CT Scan

The CT Scan is complete and the results are in progress.  I have an appointment with Dr. Strauss (the Oncologist) this Wednesday at 2:00 pm.  That  is when I will find out the results and what the next steps are.  Thank you for all the prayer in preparation for today and during the procedure.  Matthew 7:7-11 concerns prayer and speaks about how eager the Father is to answer our prayers.  That is the comfort I feel when I think about all the people that are praying for me.  Please continue to pray as you are lead. 

Thank you,

Price

Unshakable Faith

Yesterday was the last infusion of the fifth course of chemotherapy.  This coming Thursday I will take the last oral dose of chemotherapy which will complete the fifth two week course.   They take lab work before starting the procedure and then check with the doctor to get clearance for the treatment.  My lab work came back with the hemoglobin at 7.6 which is below the 8.0 threshold that Dr. Strauss wants.  Because I have been sustained by the Father throughout this adventure I am not responding to such a low hemoglobin level in the normal way.  That is probably why Dr. Strauss released me yesterday to receive the treatment.  He also scheduled me for a blood transfusion today which is where I am as I write this.  This is the second time I have had a blood transfusion.  The first one brought my hemoglobin up to 9.6. 

I am scheduled for a CT Scan next Monday, February 4th.  As I stated in the prior update that is when the doctors will find out what the chemo has been doing to the tumors but it also is the first opportunity for them to discover God’s miraculous healing of the cancer.   That brings me to the point of this update.  If it were not for the unshakable Faith that God granted me from day one I am sure I would be anxious and concerned about the upcoming results.  That would be the normal reaction as well as worrying about what it means if the tumors have actually grown and the chemotherapy has had no impact.   Could that be part of God’s plan for me?  Would that not make the miraculous healing even more dramatic?  Is God not capable of healing terminal cancer?  Of course nothing is beyond God’s ability.  His plan for me is perfect and His timing is never wrong.  If I were to pray doubting that He will heal me then that would be an ineffective prayer.  I have confidence in the prayers I have offered to God because of the journey He has taken me on and the many answers to prayer I have already received.  I have rested in His arms and laid my desires into God’s hands through Jesus, who sits at the Father’s right hand interceding for me (Hebrews 1:1-3).

I was impressed to discuss these things before the CT scan results are known because fear of the unknown is one of the accusers most powerful tools he uses to separate us from God’s plan for us.  We must have confidence in and depend on doctors and chemotherapy as well as the vast array of options that are available to treat cancer.  That is God’s will for us.  God uses all of those range of options to heal us just as effectively as if He were to reach His hand out and remove the cancer.  In my case He has set me on a path of total dependence on God and effective prayer.  I have grown in my relationship with Him and found a much closer walk with Him through this adventure.  The accuser has been silenced from day one and the prayers that everyone has offered have had a great impact.  Please keep praying as you are lead and know that I could not be in a better place than I am right at this moment.  

There are two versus that fit the current situation I would like to discuss.  The first is Psalm 55:22, "Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken."  That speaks to the unbelievable gift God gave me with the unshakeable Faith.  I could not have made it this far or have such confidence or so successful defeated the accuser without God’s provision for me.  By praying effective prayers I am casting my burdens on Him.  He has sustained me and will continue to do so to the end.  My walk with Him has never been closer.  He truly has protected me and sustained me.  I have never been shaken in large part due to your prayers and God’s answering those prayers.  It is human nature to want to remove doubt and uncertainty from life’s equation but that is so very difficult to do without Faith in God’s provision for us.  The second verse is 1 John 5:14-15, "And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him."  This speaks to the confidence I have had from day one.  I am in His will and He sends love letters through each of you to show His provision for me.  You are a large part of the reason I am in such a good place.  Your prayers sustain me and give me confidence in the future outcome.  God hears my prayers and He hears your prayers for me and my family.  The adventure continues so please continue to pray as God directs you.

