Amy's 'momentary trouble'

Today is Monday, March 13th. This date has significance. This is the day Amy starts her Chemo-Radition treatments...or at least it was supposed to be. As you know, Amy had her stint replaced this past Saturday and she was looking forward to Sunday morning. You see, with the dawning of a new day, she would FINALLY get some relief from the constant itching that the first stint was supposed to supply. Guess what? The itching didn't abate, in fact it got worse! Knowing that she still had an appointment with her oncologist on Monday morning, we decided to wait until then to address this issue. Upon arriving at the UW Hospitals this morning, Amy had yet another blood draw done (Amy and I have discussed asking them to put some type of spigot in her arm to make this easier on the both of them) to check her Bilirubin level. When we finally saw her oncologist, he informed us that her Bilirubin level had increased from 8.9 on Saturday to 9.7 today and that Amy wouldn't be starting her therapy today because the level needs to be closer to normal (3 or 4) for her body to properly metabolize the Chemo medication. So...we go back to the UW tomorrow (Tuesday) to have her new plastic stint replaced with a titanium one. For those of you who are counting, this will be her third stint in less than 2 weeks. When these are put in, they have Amy lay on her stomach and put her under. Next, they snake an Endoscope with a special type of catheter down her throat and carefully thread this catheter into her bile duct. Once inserted, they release the stint and it will spring open, holding the duct open. The problem with the plastic stints is that they can colapse, where the metal ones do not. The only draw back is that when it comes time for surgery, this will lengthen the time of the procedure. So, we are praying that this will finally work and give Amy the comfort she's been begging for.

I told the doctor that 'This can not go on, this delay after delay has stretched to one month since we first saw the UW surgeon and that we are in a race against time. As of February 24th the tumor had not metastasized (spread), but that wont hold forever. We need to get on the stick and get her through this treatment so the surgery can be performed.'

I know that God has a plan and that everything will come in his timing and that worrying will not add one day, one hour or one minute past what he has ordained for us, but I can not help but press the issue of urgency.

Please pray for patience, understanding and peace.

This is Amy's story as seen and told by me - V