Genetic Jeans

It has been some time since our last blog entry, as life is returning to normal. This week we did receive good news that Marce does not have the mutant BRCA1 or 2 gene, which could have been a reason for her relatively early cancer. We are still waiting the results of the onco dx testing, which took a bit longer to get started due to bureaucracy. We should hear back on this in the next few weeks. But Marce's strength is continuing to improve, and we are continuing to research and pray about what lifestyle and natural methods she should follow to minimize the recurrence risk. There are certainly lots of options, so we are trying to wade through it all to see what makes sense.

Thanks for your continued thoughts, and we will update when we have more news.

Marc

Back to School

Well, I’m back in the saddle (so to speak) and actually corralled Madeline and Marina into completing a full school day. It was a fun and rewarding start to the week, for which I’m so grateful! I don’t know how seriously the girls took me, though, since I didn’t even have the courtesy to get dressed and just lounged around in my flannel nightgown (not a pretty picture!). Thankfully, that’s one of the perks of homeschooling. As you can tell, I need the routine of our normal schooldays just as badly as our girls.

I thought I’d share a cute thing that happened today. While I was working with Madeline on her history lesson, Marina busily occupied herself with the giant jigsaw puzzles. I praised her for the great job she did putting all those puzzles together and proclaimed she was the “Puzzle Queen”. She thought for a moment and said, “No, I’m not the Puzzle Queen, I’m the Puzzle Princess!” I stand corrected. She is truly blossoming into a beautiful young girl. She attends a Christian preschool (located only two blocks away) two mornings a week. It’s a wonderful arrangement and allows us to pack in quite a bit of school on those mornings. She usually bounds through the front door bright-eyed and beaming from ear to ear, eager to show us all her lovely art creations for the day. In my mind, preschoolers + preschool art projects = a big mess! That’s the reason I have an equally big grin on my face when she walks in the house—we only get her finished masterpieces minus the mess. Isn’t that nice?!

Thank you for all your prayers and many kindnesses to us these past few weeks! You have blessed us beyond measure. We realize that God mercifully guided us through a difficult stretch of this trial, for which we are so thankful. He is also using each one of you to minister to us in so many tangible and beautiful ways.

Much love,

Marce

Returning To Normal

Today is Sunday and Marce continues to get her strength back. On Friday, we had an appointment with her surgeon and she is doing great in her healing process. While she still gets tired easily, she is able to get about and do the basics. This week we hope to start walking to help improve her energy and stamina.

We are waiting for the results of Marce’s Onco Type DX Test, which is expected to take 3-4 weeks. As I reported on this earlier, it is a test which will help us to understand how aggressive her cancer is and how it will respond to different treatments. In the meantime, we are doing a lot of research into natural treatments and are really beginning to think the best way to deal with this is via the “integrated” approach of both modern and natural medicines. As an example, here’s a link to an article on Paw Paw and how it can help with cancer. Scroll down to Section 3, “Results and Discussions”, if you want to skip the preamble:

http://www.pawpawresearch.com/pawpaw-trials1.pdf

We are doing fine and were glad to see Madeline (age 8) complete her role as one of the kittens in the “Aristocats” musical. It premiered and closed this week at Kirkland’s Studio East Theater. Several of her grandparents and family members were able to see her theater debut.

Madeline & Marina pose with Grandma Kim & Grandpa Mark after a sellout crowd

That's all for now!

Marc