UPDATE ON MARY扴 CONDITION ,20060309

Many of you have been contacting us wanting to know the latest about Mary抯
health condition.  Much of my time has been taken up in caring for Mary
which I am willing to do.  So as much as I would like to, it has been
impossible for me to respond personally to each of your e-mails, instant
messages and phone calls.  But we do appreciate so much your encouraging
words.  Mary has completed her 3 weeks?radiation treatments on her brain
and one week on chemo pills.  At that point she was very weak and barely
able to walk with the aid of her walker.  However, this week with no
treatments she has been able to gain some of her strength back before
starting another week of chemo treatment.  It seems that to kill the cancer
the patient must almost be killed in the process.  But if all works out it
will be well worth it.
Another MRI (brain picture) will be taken on March 17th to see what the
results have been from the radiation treatments.  They have to wait that
long in order for the brain to get back to normal so they can see the
results of the treatment.  Then we will see the Doctor on the 21st for a
report.  At that time he will suggest further follow-up treatment.  It is
hard to wait until then to know how effective the treatments have been.
We appreciate the prayers many of you have made on behalf of Mary.  We
believe in the power of the Divine Physician who can do great things when it
is according to his plan.
We have had both our daughters taking time off from their work to help Mary
even though one lives in New York and the other in Arkansas.  Also we have a
health care worker coming every morning for 4 hours as well as two physical
therapists helping Mary exercise to gain her strength back.  Our Church
family continues to pour out their love in supplying our meals, visiting and
providing transportation.  So you can see we are in the best of hands.  The
doctors at the hospital have been wonderful in mapping out the treatments
Mary needs in order to regain her health.  Yet even with the best of
treatment we must still wait to know the outcome.

Your friends, Tom & Mary