Praises!!!

We are thankful this Lord's Day for a successful PEG surgery, for the completion of our final chemo, for Aaron's weight holding pretty steady, for the compassionate care and wisdom of our drs, for the faithful men who help drive Aaron back and forth to UAB for treatments, for the constant love and concern of our precious church family, for the food many of you have prepared for us, for the continuous flow of emails, cards, calls, and PRAYER offered up on our behalf, for the beauty of spring, and for the faithfulness of our great God, the intercession of our living High Priest, and the power and encouragement of the Holy Spirit. "Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights, in whom there is no variation or shifting shadow;" James 1:17

Amazingly, Aaron had a good 4th week! 'Amazing' because it included chemo on Monday, fluids on Tuesday, surgery on Wednesday, hospital stay Wed. p.m., and radiation every day, including 2 on Friday!! However, by Friday, the effects of chemo began to catch up with him. He has been struggling with nausea and extreme fatigue for the last few days. Hopefully, some of this will begin to decrease this week.

So far, the feeding tube has been a great help. He is able to maintain his weight and nutritional needs with 6 cans of Ensure and 64 ozs of water(at least) daily. He is still able to swallow water, although painful, and will continue to do so as long as he can to keep the swallowing "funtion" going. Pray that there will be no complication, infection, etc. where the tube is concerned. He will probably have it about 5-6 weeks.

Well, we are down to the final 2 weeks!!! Eleven more radiations and he is DONE!
(LITERALLY) Monday will be the last rad on his lower neck area, so that skin can begin to heal. At this point, his body is pretty beaten up. Pray that he will be strengthened to endure this final stretch. Pray for his blood pressure to be stabilized, that he wouldn't "catch" anything(his white counts are down due to chemo), that he would MAKE himself swallow, pray for no more nausea, pray for complete eradication of cancer cells.

Thanks again to all of you who love us and show it in so many ways. We are humbled and blessed.

Also, in my above litany of thanks, I neglected to mention some very special folks. First, Aaron's co-workers at Acker Electric have been awesome! They have been so supportive and have truly "taken up the slack" in his absence. We are very grateful for the caliber of personnel at work. They are capable, dependable, and have been quick to do everything possible to help him. Thanks, guys. Next, some of you may know that Andrew has come to work for Acker Electric and moved back home.(Sarah will be joining him in a few weeks.) It has been a treat to have him around and he has been a help to us in many ways. Finally, Anna Lee has been spending several days a week with us. She has been able to take care of Abigail in my absence, not to mention, buy groceries, clean house, do laundry, etc. (I definitely could get use to this!) We are so appreciative of their love and service to us.

Finally, thanks for praying for my Dad, Max Thorhill. He is at Cancer Treatment Center in Tulsa, OK. He will be having surgery on Tuesday for the removal of a kidney, and cyst on his bladder. He also has some spots on his lungs. Treatment for that has yet to be decided.

We thank God for you all.