Ana Mae Update

I met Ana Mae's oncologist today and learned the details of her disease and prognosis.

Ana Mae has Stage 4B nasopharyngeal cancer. This is one stage short of 4C, which is end-stage. The cancer has spread to a very small part of her brain and also to the lymph nodes in her neck.

According to the oncologist there is a 20% chance of cure, and a 50% chance that the treatment will be effective enough to relieve or lessen the disease without curing it.

She needs a miracle.

Ana Mae began 3D (a newer and better form) radiation therapy last Thursday and has completed the first three of 33 total treatments. She was due to start chemotherapy tomorrow but her hemoglobin and hematocrit were so low that she needs blood transfusion first.  She is all set up to receive two bags of blood tomorrow and will start the chemo next week instead.

Between Compassion and what I was able to raise, we have only enough to get her 2 of 7 chemo treatments and maybe another 7 radiation treatments. The family has been to several local organizations for help, including the Mayor and Governor, and has received promise of some money but are told they can't get it for another month or longer.  Other organizations told them to come back after she's completed half her treatment. We are praying the money will come through by the time it is needed (sometime next week).

Thanks to all who have donated so far.  I was able to give 40,000 pesos (~$950 USD) toward her treatment today.

More is needed.  If you would still like to donate, just hit the donate button on the widget on the right side of this page.  I can assure you that 100% of your donation will go toward her treatment.  Any fees charged by Paypal for receiving donations on my blog will be otherwise covered.

We are doing all we know to do. Please pray with us for complete healing and for provision. I know that God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask for or imagine.

Please Help a Teen with Cancer

Friends,

I rarely do this, but please take a look at the fundraising widget I just posted on the right side of this blog. There's a girl we know here who is in desperate need of cancer treatment and I'm trying to help the family raise the money needed to get her started on radiation therapy as soon as possible.  She is 17 years old and was just diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer.

We are also looking for funds from local organizations but since her tumor is rapidly growing, we have a bit of time pressure. That's why I'm going to you at the same time we are looking for help locally.  Plus, it is unlikely we'll be able to get the entire amount donated locally and will need to supplement it with funds from abroad. 

When I had cancer at age 19, it was hard enough to go through diagnosis and treatment but at least my family had insurance that paid for nearly 100% of the medical care I received.  My remission was not dependent on us affording good care.  It saddens me that in addition to being faced with a life-threatening disease such as cancer, this family has the added burden of having to find money for the treatment needed to save her life.

Because she is a Compassion-sponsored child, Compassion was able to provide nearly $1,000 USD and that will go toward 7 weeks of chemotherapy.  The radiation therapy is expected to cost $3,000 USD.

Here's a photo of her I took yesterday. We were able to help her get the CT scan and some meds she needed in order to prepare for treatment.

Please pray for her and her family and donate if you can. Thank you SO much. ~ Jen

What's up these days

Andrey is delayed at the airport in Manila, Ella is asleep and after catching up on a few of my favorite blogs, I suddenly feel inspired to blog tonight.  I don't seem to have as much computer time as I did back when Ella was still napping.  Since I haven't been able get the detailed, in-depth posts I'd like to write accomplished, I will settle for a random and general update.

I feel busy.  Busier than I've been since I became a mom.  I am spending less time at home, which means I'm spending less time running out of ideas and energy and capacity to entertain my daughter. Ella and I get to do lots of fun social stuff with other moms and kids throughout the week, I get time with friends regularly (sometimes with and sometimes without Ella) and Andrey and I get date nights in once a week nearly every week (sometimes at home, sometimes out).  Ella is relatively independent and very secure and so affords us more time for other things.  Life seems to have a pretty good balance these days and I am so thankful for this season.  Sounds about the right time for child #2, wouldn't you say? Life is getting a bit too easy and fun. ha ha.  More on that later...

