" Whether you turn to the right or the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, " This is the way; walk in it,." Isaiah 30"21
This verse has meant so much to us in the past 72 hours. We asked you to pray for clarity. We were hoping to start a trial this past friday and we encountered a huge roadblock. Having some time to settle we realized that things couldn't get more clear then on Monday. We anxiously awaited all weekend knowing that we needed to start some sort of treatment on Monday , but which one? What that treatment was, was in the hands of the insurance company. If they said yes, we would start the trial. If they said, no we would begin a path of Avastin and Lomustine. Duke confirmed both paths would be their route and that they believe we are in great hands at MD Anderson and taking all the appropriate steps. Duke doctors also stood by us and encouraged us to use any resources they had to fight insurance. We prayed and hoped it would not come to that.
It's a Sunday evening, we are finally home and we just received a phone call from Scott and White ( again on a Sunday evening:)) that THEY WILL APPROVE the trial. We are beyond excited. We are anxious to try this trial. We are jumping up in down that we got a yes ! ( how sad if you think about it, this is our insurance company:())We are thankful to Glenn Robinson and Jim Smith with Hillcrest Hospital and Keith Stone and Bob Greenberg with Scott and White Hospital and many more, all who wrote letters and made phone calls the last 24 hours on our behalf. I hate that it even had to come to that. And really it shouldn't have. The problem we experienced and have experienced two years ago was with our insurance company Scott and White Health Plan. The lady on the phone this evening, was very apologetic for the wait and for us having to deal with this. I appreciate her sincerity and her efforts to make it right. I can't imagine her job and having to tell people no when their lives are on the line. But, tonight she made two people very happy. And I am pretty sure she was happy to have David's name checked off her list:)
David will drive to Houston tomorrow to receive the medication for the trial and then home. We will do an MRI in four weeks to see if there are any changes. If the tumor has grown more, then we will stop the trial and pull our wild card of Avastin and Lomustine. Some may be asking why we just don't do Avastin now? There are many reasons Avastin can be both good and bad. With out me getting into details, David and I feel this will be our next and most reasonable step if the trial does not work.
What we do know this evening, is that this is the way we are suppose to go tomorrow. That is about as far as we can think now. We have researched so many other trials, including this one, that our minds are physicially exhausted. We are at the point were we continue to put all faith and trust in God as our ultimate healer and to continue to guide us with shall I say EXTREME clarity so we know we are walking the steps he wants us to take.
As you pray for David please continue to pray for sweet Audrey. I will be staying in Waco tomorrow with her as the trips to Houston have worn on her and in a tearful rage she asked that we not go. With all the traveling and most of them starting in Houston for a doctors appointment or ending there, we thought tomorrow best that David go and I stay back with Audrey. So prayers for safe travels for David and for a peaceful heart for Audrey.
Thursday night I read one of the bible stories to Audrey and Parker in their bible book. It was about Joshua. A simplified version. Joshua had a small army and didn't know how he was going to fight the big armies. With prayer and God on his side they started to fight and kill off the larger arms and then the sun started to set. Joshua knew they could not finish the fight into darkness, so with his faith and hope in God he said, " STAND STILL SUN " and with that the Sun stood still and he finished the fight with his small army and God on his side. The title of the story, MIRACLES. All weekend and the next few weeks in my head I , with the same boldness and heart, hope to have that same strong faith as Joshua and say...STAND STILL TUMOR! STAND STILL! Pray that prayer with me these next four weeks and boldness in your prayer and lets pray for this medication to halt that tumor and David to continue to have minimum side effects and create and live life with God's will in his heart.
With love,
Dana
