Stumbles and scans

Sorry for the delay since the last post, but I wanted to see what this week would bring.

First, I should explain the "stumble" part of the title……

Sue is quite weak and wobbly at the best of times at present. Last Saturday, she decided she wanted to get up, at about 6am; not a problem, as Vera and I were both up. So she started slowly down the stairs, while I collected her bits and pieces to take down – and then suddenly she is sprawled in a heap at the bottom! Looking back, we think she just came down the stairs with a bit too much momentum, and missed the last couple. However, in the mercy of God :-
• Vera wasn't waiting at the bottom of the stairs (or she would have got flattened)
• Vera's bedroom door was open, so Sue didn't crash into it
• No broken bones
• No blood
• Sue was not wearing her glasses – so there was no damage to them, and no glass fragments to worry about
• In fact she just had carpet burns to both knees, and two on her face (on the bony bits just above and below her right eye)
Of course she was in a bit of shock – as was Vera – but they calmed down after a while, and Sue was stiff for a few days. It's the facial injuries which look the worst; initially they were just pink, but then they started to scab over. They are healing nicely now though!

Then on Tuesday we had an appointment at the hospital, and saw the consultant. He thought Sue might have lost weight, which would not surprise me as she hardly eats anything (but we have not weighed her to see). However, he also thought she might have more of a fluid retention problem than before (it's something they have wondered about, but done nothing about) – and that might (apparently) have an effect on her appetite. So he said he would arrange an ultra-sound scan; and he also recommended we saw the local Macmillan Nurse again, as she might have a few ideas about various aspects of daily life.

The nurse will be coming next week; but Sue duly had her scan yesterday, and we gather (unofficially) that an outpatients appointment to drain some fluid off is quite likely next week. We'll have to see if that helps when it happens.

Meanwhile she continues to be weak, tired, and in periodic pain – not every day, but most days, and usually late afternoon/ early evening. She is often confused too, getting days and times muddled; but not quite as depressed and tearful the last few days as she was earlier in the week.

But she is still here! I say that because it was just over a year ago that she first went into hospital. She went in on November 4th; she had various tests and scans on the 5th; a liver biopsy on the 9th; and the cancer diagnosis on the 16th.

It is therefore good to look back and see how the Lord has been good to us, and made the past year a time of blessing and spiritual development. All our needs have been met; an extraordinary number of people have been led to pray for us; we have both been encouraged in our walk with the Lord; we have learned to "trust Him where we cannot trace Him"; and we have found the God of all comfort and grace to be faithful and full of love. Whatever happens in the next year is all part of His plan for us; and "He does all things well". For, as Paul wrote to the church at Rome

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 8:35 - 39