Blog update

Hello everyone, I want to thank you all for your prayers, texts, and calls. They have been such a blessing and an encouragement to our family and especially to mom. A lot has happened in the last few days with mom's health. Over the last several weeks, mom has been concentrating on gaining weight and strength in order to start chemotherapy, as chemo is very taxing on the body. Recently, mom has been having shortness of breath and has been feeling a heaviness on her chest. This trouble breathing led her from rehab back to the hospital, where the doctors learned that she had one lung that was full of fluid. The doctors initially drained what they could from her lung, however the next day, her lung was filled again, this time with a fluid that was undrainable. Mom has also had more of a challenge eating over the last few days which has led to her losing even more weight. In order to ensure that her pain is managed well, the doctors have had her on a high dosage of pain medicine. This has really helped with her pain, but it has also caused her to be less coherent over the last three days. Yesterday, mom's main doctor came into the room to give an update. Given the frailty of moms body, there are no options that would address her lung fluid without causing a lot of pain and risking additional serious health problems. Her cancer has also progressed significantly over the last month, which has caused a lot of issues throughout her body. As all of you who know mom know, she is such a fighter, and she has always wanted to do everything possible to combat her cancer. Yesterday, for the first time, mom decided that it was time to stop the fight, and use her remaining strength to spend time with her family. Even in the midst of such a hard day, the Lord so clearly ordained so many wonderful things. Mom has been mostly incoherent for the last three days, but she was coherent right when the doctor came in. This was such a blessing, as she was able to share her desire for the future of her stay here. She was also able to sit with all of us kids and share her heart. Even in her current state, she was such an encouragement to us, and showed us the love that she has blessed us with our entire lives. Mom will be transferred to a beautiful hospice center tomorrow, which is what she wants. After learning from the doctor of the urgency of mom's condition, we contacted our family immediately. Most of them were able to come sit with her today, though we are still waiting for a few of her siblings to arrive.  The Lord answered our prayers for the day, and allowed mom to be coherent for a few hours while she spent time with us. Even her unique sense of humor came out during our conversations. She has a small window of time during the day where she is awake, and we want to make sure that she is able to see her family and share her thoughts during that limited time. When we asked mom what she wanted regarding visitors, she preferred to spend time with her family for now. I know that so many of you would like to see her, and we will certainly let you know if there is a time over the next few days that would be appropriate for visitors to come.  Thank you all again for your prayers and support over these last months and years.  We would like to ask for your continued prayers for all of our family right now. Specifically for wisdom and peace over the coming days and weeks, and that the Lord will keep our eyes fixed on him. He truly is all of our peace and strength.  God bless, -Ryan for The James' "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to  His  purpose." Romans 8:28