The concentration of the chemo drug in Christen's body was still too high for her to come home tonight, but it was very close so she will very likely come home tomorrow morning. Please pray that will be the case. She was pretty disappointed that she didn't make it this evening.

Thanks for all the prayers and support!

Steve & Debbie

Friday, February 15, 2008

Update 02-15-08

Thank you for the prayers. Christen slept most of the day which was far better than being awake and feeling very sick. The Dr. stopped by this evening and said the concentration of the chemo drug was actually much better than expected. That is a good sign for her to be able to get home Saturday night or sometime on Sunday.

Rebecca and Anna visited Christen this evening which provided a nice diversion.

Steve & Debbie

Nausea back

Christen's chemo side effects are starting up this morning. Please pray that the medicine she is receiving will be effective against the nausea. Pray also that she and Debbie will be able to get some rest today since they both had a rough night of oft-interrupted sleep.

Steve

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Next Chemo Started


Christen is at UVA tonight working on her next round of chemo. So far everything is going well. Scott drove Melanie, Emily, and Marianna down this evening to see Christen. The very first thing that happened to Christen and Debbie when they were admitted to the room this afternoon was a student nurse from a previous visit dropped in to give Christen a nice Valentines card and gift. The card says among other things "...More people are praying for you and your family than you know!" That is a such a wonderful thought. Christen keeps receiving cards in the mail from folks that she has never met before. Amazing.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support. Christen will be finished the actual chemo infusion tonight, but it will 48 hours or so for it work out of her system. Please pray for her as the side-effects begin to set in over the next day or so.

Steve & Debbie

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Chemo starts tomorrow

Please pray for Christen as she starts a new round of chemo tomorrow at UVA. She will be in the hospital until at least Saturday evening. We are hoping that she will do well enough to come home Saturday night. Please pray that this will be the case.


Steve & Debbie

Monday, February 11, 2008

Back to School

We reached a couple of milestones today. Christen did not take any medicine with the exception of one first thing this morning. This is the very first day that we did not have to administer one kind of medication or another.

The other milestone is that Christen was finally able to participate in all of her school for the first time since we found out about her cancer. She was very glad to see her teachers and classmates. Life actually felt sort of normal today.

We are so thankful for all that God is doing. We keep reminding ourselves that God tells us that there is glory at the end of this road, even though we can't see it all right now. We can see some things right now which gives us great encouragement that there must be many other things that He is doing. Who else but God can do 10000 good things for His people with a single thing, a single event, a single illness, or whatever it may be? We have been able to connect with many folks that we would have otherwise never met. We have seen so many people rally around our family in love, encouragement, and support. We have received many notes of encouragement, meals, car rides, phone calls, house cleaning, tree cutting, e-mails, blog comments, prayers, laughter, visits in the hospital, boxes full of gifts received from far away, voice mails, child-care, grocery purchasing, medical advice, and many other things. How can we not see Jesus with us in each one of these things. You have shown us His great love. You have done it to "one of the least of these my brethren." You have done it for the glory of His name. And all that we just mentioned is not even scratching the surface when we think of all the relationship work His doing through it, how He is teaching us through the trials, and how He is showing us daily that He walks with us.

Please pray for Christen as she is starting to have more pain in her knee. It could be because of her increased activity, or could it be tumor growth? Pray also that her blood count numbers remain high, and that she would remain free from any sickness.

Thanks!
Steve & Debbie

Sunday, February 10, 2008

A Few Days of Calm


We have all really enjoyed some days of normalcy. Christen has been doing school and enjoying time with friends and being at home. We have really appreciated these few days because they will be much rarer this year. We are gearing up for the next round of chemo on Thursday.

Thank you for your prayers for Christen's blood count numbers. The last test results indicated that her counts had returned to normal!

Please continue to pray that the chemo will be effective against the tumor since that is an important prognostic indicator and it will likely have a bearing on what type of chemo treatment Christen receives after the surgery. Pray also that she will not catch any colds or flus which would be a set back in her treatment plan, and potentially dangerous for her.

We have posted some more pictures on the photo album. You can find the link on the right or go directly to http://picasaweb.google.com/seldad8/Christen.

Again, many thanks to everyone for your continued support.

Steve & Debbie and family

Thursday, February 7, 2008

"Normal" Days

We are discovering that the term "normal" for us sometimes means unexpected trips to the hospital. Christen's central line was blocked today necessitating a trip to UVA get it cleared. Thankfully they were able to clear it with medicine within an hour or so, and Christen was able to return home by 7 PM this evening.

Christen did get to go to some classes yesterday and was even up for attending a Bible study in the evening.

We are hoping that we can stay home until next Thursday when Christen's next chemo treatment is scheduled. Pray that her counts will be up high enough so that she will be ready for the treatment. This next one should not be quite as bad, at least in terms of nausea.


We have been receiving regular meals from various friends, and for these we are VERY thankful. There just isn't time to do much cooking these days, especially for a family of 10.


Thank you all for your continued cards, and encouragements of a variety of forms. It means so much to all of us.

The picture here with Dad and Christen and her sisters is one taken last Saturday when she was still in the hospital.

