6/21/06

Dear friends,

Laura has taken the time to develop a BLOG web site for us to keep you updated on what is happening and how to pray. My understanding is that it works like going to any other web site. You enter this and you are there. http://nancyupdate.blogspot.com The latest update will be at the top. I am still learning, but I think you can leave comments there for us. Emailing me at nancyfritz@aol.com works well too. I will include this email there, but will put it here anyway since we are already connected. This will put you in the driver's seat to get updates. I will need to worry less about keeping up the address list, since you can go look there on your own. I would like to know if you are unable to go to the BLOG for some reason. I wouldn't want you to miss out on getting the updates. Like I said, I am still learning, and will let you know more as I learn more.

Update Wednesday morning, June 21, 2006

It is Wednesday now and time for an update. I haven't written since last Tuesday and today is when I go to have 2 teeth pulled. They have been hurting for months and since my immune system will be low during chemo and radiation, I decided it would be good to get them out of there before we get going with all of that. Dealing with them during chemo would have been dangerous. One has its roots in my right sinus cavity, so please pray that wouldn't cause extra problems.

I had an impression made of these teeth yesterday by the dentist who will make a replacement for them later. I got my x-rays and antibiotic for today as well. Since I now have a port for chemo (implant), I have to take antibiotic as a pre-medication for dental procedures. Jenni will go with me and my appointment is at 1:30. I have some pain medication left I can use if/as needed.

I have been healing well. I went and saw my surgeon early last week because the drain they put in during surgery wasn't draining as much as it needed to. She had me leave it in for a few more days and took it out on Thursday. The very nice thing is that it was the first time out of the 6-8 times I have had them, that it didn't hurt a LOT to take it out. I braced myself and held the nurse's hand, but it was over without me even feeling it! Maybe that was because it wasn't working well and had lots of fluid around it. Regardless of why, I am thanking God for that. I haven't had any build up of fluid to cause problems and am healing well.

The pathology report from my surgery on the 9th said all was clean of cancer and that there were no nodes that were taken out in that 7 x 7 x 2 cm piece of tissue. The area healing now basically feels like a big bruise. My port is less sore than it was, but gets achy when I move certain ways. I assume it will continue to feel better as time goes on. I can move my arms freely now and have been able to achieve "walking" my left arm up the wall further each day. It can go almost totally straight now but is still tight and sore.

I still feel extra tired and have taken a lot of naps in these 11 days of recovery. I am not up to full steam yet, but maybe 50-60%. The kids and Greg have helped in all sorts of ways, and friends have brought some meals, flowers and many have sent cards and emails. Extra gifts have come, or are coming to cover the medical expenses. We have been prayed over and for and basically have been loved well by so many. Thank you all for touching us in such tangible ways!

Prayer Requests
**Please pray for dental surgery today, quick healing there and everywhere else.
**Pray for no infections from the dental surgery
**Pray for Tim, our HR director at Caleb Project for wisdom as he finds a new health insurance plan for our new organization. Because of our merger with ACMC, we have to switch medical insurance plans. This will probably happen in the middle of my treatment and will impact me and a few others very directly. I have been with my surgeon and oncologist for 7 years and wish there was a way to stay with them. I feel very vulnerable and need to trust God with this big issue.
**Pray for me to be able to connect with the wig lady who helped me last time. I figure I have about 3 weeks of my hair left and I will be gone all next week.
**Our family is taking next week (June 24-July 1) as vacation in Steamboat. It has been planned since February. Allison's boyfriend Josh will be joining us for a week starting today. Pray that we would have a fun relaxed family time before chemo starts on July 5th.
**Pray that Jesse will have a good week at Boy Scout camp this week. His time in Canada with youth group last week was extremely good. We got to have a 3 hour debrief with him before taking him to Boy Scout camp Sunday evening. The Lord worked in his life.

On July 5th I am scheduled to see Dr. Bourg, my oncologist at 9:00 a.m. and then start my infusion at 9:30 for about 3 hours. My friend Janet who is a trained PA, is planning to go with me.

If you want to help with meals-
Since I have only had one of these 2 types of chemo before (Cytoxin), I don't know what symptoms to expect or how I will feel. Last time I felt like I had the flu for 3-4 days and I am being told the Taxitere part will effect me most on days 3 and 4. So for this first time, we think 5 days of meals would be helpful. When we see how I do this time, we can make plans for the next cycle 3 weeks later. Laura will be gone for a week or two right after this chemo, and she is the main cook around here (besides me). It would be great if I didn't have any side effects!

Note:
If you want to bring something and switch it into our pans or dishes and take yours home with you, that would be fine. Please label any dishes you want to leave here. I am lactose intolerant and that means no dairy. If you want to bring something with cheese or milk in it, maybe you could bring that ingredient on the side, or just leave my portion out. (I usually use almond or soy milk and Smart Balance cheese to work around that allergy.) Other than that, we are easy and like anything.

Two friends have offered to help with organizing this:
Sharyl from Caleb Project (scavin@cproject.com, cell: 720.934.5307) and
Diane Mueller from our small group (muellers5@qwest.net, home: 303.683.5318 cell: 303.324.9419) Sharyl will be going out of town on Friday, but would like to get meals lined up for the first round of chemo before she leaves, so please call or email her today or tomorrow (Wednesday or Thursday). Thanks!

The dates we would appreciate meals this time are: Wed., July 5th, Thursday, July 6th, Friday, July 7th, Saturday, July 8th, and Sunday July 9th.

Thank you, dear friends, for taking the time to read this and pray for us. We are very appreciative! May the Lord bless you and make you a blessing to the nations!
Nancy