Thank you,
Price

P.S. Price and I (Jan) would like to ask for a special prayer request for our Aunt Becky and her wonderful family.  Aunt Becky is presently taking a turn for the worse this evening and the family has been notified that time is very short.  We know Aunt Becky, after 93(?) amazing years, is ready to see Jesus!  We pray for her now and all her loved ones.   
  

His Plan.

I am starting my fifth round of intravenous Chemotherapy today.  I have a CT Scan scheduled for Monday February 4th (the day after the Super Bowl).  That will be the first time Dr. Strauss (my oncologist) will be able to gauge the progress on shrinking the tumors.  That will also be the first time the doctors would be able to see God’s complete healing of the tumors.  Of course that is predicated on God’s plan and timing for my healing.  That is a great prayer to continue praying for but it also gives a specific date to pray for God’s complete healing in a miraculous way.

Sorry that it has taken so long for this update. Our family is doing really well. However, Catherine, who has been the only one in the family that has not been sick, caught a bad cold last week and is still fighting it.  She was planning to come to Dallas for a visit last weekend but she cancelled that flight and re-scheduled.  The rest of the family is healthy.  Jan gets her second review, with x-ray, of her foot the first of February.  Hopefully, she will be released to full use of her foot with no boot needed.  Another great prayer request.  Carol is now settled in at Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch, located north of Amarillo, for her internship.  She will be there till midsummer but graduate from UT with her master's degree in social work in May.  She will be flying to Dallas on Southwest for extended weekend visits. Julie continues to be our faithful shadow soldier. My brother and his wife will be coming to Dallas the weekend of February 8th.

On Monday, January 14, I turned 62.  That is when I told Mike that I was going to retire April 1st after 38 years with Oncor.  That is a great life milestone to make and I thank God for his provision in getting me to that momentous point in life.

God’s provision in our life is a wonderful thing, that we sometimes take advantage of, as we hustle through our daily life.  We need to draw upon it, thrive from it, and thank God often for it.  In the interim, from the last Update, I have see God’s provision more clearly in my life than ever before because I realized the power that it brings.  Because I am still in the Waiting Room I have the opportunity to quietly interact with God.  I do not have any need to dwell on the cancer inside me, or fuss about not knowing about the progress, only pray for healing by God in His perfect timing.  I can simply wait with God and grow my relationship with Him.  That is possible only because of the unshakable Faith that He has provided for me from the very beginning of this Adventure. All the prayers from all the people who have been led to pray for me have been with me during this time as well.  There are days when I have felt a specific prayer for me through the quickening of the Holy Spirit.  Thank you for your diligence in lifting me with your prayers.

I have two verses that I want to share for this Update.  The first is Micah 7:7 "But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation.  My God will hear me." The second is Jeremiah 17:14 "Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved, For Thou art my praise." I am, I have, and I will watch for those times that God lets me know that He cares about me on a personal level, has a plan for me, and wants me to talk to Him.  My prayer from day one has been for a miraculous healing from God that all doctors would proclaim could have only come from God.  I was strongly lead to that prayer and God has not shown me that I need to pray differently.  It is a bold, provocative request by me to God. I would never presume that I know when God will heal me but I do feel confident that healing is part of His plan for me.  That confidence comes from all the answered prayer, protection from the bad side effects of Chemotherapy, the mostly daily love letters He sends, and His provision for me.  Learning what His plan for me is a process of getting to know Him by growing my relationship with Him.  We cannot know His plan completely because we would not be able to handle it correctly.  Those are the reasons I included the versus from Micah.  I am to continually thank and praise God and never get ahead of Him.  I do that when I listen, watch, pray and seek a closer relationship with Him.  The verse from Jeremiah speaks to the miraculous healing I have been praying for.  The vital part of that verse is "For Thou art my praise". It speaks to my relationship with God.  I am to continually praise God, not because He commands me to but because He deserves it. I should want to, and He responds to my heartfelt expression of all He has done for me because He loves me.  I say all this because the Waiting Room experience has shown me that I may not be happy, patient, long suffering, or even nice on a day to day basis, even with unstoppable Joy.  That is part of being human.  How we react to those times, the lessons we learn, and reconciling the hurt we cause during those times with those we hurt is vital to moving forward.