Steve & Debbie

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Back Home Again

The joys of just being together as a family get more precious to us every time we go through these trips to the hospital. Along with the tremendous difficulties that Christen is enduring, having the family scattered to the winds is not easy. God has brought us all through thus far, and for that we are very thankful. I don't know how we would do it without Him.

Christen and Debbie arrived home about 5 PM today. We enjoyed pizza together, visiting with friends, and just being able to be in the same house. Christen is feeling much better this evening. We have been amazed, however, at how much things can change dramatically from day to day and even hour to hour. So we count it a blessing to have an evening when she feels fine.

The current plan is to start her next chemo treatment on the 14th of February, followed by another on the 21st, and then another starting the 28th.

Steve & Debbie

Christen and Debbie coming home today!!!

What a difference a day makes. Christen's ANC number shot way up, so they are coming home this afternoon. Praise God!! Thanks for the prayers!

We aren't sure yet if the next chemo treatment will start on the 7th or 14th.

Steve

Monday, February 4, 2008

Patiently Waiting


Christen continues waiting patiently as a patient counting the days for her counts to go up. :-) So much for humor. We have to entertain ourselves somehow.

The nurses all think Christen is very sweet. We whole-heartedly to agree with them. :-) She is receiving good care here, and is having a very good attitude about it all, but really wishes to get home.

Her headaches continue to bother her and they haven't figured out the cause. Please pray that they will go away for good. Hopefully she will be able to get a good night sleep.

Please pray for a 10 yr old boy, Tristin, who is having surgery in the morning to repair his arm which was severed in a 4 wheeler accident.

Steve & Debbie

Not Today

Just a quick update. Christen will not be able to come home today. Her counts are not high enough. It seems that the previous results were artificially high possibly because of a mistake in the testing.

Steve & Debbie

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Well... we're doing better this evening

Christen started out well this morning, but a massive headache set in this afternoon and brought on nausea and vomiting. :-( They gave her a large dose of anti-nausea medicine, followed by a dose of morphine. The morphine did the trick with the headache and she is much better this evening. She really enjoyed a nice visit with a number of friends from the youth group this evening. Some were more youthful than others, :-) but she enjoyed the presence of them all.

The Dr. said there is a chance that Christen may come home tomorrow if her counts are up in the morning. Please pray that this will be the case.

Christen is scheduled to start chemo on Thursday but there is a decent chance that will be delayed one week. We are trying to take it one day at a time through all this uncertainty.

Steve & Debbie

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Saturday Visit

Today was a very active day for the Lunsford family. Louie and his friends were busy working around the house cutting up large branches that the ice had knocked out of one of our evergreen trees, grading the ruts out of the driveway, doing A LOT of cleanup around the house, and probably other things that I haven't noticed yet because I got home after dark. Thank you all very much for the awesome blessing that you were to us today. The 6 younger kids and I got home after 8 PM from the hospital to a nice meal from someone in our church. That was a great blessing, as have been all the meals that we have received.

The 6 younger kids and I visited today with Christen and Debbie at UVA. It was great to get to see them though leaving was not easy. As you can well imagine the younger children feel unsettled not knowing when they will get to see Mom and Christen again. Christen is not feeling so nauseated any longer but her blood count numbers are still very low so she can't yet come home. We are not sure when she will get to come home.

Christen is feeling very down since her hair continues to fall out, she will miss church tomorrow, and she wants to be out of the hospital and back to normal life. She tires very easily so needs a lot of rest. Please pray that her blood count numbers will increase more rapidly than expected, and that she will be able to avoid any further infection.

Thank you all for your prayers. We can tell you from first hand experience that Jesus is answering. Please don't stop.

Hebrews 4:15 "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Steve & Debbie

Friday, February 1, 2008

Christen Doing Better

Thanks to all of you for your prayers. We can tell that God is listening to you and is answering. Christen is feeling a lot better, though her blood count numbers are still very low, so we have to be very careful about exposing her to infections. She tires easily these days but we are thankful that she has resumed facebook and finger spelling. :-) Being in the hospital is hard on her, but she seems to be doing well in spite of it.

Steve and the three youngest boys visited with Christen this evening. The girls will visit with her tomorrow. We aren't yet sure when Christen will be able to come home, though we are hopeful it will be soon.

Here is a passage that God used to give me encouragement recently.

Romans 5:1 "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

We believe by faith that God is at work in all of this suffering that Christen is enduring. Please continue to lift her (and the family) up in prayer. Christen will be starting chemo again next Thursday if her blood counts are high enough.

We keep saying this, but it is worth repeating over and over that we cannot thank all of you enough for the wonderful support you are giving us. We can't begin to explain to you how much it means to us.

The new mini-van has been a great blessing. You cannot imagine how wonderful it was the other night (when Christen's fever was up and the doctor said to bring her in to UVA) to be able to get into that little minivan and drive her there! It was a drizzly, cold night and Debbie knew she would be able to park in the parking garage rather than have to scout around for a place to leave the big van after midnight. The big van is too big to fit in most parking garages.

Steve & Debbie