Have to share... send the prayers!!

Well... how do I summarize everything I have to say? We did go on our vacation to the state of Maine and had a wonderful time. It was a tough day for Eric getting there and I had my doubts that we should even be going but Eric hung in there once again and we finally made it to our destination on Friday. The next couple of days went well but when we left Monday morning to tour the coast line, Eric got sick again and we landed in a hospital in Ellsworth, Maine. Eric had a high fever and pain and they discovered an infection in the blood stream. The hospital was so wonderful and they treated us so well because they knew we were on a vacation to celebrate our anniversary. After a lot of antibiotics, Eric was released on Wednesday and we headed to Acadia State Park. From the hospital bed to mountain tops... what a crazy day. Since we had missed a couple of days of our vacation, we decided to leave Maine a day later than planned so we continued to tour the harbor towns along the coast on our way back to Portland for our return flight. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed every minute of our time together making the most of everything we were able to do including the hospital stay. We even took "vacation pictures" at the hospital... after all, it was a hotel room for 2 nights :)

Unfortunately it doesn't end there with the hospital stay. Sunday, early morning Eric started having the severe pain again and it continued without any relief. So, early this morning, I drove him to FCHC and he is admitted there for 2 to 3 days. The goal of this stay is to get the pain under control and to find a recipe of medications that will give enough relief for Eric to get back some normalcy of activity with pain medication. His spirit is faded right now. He is so discouraged after being off work for so long and not being able to do anything except sit in the chair trying to handle the pain. I know how a little pain affects me on a given day and I can't even imagine dealing with his level of pain all the time. He has always been so strong but this has really weakened him physically and emotionally. This pain is the reality of his cancer. Facing reality isn't the easiest thing to do especially when it "hurts so bad".

I have lost the words to say and have had a hard time looking past the next minute. We still know that God is present because there are always signs of that and blessings that have no other explanation. We so much appreciate your prayers and ask that you send some extra ones upwards for Eric right now. Please pray that he can gain his strength not only physically but emotionally and spiritually as well. It's a tough journey right now. Thank you very much and I'll try to post as the week continues. Love to all... Eric and Gwen