Answered Prayers

Sometimes, I wonder if God is listening.  Other times, it seems foolish to doubt it.

Sunday was a particularly hard day for me.  Late in the afternoon, I was sitting by the window in the family room, watching traffic just beyond the gates.  I was crying and talking to God about life, wishing I could just have a hug.

A few moments later, I heard a voice.  "What's going on, girl?"  It was Adrienne, stopping in on her way from Ft. Rucker, AL, to be with her family in Pennsylvania.  Her dad has a brain tumor, and she's doing her best to help him fight it--and to support us in the meantime.

I looked at Adrienne and just cried.  She didn't say anything; she just grabbed me and hugged me.  It was just what I needed.

Sometimes, in this journey with Billy, I wonder if God is listening.  We've been praying God to heal the blockage in his intestines; we wanted Billy to be able to eat for Thanksgiving.  He didn't get to.

But then other times, it seems like God must be doing something.  I can see the ways we're being taken care of.  And some of the requests for Billy are being answered.  The pinch in his left side has subsided.  (Yeah!)  He had an ultrasound done on his left side, and the pockets of infected fluid are gone, so they were able to remove the catheter.  Those seem like signs of progress!

But the cancer remains, and the only thing the medical team can offer is herceptin.  We don't know how well that will work.  Herceptin isn't a big cancer-killer...not like chemo is.  Then again, chemo is super-destructive, and Billy's body can't handle all that.  So we basically need a miracle...lots of them, in fact.

Lately, Billy's bilirubin level in his liver has been creeping up.  Bilirubin is a yellow substance that results from a breakdown process in the body, and it is excreted through bile and urine.  It's also the substance that causes the yellow tinge in a bruise.  When the bilirubin level goes up, a person's skin can take on a yellow hue.

The doctors are thinking that the constant flow of IV nutrition (TPN) is negatively affecting the liver, so they're trying a different feeding schedule.  Once they started that new schedule (last week), however, Billy started feeling a bit more nauseous.  He used to be able to enjoy a variety of beverages (tea, juice, milkshakes, smoothies), but they seem to mess with his stomach now.  He's been coughing a lot, trying to get rid of the nauseous feeling.

So...would you pray for some of these specific things?

• The blockage in Billy's small bowel to release, so that his GI tract would work and he could drink some healthy things!  
• Nutrition...The best kind of nutrition comes from food.  TPN is not ideal, and it's not ideal long-term.  Pray that Billy's body gets the nutrition it needs to be healthy and fight cancer.
• Nausea...that it would go away.  (And that the coughing would go away too.)

More Items at Zazzle.com
In the spirit of our invitation to join in our Christmas ornament tradition, we thought we'd make the Ask Me About BILLY ornaments available for everyone.  Those have been newly posted on our store.

New Ornaments

Additionally, we thought we'd release an alternate design for the t-shirts and hoodies.  Instead of having text on both sides, these hoodies and shirts just have the blog logo and address on the front.  The back is plain.

New Hoodies

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