Please continue to pray for my family, and me.  I will attempt to be more frequent on the Updates but I think God used the time to bring me to a higher level of understanding.  I tried several times to start an update but the spiritual message was always vague and not ready for prime time as they say.  This one was a totally different experience so I will say it was written in God’s timing.

Thank you,  
Price

A New Year.

Jan here! I know it has been a while since we have made an entry. Our Christmas was wonderful here in Coppell. We had a rare snow covering that made everything look white and so beautiful. I had the song "Jesus Paid it All" in my mind all day. Especially the line that says, "sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow." The holidays were especially blessed with all the wonderful family and friends who came to town including our brothers and their wonderful wives, and our dear friends Cathy, Janice, Micah, Maddox, Marti and Gary. Our girls were here often. They are a help, blessing and great joy. The text messages, emails, cards, and letters were appreciated more than you will ever know. I am always amazed at the providential timing of them all. Also, the practical help from our dear friends here in the area with meals and such as that are dear helping hands much appreciated.

Price's cough is better! Carol, Julie, and I are all over a prolonged virus. With all the airplane flights and being around all of us, I can't believe Catherine did not get sick! I am very thankful we had one Robertson left to man the ship hospital. I go today at 3:30 pm to get the post op x-ray on my foot. I am happy to report that there have been no complications or cause for concern thus far. Looking forward to throwing my walking boot and it's associated Velcro in the trash!

Price is currently in the middle of chemotherapy course #4. He continues to tolerate it well. However, with each course he feels the effects in a greater way with regards to energy levels. We are happy that his blood count is holding since he received 2 units of blood the first of December. Even though he had the prolonged cough, he never had the accompanying cold-like symptoms the girls and I had. Depending on scheduling, he will start chemotherapy course #5 on January 18th. After that, we plan on having his 1st CT since the initial diagnostic CT. That will hit around the first of February. We are patiently waiting to hear the good news of that report!

Price is a brave, courageous, steady example of persevering while maintaining his joy and his kind, calm, benevolent spirit. After our desktop computer crashed, there were some brief moments with the computer tech support folks on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day where the girls and I saw him not himself. But I am happy to report that Price and the tech support guys eventually got it all worked out!

I am so grateful for each of you! We love you and are thankful for your persevering with us on this "Robertson Adventure".

-Jan

COUGH # cough CoUgH! COUGH cough! COUGH

Jeremiah 17:14 Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved, For Thou art my praise. Jeremiah 29:11-13 For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

While Jeremiah 29 is speaking about the nation of Israel after the seventy years of exile in Babylon I feel like it applies to any Christian who needs a closer walk with God when circumstances separate us from His perfect plan. God does have a plan for each of us. It is the best plan we could ever hope for. I have found that the time we can best understand His plan is when we are in the waiting room when all the world’s pressures are somewhat isolated and we can listen and learn. The same applies when we are in the middle of trials and tribulations. We have the hardest time understanding God’s plan for us when life is good because we tend not to listen to God as closely or as often. In my case, I recently learned that God wanted to use a severe and persistent cough and the inability to carry on long conversations to reveal a more complete picture of God’s plan for me. I have many times spoken of the unshakeable faith that God provided from the first day that I was told I had pancreatic cancer and that it involved several different organs. I did not go through the various steps one would normally go through with such a disheartening diagnosis. The ability to approach “The Robertson Adventure” as just that meant that I could meet each doctor, each test and test result, and each procedure with an expectation of how it would fit in God’s bigger plan for me. A little more explanation of the Cough and what it is all about is in order. On November 12^th I started to cough. That in itself is not significant. What makes it relevant is that two times in the last two years I had a persistent, often times unrelenting, dry Cough. The first time it started with a small cold and ended eight weeks later. The second time I coughed for ten weeks. During the second time my doctor took me off Lisinopril thinking that may have been the cause. When the Cough started in November (eight months after the prior episode) I was concerned it was back and I could not blame the drug. As it turns out the Cough was back. I immediately blamed the accuser of a front-on attack to shake my confidence and weaken my resolve. The Cough progressed until last week it was impossible to talk in sentences longer than ten words without the Cough appearing and making it very uncomfortable for everyone around me. An appointment with a Pulmonologist was in order. The Cough had gotten so bad that at night I was unable to even silently pray without coughing so violently that I would lose my train of thought. At those moments I was sure it was the accuser. Finally, I just thanked God for the Cough because I would give no ground to the accuser and God could heal me if He wanted. The appointment with Dr. Weinstein (Pulmonologist) was this last Friday. He determined that the Cough was caused by irritation from sinus drainage and aggravated by talking. I have a regime that I follow twice a day to stop the drainage and clear up the cough. So far it’s working.

