THE WAITING

January 22, 2022

Sorry it has been a bit since I notified everyone about Kristi’s progress. Here’s the latest. She is resting and recovering from the JP Tube they installed yesterday. Her white blood count is climbing. It is at 3.2 today!! They expect it to rise to 5 or 6 tomorrow. Platelets are also on the rise. She has not dropped her hemoglobin since the 3 transfusions. All in all, exactly what we want to see. 🙌

Our current trajectory and plan is the following: Today, Saturday, she started a slow bowel clean out. This will continue until Wednesday where they will decide what procedure to undertake. I’ve already talked about our two options here. The surgeon is glad we have time to clean out her bowels and remove all bacteria and infection before the procedure. This will reduce the chance of further complications in her abdomen.

Here are some praises and prayer requests:

1. We are convinced that your prayers have guided the Doctors and Surgeons to make wise and calculated decisions. We were extremely uncomfortable on Thursday night with some of the decisions that were being talked about in haste. We believe God slowed us down and asked for a second and third opinion. God is good. We are at peace with the surgeon and feel that he is cautiously making decisions. We appreciate that!

2. Kristi walked down the hall and over to the big window. It did her good and made my heart glad to see her up and about. She is still in a lot of pain, but with the help of the nurses, it’s being managed

3. All of the abscess is contained in a pocket and had not spread anywhere, which would have been terrible.

4. They moved us to a different room with more space. I guess my cot last night looked cramped 😂

5. Surgery is scheduled for Wednesday, the 26th of January mid day. Surgeon is comfortable with his team and he put us at ease.

Prayer Requests:

1. There is a possibility that the mass/tumor has attached itself to the stomach. Pray that it is not and can be lifted off easily. Doctor says this is the least of our concerns as taking a small piece of her stomach is not life threatening.

2. There is a aortic vain that runs to the spleen. He said the spleen tends to bleed so he needs to find the vain and clamp it so there is less chance of blood loss.

3. He would like to clamp off the colon on either side of the mass. He would also like to lift it all out together. Pray that this is so.

4. Pray that no “bombs” go off when he opens Kristi. This is what he said. This is what I’m passing along.

5. Pray that he can reattach the colon and she can recover 4-5 weeks and continue chemo. He would otherwise install an ostomy bag. He’d rather attach colon (us too!). The ostomy bag would be in place for the duration of the chemo.

6. She is starting bowel prep. The surgeon wants to go slow in order to prevent further damage. Pray this goes well and she can be completely cleaned out before surgery.

We are so grateful for all of you joining the fight with us! It has been humbling and amazing!l

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WHILE WE WAIT

Waiting is the hardest! Waiting on a visit from a loved one. Waiting on a raise at work. Waiting for the results back from a medical procedure. Waiting for our wedding day, children to be born, to find love, to graduate, or that anticipated Amazon package to arrive.

Waiting is nothing new. Since the beginning of time, humanity has been waiting. We have been waiting for summer. Waiting for crops to grow. Waiting till the pain goes away. Waiting for our kids to grow up. Waiting.

The clocks moves as consistent as it always has no matter the rush or the desire to slow it down. The endless ticking of time is one of the only constants we can trust in. Ever ticking forward. And we wait.

When God said, “let there be light.” The waiting began. All of creation waits to see what He’ll do next. Waiting for the day when we are redeemed and rescued from this broken world of sickness, pain, death, sin, and anticipation.

Isaiah understood this waiting game as he was writing his long prophetic book. He says,

“Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.”

Isaiah 40:28-31

He recognized that God was outside of time and space and the waiting is nothing to Him. 1,000 years is like a day and a day is like a 1,000 years. Time does not affect God. Time does not scare God. Time does not derail God. He is. Nothing makes Him weak or tired. Nothing catches Him by surprise.

Some versions actually say, “those that wait on the Lord…”

Waiting and trusting have similar emotions. Knowing that a day will arrive in confidence is trusting. Knowing that time will pass as we wait is trusting. Knowing the eternal God is not bothered by time and waiting is trusting. God steps into our waiting and says, “do you trust me?”

These last several weeks have been a hurry up and wait season for us. Gotta move quick because cancer is killing Kristi. Gotta wait because the pathology hasn’t come back. Gotta hurry and get the Covid teat for the colonoscopy. Gotta wait to see if the results will come back in time. Gotta hurry to the Emergency Room when her temperature reaches 100.5. Gotta wait in the car until they can admit her. And so the story has gone and continues. We wait.

This waiting is peaceful. Waiting gives Kristi’s body time to fight back. Waiting gives her body time to recoup. Waiting gives us sweet times of holding hands and talking. Waiting gives us time to remember our life’s adventure. Waiting gives us strength for tomorrow.

We are eagerly waiting for the return of Jesus! We have actually looked at each other many times over the past several weeks and said, “now would be nice.” We love the return of Jesus and will continue to wait and trust God’s timing.

We eagerly wait for Eternity in Heaven with Jesus. Scripture promises no more pain, tears, or sadness. Scripture promises a face to face relationship with God. Scripture promises a life outside of time and space – actually promises no more waiting!

Scripture also promises New Bodies. If you had any health challenges, you eagerly anticipate this one! If you wear glasses, you eagerly anticipate no glasses. No cancer, no tumors, no surgeries, no hospital stays, no worry, stress, pain, anxiety, depression, evil – nothing that is less than perfect. This seems unreal. It actually is in this current world and body. That is why Scripture says we will be changed and transformed.

We have done a lot of waiting this past week. We have learned to put out “wait” and trust in Jesus. We have leaned to take advantage of the wait. As a result, He has strengthened us. He had joined us. He had comforted us.

We still wait. We ask God to give us strength for tomorrow. We ask Him to give us wings like eagles so we can soar.

Ray Rhoton

#kristiswar

#jointhefight