I received this email tonight from an *old* friend.  I have known her for 28 years now!  She and Robbie (her DH of only 3 or 4 years) have a 3 month old DD named Micah.  Also, they recently found out that her mother has Alzheimers.  Thanks ladies!
~ Rachel

Good evening all!  We got another round of bad news today. For those of you who don't know Robbie was back in the hospital last Wednesday through Friday.  They ended up drawing some fluid off of his lungs and sending it off for biopsy.  The fluid came back positive for cancer cells.  The same cancer cells floating around his abdomen.  His liver is still not functioning properly and now his cancer Dr is saying they are not sure his body will tolerate the chemo if we try it.   The chemo could in fact kill him before the cancer does.
They put him on a home pain pump today and are trying to keep him as comfortable as possible at home.  By next week a decision has to be made by his cancer Dr about whether or not to take the risk of chemo and we have to make the decision of whether or not we want to take the risk.
 
We are now deeper in the valley than ever and we are having a hard time taking it all in.  We've gone through a whole range of emotions over the last few months and now we are left mostly with anger and sadness.  The physical part of this battle has been horrible enough on Robbie, now the emotional part of it is ripping through BOTH of us.
 
We need your PRAYERS!   Not only for strength and peace through this but also for wisdom for both us and his Dr's.  We are still praying and asking God for a miracle and for healing but every time we think nothing else can happen and that we've rounded a corner something new pops up.  Our faith is wearing thin I'm afraid.  So please, please, PRAY!!
 
Love,
Friday

Just a quick prayer request.  Poor DS9 has strep throat  :(   He started 
feeling a bit rough on Thursday am but nothing to be too concerned 
about. He suddenly had a fever of 102.1 on Saturday am.  I took him into 
an emergency care facility run by the hospital this morning with a temp 
of 102.9.  He has strep.  He has started his amox. and is taking a nap 
right now (as is DS16Mo). (DD8 & Daddy are out with Grandpa right 
now).  Please pray that he starts to feeling better soon and the the 
rest of us do not catch this!  The dr. said that DS16Mo is in the gray 
are of possibly still be covered by my immunity from being nursed so 
that helps a bit.  Well, I have a headache (not enough sleep and some 
sinus thing I mght have I think - I have been sneezing a lot today).  
So, I am going to go take a nap or a shower.

Thanks for the prayers!

Rachel

I rcvd this from M tonight.  Please continue to pray for them.

"Hello again,
  This e-mail is just an update on my prior message for the prayer request.  First I want to thank everyone for all the support and prayers you have sent our way.  We truly appreciate it. As per my last message we had our appointment today (3/7/08) at the Children's Hospital in Washington DC.  The results did not come back as we all had hoped.  Little Kylie May was diagnosed with a severe brain abnormality called "Holoprosencephaly"(HPE).  There are several types of HPE, and unfortunately, Kylie has been diagnosed with the most severe form, called "Alobar".  Unlike normal brain development, Kylie's brain has not divided into the two normal hemispheres, causing severe abnormalities. If she were to last the entire term, and only 3% do, the doctors say she would not be able to develop the skills that a new born would need to survive, like eating & breathing. She would most likely suffer from severe seizures and would not survive past six months.  After consulting with the doctors and discussing all options,  we have been advised not to continue with the pregnancy.  We feel this is the safest option for K and in the best interest of Little Kylie, myself and even our daughter P.  This procedure will happen sometime next week at George Washington Hospital, so we would still like for you to keep us in your thoughts and prayers through this difficult time. Thank you all again and God Bless.
M & K"

1.) I need you to pray for a friend please. M & K have 1 beautiful DD that is about a year old or so.  "Hi everyone,  As most of you already know, My wife K is pregnant with our second child.  Today, March 5th we had an appointment with a doctor to get a sonogram done.  What some of might not have known, was this was the 3rd sonogram that we have gotten. The first one was done at nine weeks and the doctor was a little concerned with what looked like a little fluid in the baby's head, so she asked us to come back the next week to make sure that it was nothing.  The second sonogram at 10 weeks showed the same thing.  This time the doctor wanted us to wait until 18 weeks so that baby had time to develop so that they could see what was going on.  They sent us to a doctor in Fairfax where they have a level 2 sonogram machine. So after the doctor looked at the pictures, she didn't like what she saw, so they immediately sent us over to the hospital to see a specialist. We found out that our new little baby girl (Kylie May) has a cyst like substance covering over 25% of her brain. The doctor wasn't able to tell us exactly what it is or what is causing it. They took a bunch of test and we have an appointment this Friday at the children's hospital in Washington DC to get an MRI done to find out more about whats going on.  Things don't look good right now and if things don't get better in a hurry, we might have to terminate the pregnancy.  Please, please keep K, myself and especially little Kylie May in your prayers.  Thank you and God Bless. M"
 

2.)Update from Shalom: "Good afternoon all! I know it's been a while since I did one of these. Mostly because I haven't had much to report. Robbie is coming along each day getting stronger and stronger. His surgeon finally released him this AM so he can start Chemotherapy on Monday. He'll have 5 days in a row of chemo next week. Then a few weeks break, and then he'll have a month of every day Radiation treatments. Then we repeat the cycle all over again. He is ready to get everything started. I guess we both are. Tomorrow we have an appointment for me and baby in Richmond. Afterwards Robbie wants me to take him to have his head shaved. He said last time he waited until it started to fall out and it was hard to see it on the pillow. So we are going to shave it off before it has a chance to fall out. I have a feeling with the first swipe of the clippers I'll start crying. That's about it on this end. He's still doing the nightly feedings on the feeding tube and trying to eat a few bites here and there throughout the day. I'm really proud of him for fighting and pushing himself to eat even when he doesn't really feel like it.Keep the calls, visits, prayers, etc. coming. They really help him and me to get through this!!"

Thanks all! Rachel

a few things that have been on my heart and that I feel I need to share with others.

My friend of 27 years if pregnant.  She had a micarriage a few months ago.  She ofun out around Christmas that she s pregnant again. Last week she found out that her DH of about 2 years has a very progressive form of stomach cancer. 

Another thing is Baby Noah.  you need to read his blog to understand his story. There is a link for newbies so that you can understand what is going on.  Tehy also posted about mito disease and how it affeccts the body last week so be sure to read that as well.  She is due to be induced next week with Baby Noah's baby sister.

I thank God that none of us have to go through live alone and that Gd has given us one another...

~ Rachel