So, how has this latest experience given me new insight into God’s plan for me? As I stated earlier, I filter everything that occurs against how it fits into God’s plan for me. I did not immediately filter the Cough in that manner. It took too long to realize that failure on my part. The last part of the Jeremiah 17:14 verse For Thou art my praise ties into the last update I did on Thanksgiving. We praise God when we give thanks, we praise God when we ascribe things to Him, we praise God when we pray to Him, we praise God when we tell others of the things He does in our life, we praise God when we teach our children about God, we praise Him when we worship Him with fellow believers. I failed to praise Him when I did not immediately thank Him for the Cough. Part of God’s plan for me is to praise Him every way, every day. That is a key action for me to remember during this process as I receive healing and am saved from calamity, but they are not things I can make Him heal me from or save me from in my own strength. God has the power, the plan, and the unmanageable love for us. Prayer is also a way we can praise God. Prayer is a way for us to let God know what our needs are. He already knows what we will pray, but we have to take the action and invoke the relationship we have to Go through His Son Jesus. Jesus sits at the right hand of God and intercedes for us (Hebrews 1:1-3- please look it up, great verse). That is the power that I failed to invoke by not turning the Cough over to God at the very first. That does not mean that I wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble if I had turned it over to God sooner. It means that I was outside of God’s plan for me and working on my own strength. That is not a good position to be in. What I learned is that even while in the waiting room where I am somewhat protected from the pressures of the world I can get lost. In the larger picture while facing major life issues, we need to work in God’s plan for us, praise Him, and make it a daily activity. It will not make life easier, or guarantee we will be healed, or even give us more control over our destiny, what it will do is put us in the hands of God which is the best place we could possibly be.

Now for The Robertson Adventure update. The Cough, in different forms, has visited all three of us this week. Jan got the bad one where she feels bad, coughs a lots, has aches and pains and a low grade fever. Julie just coughs every once in a while. Maybe she is sympathetic coughing since I practiced so long and so often around her. We do not see the nasal involvement or any fever in Julie. Since the Thanksgiving update Jan has been to the doctor for her foot to get the stitches out and was released to bear full weight on it. They will take another x-ray in four weeks when she goes back for a checkup. She is not having any pain so we may be on the road to recovery. Julie has her up and down days but is playing the Shadow Soldier very well. Carol’s back is back to normal. I am still progressing with the treatments and will have a transfusion tomorrow to bring my hemoglobin above 8. Even though it was 7.9 they did my infusion today in spite of the below 8 reading with the knowledge that I will get the transfusion tomorrow. That should bring my hemoglobin back up nicely.

Not much else to report on my status. Still all the same effects of the Chemotherapy, all of which are easily handled with none of the really difficult impacts. Still no pain and no effects of the cancer. Carol and Catherine were in town this weekend which is always such a blessing. Jan’s best friend since 6^th grade, Cathy, is staying for a few days with us. She is such a beautiful sister in the Lord. I love talking with her about how God is working in our lives. It is a real blessing for Jan when Cathy visits.

