Hello dear family and friends,
What a day! Kelly's surgery went as planned and the doctor removed his lower lobe and a small amount of the middle and upper lobes. The doctor said that the mass was the size of a tennis ball and that the hope now is that without this absest in his lung, Kelly's body will now fight the fungus and pneumonia better. Kelly has a painful week ahead of recovery but, tonight he was thankful for epidurals! (I know how that feels!) I would love to share more of the special things God did for us this day but I have four little ones who will need me early in the morning so I must go to bed. We are so thankful for the prayers of the saint!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are bless and encouraged beyond what you can imagine. Thank you Jesus for how you love us through your people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sincerely, Gabriela

Don't dispair...there's a lot of hope!

Hi friends,

The last blog entry reflects the despair of our hearts, but doctors always give the worst case scenario to prep their patients. We visited with the neurosurgeon today and it seems that the lining membranes that cover the brain are swollen. Because this lining backs up to the sinus, he believes it is the fungus that is causing the swelling. The good news is that the barrier between this lining and the brain tissue is durable and the fungus at this time isn't a threat to the brain.

I have started a new medication that has shown to combat the fungus. So we will give this medication sometime and in a month have another MRI to compare the brain linings. We are also hopeful that the medicine will help with the random spots on the lungs.

We are scheduled for surgery to remove my right lower lobe of my lung on Monday. I really don't relish the idea of parting with body parts, but this seem to be the only means to get me to a place to resume the chemo treatments.

Other encouraging new came today as several people committed to cover our medical co pays, which is money we don't have and would have had to nickle and dime payments to honor them. We have a very gracious support base in our church and it constantly overwhelms me. We are so blessed to be part of this body of believers. I honestly am baffled by this. I know I shouldn't be as a pastor, but I am.

I am feeling pretty good and working whenever I'm not seeing a doctor or visiting the hospital for a test. The lung surgery will set us back a month or so, but hopeful after this we will be able to get back on track and get cancer free.

So many of you have called alarmed by the last blog entry. Thank you and know that once again God is strengthening and encouraging us daily. Your prayers and concern touch me deeply and you are teaching me how to be a better lover of people.

For His glory,

Kelly

Well, we were warned that this would be an emotional roller coaster. Monday and Tuesday were especially difficult days for us. We learned that Kelly's MRI came back abnormal and that there is swelling intra cranially. He has been having head aches. It is possible that the fungus has traveled into his head. The scan showed that the brain matter is clean of fungus for now but that there is extra fluid. We also learned that Kelly's spot in his right lung has grown and is growing fast. They have done a broncoscopy and a needle biopsy and they were inconclusive. Kelly will be having lung surgery Monday and the doctors expect to remove between 40 to 65% of his right lung. There are other spots on his lungs and if it is the fungus, the infectious disease specialist be lives his current medication will treat it. We meet with a Nero Surgeon tomorrow. We expect that they will want to take out some of the fluid and see if it is fungus and if so, implant a shunt and treat is for several months.

Oh dear family and friends, this hit us hard. We thought the fungus issues were behind us. "We would have despaired unless we had believed that we would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." (Ps.27) Honestly we were pretty hopeless for the last two days and yet, God as blessed us with His presence and we are at peace. Things are not looking good but things did not look good for the Israelites when God told them to cross the Jordan river when the river was flooding onto the river banks. Our God is mighty, strong and The great physician. Ps. 27 ends with "Wait for the Lord; Be strong, and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord." And so we wait in Him.

It is my prayer that God would do a miracle and spare, not only Kelly's life but also his lung and brain just like He did his eye and sinus cavities. I know you will join us in prayer, thank you thank you thank you!!!!

This is what we know today. Our battle is not against flesh and blood, (fungus and cancer) but against principalities of the air and evil forces that are at work around us. Kelly is alive today, (and for that matter, so are we), God is our Good Shepherd, His grace is sufficient. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. He has commanded us to bring our requests before Him and so we do and in my years of walking with Jesus, as I have brought my requests before Him, He has been faithful to align my heart to His and for now, we both want Kelly to live for many more years.

Be encouraged dear friends and family, we are by many of you who have called and written us telling us that you are praying. How very blessed we are.

Living moment by moment in His presence, Gabriela

Good new!

It is so nice to share good news.
God has answered our prayers! Kelly got the results from the bone marrow biopsy and the leukemia has stayed put this whole last month while we have been battling the fungus!!! This was tremendous news. The main concern, besides the fact that the fungus kills most people, is that while Kelly's body was being stimulated to produce white blood cells rapidly in order to kill the fungus, we feared that his body would be producing leukemic cells (which are abnormal white blood cells). So... the fungus is no longer in his sinus' and the doctors seem to think that we have the upper hand on it and... the cancer is considered to be in remission! This does not mean that he is cancer free. We will resume chemo in a couple of weeks and begin where we left off. The reason this is so significant is that each set back to treatment lowers the percentage of survivability and although we have had many bumps in the road, we have not been set back! Thank you Lord!!! Kelly will be speaking with a lung specialist to determine when and if surgery is needed, (the spot on his lung might be scar tissue or fungus or pneumonia???) The results from his lung biopsy will be clearer this week.

On a personal note, we were able to go to Jackie and Lee's wedding! What a blessed event and beautiful bride! We stayed with our good friends, the Johnson's and had a great weekend. Thank you all so much for your prayers and please, please, please don't stop. Sincerely, Gabriela
Prayer requests - Staff infection in sinus', pneumonia, stamina (especially this weekend while I am on a women's retreat.)

Hello all,
Kelly is having a needle biopsy done on his lung this morning. The results will determine weather the dark spot in his lung is the fungus or dead tissue from the fungus. They will also decide weather or not to do surgery. We don't know when chemo begins again but hope to find out soon. Kelly looks noticeably better to me but, he is still feeling extremely fatigued and pretty yucky.
Thank you for your continued prayers, love and support. Please pray for Kelly's heart. It has been very draining and disheartening to feel so bad, so consistently.
On a lighter note, we are hopping to go to Redlands this weekend to attend Jackie Williams and Lee Maas' wedding! We are so excited for them!
Lots of love, Gabriela