Fw: Rachel's update

["bobbi smisko" <bobbismisko@erols.com>]

Prayer Warriors,
This is the latest update from Sherry and Fred.
Bobbi
-----Original Message-----
From: Sherry Pinson <spinson@fuse.net>
To: Keven Wentworth <pkjw@juno.com>; Carla Sunberg <CarlaSun@aol.com>; Chuck
Sunberg <YakSun@aol.com>; Skinner, Bill and Nancy <RSkinner@oregonvos.net>;
Warren & Virginia Nuffer <wvnuffer@dancris.com>; Kuhn, Bob and Dorothy
<rkuhn@ala.net>; Glen Gardner <ggardner@intnet.net>; Breen, Peggy
<peggybre@cs.com>; Angles, Ron <angles1227@hotmail.com>; Bobbi Smisko
<bobbismisko@erols.com>; Chloe Schweitzer <ChloeSch@aol.com>; Clarence & Sue
Rose <rosec91948@aol.com>; Dan West <dcwdmd@supernet.com>; David Duff
<dduff@aol.com>; Don Weber <dweber@tir.com>; Gary Lehman <nazdoc53@aol.com>;
George Mowry <sfn@integrity.com>; Gerald Decker <GLD1011@aol.com>; Greg &
Marla Armstrong <lensdrug@oregontrail.net>; Jay Meador <jaymeador@msn.com>;
John & Marian Russell <jlrmsr417@aol.com>; Ken Morehead
<morehead@drtel.net>; Ken Schmidt <kschmidt@tobuildwealth.com>; Kent Hill
<hillk@enc.edu>; Kurt Johnson <kurt@kdconsulting.com>; Lonnie Norris
<lonnienorris@aol.com>; Mentzer, Russ and Adina <occhild@iol21.com>; Merritt
Mann <mhmann@aol.com>; Phil & Shirley Newlin <Newlinhome@aol.com>; Randall
Davey <rdavey3333@aol.com>; Roger Stevens <PRCROGER@aol.com>; Roy Campbell
<WWCIS@aol.com>; Russ Bredholt <rbredholt@aol.com>; Scott Couchenour
<cogun@cogun.com>
Date: Thursday, July 26, 2001 2:21 PM
Subject: Rachel's update


>As some of you have responded to my e-mail about the meeting next January,
>you have been kind to ask about Rachel, my 13-year-old stepdaughter.
Here's
>an update:
>
>Her surgery was successful in that it removed the part of the cancer that
>was pressing against her spinal cord. The rest will have to wait until
>chemotherapy can shrink it to a manageable size for more surgery.  She had
>her first chemo treatment a week ago and had a bad bout with the sickness
>that so often goes with the treatments.  Medicines helped the nausea,
>though, and she was able to come home from the hospital.  After a couple of
>days she had weathered the worst of the chemo sickness. She is able to eat,
>although she has little appetite and little energy.
>
>This morning, though, she ran a fever higher than the doctors will allow
and
>had to be readmitted to Children's Hospital for IV antibiotics.  We are
>getting a sense that this is what life will be like for a while--a
>treatment, the sickness, a few days of feeling better, and then an ambush.
>Chemotherapy is a delicate balancing act between toxins and white blood
>cells--you'd never give your child such poisons if the alternative weren't
>so unthinkable.  There really is no option but to trudge through the
>process.  The doctors will look at the tumor again in about three months to
>see what the treatments have accomplished.  They continue to be optimistic
>that she will respond.
>
>As always, we ask for your prayers and thank you for your support and
>prayers thus far.  We are thankful for many things--the tumor had not
>infiltrated the spinal cord, we live 30 minutes from one of the top
>children's hospitals in the country, we live in this time and not 20 years
>ago, the cancer has not spread, the outlook is hopeful.  But the power of
>the fellowship of the Body of Christ is at the top of the list.
>
>We'll keep you posted!
>
>Sherry Pinson
>
>