You can pray for continued healing for Jan’s foot and now her sinus “whatever it is” sickness. For me, please continue to pray for God’s provision in healing the cancer and helping on a daily basis with my general health. I think the Cough is almost handled but it would be fine with me if you wanted to throw that into the prayer mix as well. It looks like I will finish this current round of Chemo and have one more before the CAT scan. That scan will tell the Doctors what progress has been made on the cancer. Prayers are in order for that as well. It never hurts to pray for far off events as well as current ones. Prayers of support and protection for my family are coveted by me so please add that to the list. All the prayers are coveted and very much appreciated. I cannot begin to describe all the love letters from God that have come from your prayers including the many answers to prayer that have already occurred. Each one is a gentle confirmation that God is working.

 

COUGH

Robertson Caring Hospital

A lot has happened since the last update. We have added two more wings to the Robertson Caring Hospital. Besides the Seizure Management Clinic and Cancer Treatment Center we added the Back Pain Management Care Facility and the Orthopedic Surgery Recovery and Rehab Center. That will all make sense soon. Let me start with Monday, November 12^th. That night was the Appreciation Dinner for the 5^th Annual Energy Efficiency Conference held at the Addison Convention Center. It went very well and I got back to the house at about 8:30 pm feeling fine. That night at 12:40 am I got a fairly severe case of the chills that lasted for 5 or 6 minutes. I threw an extra blanket on and they went away. At 3:30 am Jan woke up and I told her about the chills. She immediately took my temperature and it was just under 100 degrees. Two things my Gastroenterologist told me about the stent in my bile duct was to let them know if I got chills with a fever. Jan called the doctor as soon as they opened up at 8:30 am and they wanted me to come in for blood work. I of course had to miss the Conference so we got ready to get the blood work done and drove to the Oncologist without any problem.

Wednesday morning we had an appointment to see the Oncologist for a progress consult on continuing the Chemo. While getting Julie ready that morning Jan rolled her ankle and fell to the floor. We both heard the sound of a snapping bone so we knew it was not just a sprained ankle. I loaded Julie and Jan in the car with an ice bag on Jan’s foot and headed out to Presbyterian to make my appointment. I valet parked (a great service by the way) at the Presbyterian Hospital Emergency Room and Jan checked herself in. I took Julie and walked to the Oncologist to make the appointment. Dr. Strauss had good news on the blood work and said I would be able to start the Chemo Friday on schedule. He was concerned about the chills and low grade fever. They ordered antibiotics for me so he decided to see how that progressed.

I met Jan afterwards in a room where she was waiting for the nurse to bring her a boot, crutches, and discharge orders. She had broken the little toe connecting bone (it is called a Jones fracture). Funny thing is that all the x-rays were of her ankle. We made an appointment with the Orthopedic doctor for Friday and headed home.

