We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are so grateful for the support, prayers, thoughts, and well-wishes from all of you. Family is important all the time, but we are especially reminded of this during the holidays. Our entire family was able to spend Thanksgiving together at Mom and Dad’s house this year. We had a lovely time, ate good food, played fun games, enjoyed each other’s company and love.

Unfortunately, we had to admit Mom back into the hospital on Friday. She is having trouble breathing, decreased oxygen saturation, has a lot of edema in her legs and is extremely fatigued. She has been in the hospital since, with doctors running several tests trying to discover exactly what is going on. The bottom line is they are not sure what is causing the problems or it could be a combination of everything. She currently has a blood clot is in her right leg and some fluid build-up around her lungs (pulmonary effusion). They are treating her with antibiotics for any potential pneumonia, and giving her Lasix for the leg edema and fluid collections. However, the Lasix is flushing out her electrolytes, so she is also taking supplements to keep her sodium and potassium up. They are giving her morphine to hopefully help ease her breathing and make her more comfortable. During hospitalization, she had a chest CT scan, which showed that the tumors are growing, which means the chemotherapy she has been receiving the past month is not working. Tonight, her doctor decided to try the targeted therapy pills again, Tagrisso, to see if this helps with the tumors. The team at the hospital is addressing each of these concerns hoping they can get her some relief and help her feel better. There is a possibility that the doctor will order a thoracentesis tomorrow (Tuesday), hoping that will reduce the fluid around her lungs and provide relief for her labored breathing. The doctor isn’t sure about this though, and is taking time to monitor Mom, and trying to be as cautious as possible.

We don’t know what the immediate future holds and of course, we are all quite concerned. We are hoping for the best yet fearing she may continue to decline. Mom’s continual kindness, positivity, and unwavering faith constantly amaze me every day. Her trust remains in God, and she knows that He has His hand in all of this. Yesterday she reminded me that God does not give us more than we can handle… which can only mean that she is a STRONG woman. We continue to pray that God will lead the medical team, and provide her with some relief. Please pray that the Tagrisso will work, and it starts attacking the tumors again. Again we appreciate your prayers, thoughts, and support, and we know God’s army is behind us.