Some other things keeping me busy are the handful of mom and baby pairs that have come across my path in the past 6 months or so that I've been able to be involved in and use my midwifery and nutrition skills to help in some way.  I just love getting to be of practical help and getting to learn new things and the challenge of it all.  Like a few weeks ago, I did a first postpartum check-up on a woman who gave birth on the street a few weeks previous. I mean, literally on the street. In front of Dunkin Donuts. Can you imagine?  Anyway, it's really amazing that despite some pain she was having, everything was normal.  Healthy mom, healthy, thriving breast-fed baby. 

The past month or so I've been helping create and monitor a feeding plan for an extremely malnourished, brain-affected child.  I learned how to insert a feeding tube this week.  We got a good breast pump for the 16-year-old mom who was living on the street up until a family in our church congregation recently took her and her baby in.  Her baby is 7 months old and weights 7 pounds. :-( We are seeing gradual progress with the help of a pediatrician who never charges us. 

Ella's is generally very easy and so I can either drag her along with me when I visit moms and babies or leave her with one of a few people I am comfortable leaving her with that she enjoys.  It's so nice to have options!  I'm really enjoying getting to do something outside of parenting.  (Am I supposed to enjoy that so much?) 

I found a great plan for getting regular exercise. I recently clued in to the fact that I have until 7:20am when Andrey leaves for work every morning to do whatever I want. I realized that if I just get up a bit earlier, I can get exercise and some prayer time and maybe even a shower in before I need to be on duty with Ella.  Andrey gets her up, gets her dressed, takes her for a short walk and gets her breakfast started and I get a good start to some key elements in my physical and spiritual health for the day.

Ella is doing so amazingly well.  I will do a proper update on her soon.  I will just say that we are loving the things that come out of her mouth these days.  She tells me she loves me all the time.  When I help her do something like lift her up so she can see, she says, "Oh thanks, Mama!"  The other day she told me, "I'm SOOO happy God made you, Mommy!"  Lately she's been asking, "You love me Mommy?" I think she likes to hear it again and again how much we love her.

On the baby front.  I need to devote at least a whole post to that but for fear that that won't happen for a while I'll at least get this out there. 

The headline:  We are considering adopting again.  This time local, domestic process here in the Philippines because we are considered residents and because the inter-country process we did before is no longer possible for US citizens living outside of the US.  The process is still a few years long but quite different in that we could have a child within several months of applying and submitting all the requirements.  Also, it's possible we could get a child as young as 1.

Why? and Why now?

• Andrey recently got a promotion and was asked to stay based in Cebu for the next three years.  We didn't see domestic adoption as an option before when we weren't sure how long we'd be here.
• Ella is doing great and we think she's close to being ready for it.  The timing feels right. She will be a really great big sister.  She needs (I need) someone besides me to entertain her all day and I know there are more children in our future.
• Since before Ella, I've dreamed of having two Filipino children.  I love the idea of our adopted children having a sibling who is also adopted.
• We feel God is presenting us with this opportunity to adopt again, and adoption opportunities these days are become increasingly hard to come by, especially for families like us living overseas.
• We do believe we will have a biological child some day and we are not giving up hope for that, but that hasn't happened yet and we know we want more than one adopted child, so why not now? 

So I wish it was as simple as this. . .

Hey everybody, we have a fun announcement to make! We are adopting again and we'll likely have a child by the end of the year! Yay! It's like I'm 4 months pregnant! 

But it's not.  

• We have been researching this process for over a month and the timeline is unpredictable and we may need to stay in the Philippines longer than Andrey's job would ideally want us here.
• By adopting domestically we will not be able to take our child out of the country while the adoption is in process and even longer before the US government allows us to apply for a tourist or immigrant visa for the child. This means we will not be able to travel to the US as a family for 2-3 years.  No furlough. No Spring trip to DC for the IJM prayer gathering.
• We are not sure we will be able to get all the requirements. Some are proving rather difficult to obtain.

Sooo, all that to say, we are going to try to adopt again.  We are cautiously optimistic.  We believe if it's the right thing it will happen. We are trusting God in this even though the path is not clear knowing that he will direct our steps as we hope in him.  I do wish things were less-complicated.