Upon hearing the news that Jan had broken her foot Carol drove up from Austin Thursday afternoon and I went to work. Friday, Carol stayed with Julie while Jan drove herself to the Orthopedic Surgeon. He took the proper x-rays and said there were two choices. Put a screw in the fracture in a fifteen minute procedure or spend 8 weeks completely off the foot with the high risk that the displaced bones would not mend. Not much of a choice in Jan’s mind. The surgery was scheduled for Monday at 4:30pm after my Chemo therapy at 9:00 am. Things were progressing well until Saturday morning when Carol was lifting Julie to a standing position. She severely injured her back, although at the time it was just a small pain. It rapidly got worse until she was having back spasms and very bad muscle pain. That is when we opened the Back Pain Management Care Facility at the Robertson Caring Hospital. Two dear friends, Jeff and Melanie, helped get the ball rolling for Carol’s pain management plan by bringing supplies over that day. Monday morning Jan, Julie and I went to my Chemo appointment and left Carol at home on bed rest. Julie did not have a very good night Sunday so we continued the Seizure Management Clinic that night. We arrived at the appointment early only to find out that they only had one nurse to do infusions and a whole lot of people that needed treatments. They did my blood work at 10:00 am and we waited for the results. My first treatment started at 11:00 am. The last treatment started at 2:00 pm. It was pretty obvious to Jan and me that I would not be finished in time for Jan to make her 4:30 pm surgery in Carrollton. So she took the car and Julie and I would take a cab when I was finished. Carol wanted to drive us to the surgery center but that would be the worst thing for her back. After one or two cell phone conversations with me Carol dialed her friends cell phone by mistake. Katie moved here from Austin two and one half months ago to start a new job. As it turned out she was planning on visiting some friends who lived off of Walnut Hill Lane that afternoon. Her friends also had a van she could borrow that could carry Julie’s wheel chair and all the stuff we take for infusion days. Katie picked Julie and me up and we headed to Carrollton. We got there at 5:00 pm which turned out to be just in time. If Carol had not misdialed we would have missed God’s blessing by way of Katie.

They had taken Jan to the operating room at 5:00 pm so Julie and I hung out in the recovery room thinking it would all be over by 6:00 pm. What was supposed to be fifteen minutes in the operating room was over an hour and a half. I was not aware of that until Jan came into recovery at about 7:00 pm. That was very difficult because no one could tell me what was happening. There was a lot of praying going on by Julie, Carol and me until they rolled Jan into recovery. Dr. Heier, Jan’s Surgeon, talked to me just before they brought Jan back. He explained that the fracture was so bad that when they put the screw in the bone it broke into multiple pieces. His only option was to put a plate and five screws in. That is why it took so long. Jan came through fine but would only be able to put partial weight on the foot until her follow up appointment on the 27^th.

Jan, Julie, and I got home at about 8:30 pm after getting up at 4:00 am that morning. That is when we opened up the Orthopedic Surgery Recovery and Rehab Center. We had to stop for supplies at CVS and I became the only staff nurse available. It was a good thing that I was in good shape after my Chemo and had my energy level intact. The same two friends, Jeff and Melanie brought supper over that night. That was the third day in a row that they helped out. Saturday they spent time with us at Jan’s mom’s care facility in Valley Ranch. They are another blessing from God. We are now fully operational and I expect a relief nurse by way of Catherine to arrive from Phoenix Wednesday night. All the patients are recovering nicely and the staff is still happy.

For an update on the Robertson Caring Hospital Cancer Treatment Center let me start out by saying things are well under control. I had that one spell with chills and a low grade fever starting Monday night on November 12^th. I have not had chills since that night, but the fever has varied from the low 99’s to 101. Just in case, I am on the second round of antibiotics but the Gastroenterologist says it is atypical to have a low grade fever with an infected bile duct. I should be sick as a dog and have a high fever. My doctor brother and his wife think the fever is from the cancer cells dying. I like that diagnosis so that is what I am going with. The fever has since subsided due to the steroids I started back with Sunday. I take them one day before infusion and two days after infusion.

One other thing that started Monday night on November 12^th was a dry cough. Twice before I got that and it lasted for over eight weeks each time. It is aggravated by talking. It started when I was praying silently in bed. It got so bad I could not complete a single prayer. The same was true when I tried to talk out loud. I need to talk so it is very frustrating when I am unable to put more than two or three words together without coughing. Maybe I just need to “get over it” as I am prone to say to others. The past two episodes were caused by a medicine I was on called Lisinopril. I am not on that medication so it can not be the cause. My doctor has me on Robitussin DM. That might have done the trick but prayers are in order.

