Update past due

My apologies for taking so long to update the blog. I guess I just get so wrapped up in all of it that I don't remember to enter a blog as often I probably should. Enough people have stated recently that you still check the blog so it is time to let you all know what is going on. Plus, your prayers are so important to us and I need to let you know our prayer needs.

Life is a struggle for Eric right now. Since our trip to Maine, he has had severe back pain that has required trips to the emergency room typically followed by admission. This has been necessary to get the pain under control to the point where he can return home and maintain it. It use to be that Eric would have to mow the lawn or do something physical for this pain to occur. However, it is no longer tied to specific physical activity and has actually happened when we can't pin point a reason for it to happen. The other part of this is that the pain is happening more frequently and he has to be on regular pain medication in order to be comfortable. Needless to say, he fears doing anything, going too far from home and sits in his chair most of the time to avoid experiencing the pain level that is unbearable.

So what causes this pain... a question we've asked over and over again. Assumptions are that it is caused by the cancer in the lymph nodes by the spine. Although scans continue to suggest that there hasn't been significant changes in the cancer, it certainly doesn't help answer the question for the pain and the frequency of its on set. We went to Cleveland Clinic again today. It was the 3 month check up. No scans were done since a scan was recently done at Fulton County Health Center during a recent emergency visit. That scan was sent to Cleveland and no major changes were noted.

So, with all of that said, we have a plan. Eric is having another MRI of the spine scheduled in Fulton County next Monday. The results and scan will be sent to Cleveland Clinic. Eric's doctor will forward the results and scan to another doctor in Cleveland. She is a surgeon specializing in cancer of the spine. This doesn't necessarily mean that we believe that cancer has spread to the spine or that he will need surgery. Because the pain is in the back, the doctor feels that her specialty will be helpful in determining why he has this pain and if anything can be done to control it. I want to be careful not to portray anything in this blog. We have no assumptions based on our visit today but we are thankful that further testing will be done. We are also glad that another specialist in Cleveland will be involved.

Prayers... every day is truely a struggle for Eric. He needs strength for each day, physcially and emotionally. It has become very difficult to understand why he cannot have a good day. With the fear of pain, his life style has been extemely altered. We just pray that he can get relief from the pain and enjoy some day to day activities again. We also ask for prayers to give the doctors wisdom to diagnose and treat Eric to relieve the pain. And, obviously we pray that in all of this, new cancer is not found and that the drug is still working.

I promise to blog again after the next few weeks of tests and appointments. We don't actually have appointments set up yet. Hopefully there won't be any more trips to the emergency room between now and then.

Thanks for your continued support and most of all your prayers... Eric and Gwen