Not a Good Night

Good Afternoon,

Late last night, Elena said her right side hurt. By 1:30am she was crying and screaming in pain. At 2am, they gave her morphine. She was calm by 2:15 and asleep by 2:45 or 3. She slept pretty much on and off until 9 this morning. She is no longer complaining of pain, just discomfort and nausea.

We also noticed her abdomen is much larger than when we got here. The nurses began measuring it to keep track of its size. We heard from the nurse last night that the radiology report from the ultrasound was "normal".

Today the doctor said she is retaining water and the ultrasound showed "free fluid" in the abdominal cavity. She said it is most likely treatment/chemo related and not alarming.

Her blood counts are continuing to go up and then drop again. But not as significantly as earlier. Apparently all of this falls in the "normal" category as well. Today is she is scheduled to have a CAT scan of her entire stomach region, a chest x-ray (she started coughing last night), one unit of blood and one unit of platelets.

Things are moving much more slowly than we would like. It is frustrating for all of us! The bleeding seems to be under control, yet the platelets keep dropping. She continues to run a fever on and off, yet is receiving antibiotics. Now, the added side pain, distended belly, and swollen face. We really want to know what is going on and figure out what is causing the pain and swelling! We are trusting in God, the ultimate healer and physician and trying to be patient with the earthly doctors.

Elena has been amazing! She knows God is with her. She asked during her terrible pain last night if God knew that all of this was too much for her. She continues to fight (with some encouragement and prayers) and to show enormous patience!!

Please pray for us to be patient and to trust in the Lord completely!

In Him,
The Tates

"Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."
Lamentations 3:22-23

From a devotion: Worry wastes time. Worry cannot produce good fruit. Worry can consume us like fire. Only the compassion of the Lord will never fail. His faithfulness is monumental, majestic, true and permanently dependable."