Thoughts and Prayers Needed

I haven't written a blog post for two days as I had some sad news from 2 of my blog friends and I needed time to think it over. I wanted to put my feelings into order to make a blog post that would mean something, but I am still very upset and I don't think I have the ability to be very loquacious at this point (or probably ever).

Barry at An Explorer's View of Life has informed his blog followers that the cancer in his esophagus has spread to other parts of his body, making his cancer treatable, but not curable. His doctors have said he has anywhere from a few months to 5 years. I am in shock! A man who is so witty, funny, fresh and alive, who has gone through the Hell of chemo, radiation and throat widening procedures just HAS to get better. Please, please pray for him, or if you aren't a praying person, please, please send him positive thoughts of healing and happiness.

After hearing that, I went to another of my favorite blogs, written by Renee on Circling My Head. Renee is a vocal, intelligent woman, not afraid to swear when it is necessary, dealing with her own terminal cancer (which is, thank God, stable right now), and having a very hard time recently, with her mother getting sick, her sister diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer, and her nephew with a cancer that less than a handful of people in the world have had, and none have survived. On Friday, her Nephew Sheldon succumbed to his cancer and passed away in the hospital. Please, Please pray and send positive thoughts to her and her family to help them get through this terrible time. He was only 25, and though death at any age is hard, his was more so.

Please help them with your thoughts and prayers. Please visit their blogs and give them your support.
My love to all of my blog followers, I hope you never have to go through what these brave people are going through. My love, prayers and thoughts to Barry and his family, and to Renee and her family also.

Thankful Thursday: Some Awards and Updates

I have to thank Marianne from Lovely Purses for this Interesting Blog Award - she has the most wonderful blog and really pretty bags :)
I need to share this with 5 bloggers:
1 Jen from Epic Farms Equine Epiphanies
2 John from JohnToftBasketry
3 Marjorie from TheFanTail
4 Renee from CirclingMyHead
5 Heather from 3AMArtProductions
I wanted to thank Audrey at Stage 3! Who Me? for the Uber Amazing Blog award! She is one of the friendliest bloggers out there and I encourage you to visit her blog :)
Now I am supposed to share this with 6 bloggers:
1 The Furkids (and their Mommy and Daddy!) from FriendsFurEver
2 Daisy, Harley and their Mom from DaisyTheCurlyCat
3 The Goats and their Publicist from TheMaaaaaofPricilla
4 The Kitties, Sadie and their Parents at BeadedTail
5 The Llamas and their Mommy at SplitRockRanch
6 Jennifer at TheMare'sTales

Also, to update you on the Arwen story from yesterday...she kept the seal WELL out of my reach for 2 days, and then brought it to me this morning to play fetch, so I suppose I am forgiven :)

And to update on a prayer request, about 2 weeks ago I got an email from Jason asking to pray for his father, recently diagnosed with lung cancer, undergoing treatments and having to be put in ICU for some major health problems. This morning Jason emailed me again saying:
Good Morning,
I wanted to provide an update on my father's condition. The Lord has shown his ray of
healing power. My father was on ventilation and intubated last week but on Thursday,
he was feeling strong enough to breathe on his own. The pulmonologist turned off the
ventilator and my father was breathing normally! To help with his breathing and
coughing up phlegm and other 'stuff', they put in a temporary chest tube to drain the
build-up. What is happening is his lung has the large tumor on it, causing him to not to
be able to cough up and break up everything in his lung.
Since, last Thursday he has been good. At least one person in my family has been
staying the night with him each night but we left him alone last Friday night. That was a
mistake. He had horrible dreams and dreamt of his sister and aunt who passed away,
asking for him to go with them. My father was unable to 'reach' them in his dream but
came out of it and was disoriented. They sedated him and he was fine by Saturday
night. This past Tuesday, he received his 2nd round of chemotherapy. When he
received it last week, he was intubated so they weren't sure how he would react. He
handled it pretty well but had more crazy dreams and disorientation on Tuesday night.
I was with him that night and helped him through it all.
Yesterday we received some better news. They moved him out of ICU and into a
normal room! So, now he can get some more sleep, get some steady physical therapy
and slowly work towards going home potentially!
It is so mysterious how the Lord works. Last Monday, we were told he may never
breathe on his own again or wake up. Now, he is getting stronger and fighting the tumor
and cancer with all his might with the good Lord backing him.
My family and I would like to thank you for all your prayers, kind words and piece of
mind. When I started sending out 'random' emails, my pregnant wife thought it was
strange but I felt that my dad needed more prayers and help. For once, the internet
has shown some positive powers rather than the negatives you see on the news and
read about.
If you don't mind, please continue to pray for my father and my family. I give you full
permission to spread the prayer request to anyone and everyone. Thank you very
much!
God Bless. - Jason Torres

Isn't that wonderful?? I am so happy that all of us praying is helping his family in such a way. Thank you for your prayers!
That's all for now, I'll be back soon with more great things :)
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