Update

Hello everyone,
Thought I'd update you today since I am feeling a bit better. I am just recovering from a horrendous rash that developed the day I came home from the hospital. Turns out I am allergic to the lipids part of the TPN - so the TPN was modified to exclude essential fats and the race has just about cleared up. I am having some blood sugar issues with the TPN too that are being worked on - it is amazing how our bodies were designed to work so precisely - when we try to replicate some function artificially, it is not easy to get everything to work well together. I had chemo last Friday and took about 4 days to recover from it - the side effects were mainly fatigue and also aches, pains and fever. I will see Dr. Berlin on Friday and will have blood tests to see how low my blood counts are - if too low, then no chemo. I'll keep you posted as I feel better. I am missing food a lot - getting nutrition through the TPN is efficient but not enjoyable. I really miss chewing - and miss sandwiches and other yummy things. I need to keep eating that food that Jesus talked about to His disciples - food that they didn't know about... This kind of eating will help me with the diet change. Like the children of Israel. They needed to eat the manna to help them change their diet. The manna experience is very similar to mine. Those children of Israel had been enjoying a rich diet in Egypt and then they were asked to eat this wafer. It must have been quite difficult for them to enjoy it very much. Yet it was their nutrition while in the wilderness. It helped wean them from the leeks and garlic of Egypt. That manna is just a type of Christ - He is the living bread that came down out of heaven from God. John 6 has many wonderful verses about the Lord as the living bread, the bread of life. We just need to eat Him! He told us that if we eat Him, we will live by Him. John 6:57 says: As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me. Eating God is a really foreign concept - mostly we think about honoring God, worshipping God - but what about eating God? I realize that if I eat Him, I will be strengthened during the day to live by Him - and live in another realm, on another plain - by another life.

Here's a hymn to the tune of Amazing Grace:

1 The tree of life, how sweet the fruit,
With God as life complete.
I once was dead, but now I live,
Was starved, but now I eat.

2 'Twas God that brought me to the tree,
With Christ Himself as meat;
How precious did that tree become
When I began to eat.

3 The Lord Himself is food to me,
He is my life supply;
He will my pure enjoyment be,
None else can satisfy.

4 I freely eat this living tree,
For eating is the way
To put God's life inside of me,
To live by Him today.

My mom is visiting with my brother Vincent in Texas and having a wonderful time, according to him.

I went for a walk today - there was a lull in the rain - everything was so beautiful.

Please continue to pray as the Lord leads - I appreciate this so much.

Much love,
Joanne