I am now showing some of the classic side effects from the Chemo. I am losing my hair, am sensitive to light, my sense of taste has a metallic taste component, I have high blood sugars, and my blood counts are being affected. So far the big ones of losing weight, nausea, low energy levels, sores in the mouth, and other ones I will not mention are not evident. Again, I attribute that to prayers by the Cloud of Witnesses and God’s loving kindness. I am okay with losing my hair, can wear sun glasses for the light sensitivity, have started using sliding scale insulin injections, and I have learned to embrace the new way of experiencing the way food tastes. The trick is to ignore your brain telling you every bite is spoiled and will make you very sick if you continue to eat it. I have started classifying foods by the different metallic tastes. I have not found many that taste like gold but a whole lot of foods taste like magnesium. A taste that takes some getting used to. Every time I try a new food there is a sense of adventure. Ordering off a menu is really challenging as I learn what different things taste like. Combination foods are very challenging. I am now glad that I eat one thing at a time, as I have done my whole life, and now see a purpose for such a strange way to eat.

It is a tradition of the Robertson house to read Psalm 100 at Thanksgiving. I am especially thankful this Thanksgiving to all God has done and is doing and I am trying to practice everything in that Psalm on a daily basis. Jan brought the verse from 1 Corinthians 10:13 to our family in the midst of all the past events. It states, No temptation has over-taken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it. That is very comforting and helps us get through each day with joy and faith. Please have a happy and safe Thanksgiving and please keep praying for us. Thank you, Price

The First Two-Week Chemo Round Is DONE!

Price wrote an update last night.  It was a momentous day since he finished his first "round" of Chemotherapy.  We thank everyone for your prayers.  I know it is what sustains us.  We have our Robertson Family Prayer List on our coffee table where we are carefully recording and praying for all the prayer requests passed on to us from you! We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.  Psalms 78:4 - Jan

From Price:

I just took the final Chemo pill for the first round of Chemotherapy. I now have seven days with no pills or infusions. The amazing part of the last two weeks is that I have not had a single moment of all the side effects that come with Chemotherapy. I attribute that to the tremendous power of prayer and a loving God. There is a lot of truth and applicability packed in the following well known verses from Philippians, Philippians 4:5-7 Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Those verses embody what the last two weeks have felt like for me. I have experienced the peace of God, due in a large part to all the tremendous support I have received. What I have come to understand is that a forbearing spirit is vital to following God’s plan in one’s life. For me a forbearing spirit is a magnanimous outlook on life that lets me stand confidently with God on a daily basis. From that position, with all the support I spoke of earlier, I have lived on a moment by moment basis surrounded with the peace of God guarding me in ways I could have never imagined before.

The last weekend and week brought a great visit from my brother and his wife, my daughter Catherine, and some of my high school friends who were in town. It was a great weekend with family and an unexpected opportunity to see some very dear old friends. More love letters from God. Jan and Julie have walked this journey step by step with me, which is so special. Prayers would be in order for the high blood sugar levels and falling blood lab values, which are to be expected based on the normal progression of Chemotherapy. I rejoice that I am free of pain, have the old energy levels back, have an appetite, am able to work a full day, and I have even gained a few pounds. All of that is such a blessing from God due to the support from everyone. I am in the “waiting room” period of this journey. The next CAT Scan will be sometime in January. That is the defining moment for the doctors as to whether or not the Chemotherapy has had any impact on the cancer. I already know that the cancer has been hit hard from all the prayers. That feeling I have is also due to the peace of God I spoke of earlier. I have found that the waiting room is a great place to be while God and the myriad of people who are lifting me up are with me in that place. It could be a time of doubt and uncertainty that would weigh heavily on one’s soul. The enemy uses those times to separate us from God, cast doubt about the future, and generally make us miserable. I am free from all of that because the enemy was defeated, in my circumstance, by the power of Christ from day one. God is with me in the waiting room as are all of the people lifting me up. Thank you for that amazing gift and for your continued prayers. I start the next round of Chemotherapy on November 16^th. Please continue to support us going forward as you have in the past. I understand what a precious gift the support is and the price it comes at. Thank you, Price