Prayer request updates 2/11/12

Here is an update for all of you who have been praying for us, and specifically for the requests that we listed in the post titled Doctor appt. 2/3/12 ......and a little more.


Thank you for praying, for "this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him." (1 John 5:14-15)

(The Request) 1. Please pray that this parasite killer works! This drug is intense, and it is the drug best used for one of the two parasites. If it works REALLY well, it could knock both of them out at once...and that is what we are going for!




(The answer) I really felt over this past week, that this medication was doing its job.  The first night after I started taking it, my sleep was incredibly restless with a huge surge of pain and discomfort.  This sounds bad, but it is evidence that a LOT of bad critters were getting their bumpkins (that's our toddler word for it) kicked!

2. Please pray that my body handles the die off. If this week is too hard, our doctor is going to be hesitant to start the heavy metal treatments...because that too will have a die off.
 
Thank Jesus, we did indeed start the IV heavy metal chelation treatments.  My doctor was pleased with our report and so we dove head first into this facet of my treatment!

3. We have recently discovered that my body becomes sensitized very quickly to treatments and drugs. This could go any way. I could become sensitized to the Prednisone, and start hurting A LOT. Or, conversely, I could become sensitized to the Parasite treatment and start feeling GREAT on the Prednisone. We have to watch for both.
 
Again, an answer to prayer.  The essential medications really seemed to be effective all week long.

4. Please pray for protection on my joints, and that when the time comes, we would be led to the best physical therapy for my condition.
 
My doctor wrote a prescription for physical therapy, and he suggested a good place to us, but it is over the hill.  For something that happens as frequently as physical therapy, we would really like to find a place in the Santa Cruz area.  But ultimately we want the best for my joints and their preservation/regeneration.

5. Please pray for Corrie. She spends the majority of her time serving me and taking care of Rebecca, and she needs all the energy and strength she can get.
 
 Praise God that she has carried our family through another week.  She has, however, been quite tired, and it seems like all her time is full.  Please keep praying for renewed strength in her body especially, but also her mind and spirit.  Please contend for the fulfillment of Isaiah 40:31 in her life: "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

6. Please pray for wisdom as we are always listening for the Lord's direction in treatments.

More detail will come about this in the shortly forthcoming doctor's appointment update, but just know that God is fulfilling this request presently.  Yesterday, before our appointment, I was feeling uneasy, unsure, like a piece of kelp whose holdfast has come undone and is just drifting aimlessly in the ocean.  (Forgive the sixth grade biology analogy)  But I prayed that the Lord would unite Corrie, myself, and our doctor and let us all be on the same page.  This would be my assurance that we are moving in a good direction, because I really wasn't sure of what direction to take.  Thank God, he answered my prayer, and he is speaking his guidance to us. 

²⁵ “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten,
The crawling locust,
The consuming locust,
And the chewing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.
²⁶ You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
And praise the name of the Lord your God,
Who has dealt wondrously with you;
And My people shall never be put to shame.
²⁷ Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel:
I am the Lord your God
And there is no other.
My people shall never be put to shame.

Joel 2:25-27