BigFred

Family and Friends, God has blessed us to come this far in a year of unexpected physical hardship. With all the heartache and hospitalization, we still have been blessed beyond measure. I can’t begin to tell of all the wonderful blessings God bestowed on us through his people and even people we didn’t know. Yes, strangers who heard about Frederick were moved to give to us. At times it still seems like a dream, but I heard someone say if it was a dream I would have awakened my self by now! It’s not a dream, but it’s a journey that was preordained and we are learning to praise God through it.

Last night I was searching through the book of psalsms and looking at the verses that say “Sing unto the Lord a new Song”. I looked in the commentary to see what this was really saying. What I found was speaking directly to our situation. As the Lord shows us his wonders and might and power and blessings, we gain new hope, new understanding of who he is and how much he loves us so we sing a new song of understand and spiritual renewal. That’s what we want to do in 2008. Frederick spent some time downstairs in his studio this week and that is very encouraging. He is talking about music and new songs ideas! Praise God for a new song!

Frederick also wanted me to let you all know how much he was touched by a note from the Drape family. As they travel around the world they always remember to pray for Frederick. Last week while in Jerusalem, they wrote Frederick’s name on a piece of paper and slipped it in the wailing wall. This wall used to be the outer section of the original temple that Solomon built. It is now a place where Jews believe God’s presence has never left so the wall is as close as one can get to God’s presence. People flock there so pray. We were humbled to hear that Frederick’s name was now in the wall. Thank you so much Chris, Chrissie, Andrew and Matt. You don’t even realize how special that made Frederick feel.

Frederick continues to eat and is keeping it down. He will see his oncologist in two weeks and we know that we will have a good report. Thank you and please don’t stop sending up your prayers.

We look forward to what God has in store for us in 2008! Happy New Year to you all!

Love
Frederick, Diana and Ericka

Praise God, Frederick got his INR checked today and it was at 2.3, which is a great number for him. He hasn’t seen a good report like this for a few weeks, so we are very happy and thankful. Also, for the past few day, he has had a good appetite and has been eating almost as well as when he first got out of the hospital in June.

We had a wonderful Christmas. We were blessed beyond measure in so many ways by family and friends alike. Thank you to everyone that thought of us and called us and brought food and other gifts of love.

I made a big pot of black eyed peas and Frederick ate a big bowl along with sweet potatoe pie, and an egg nog smoothie among other things. If he keeps this up he just may gain a pound or two before the new year. Even as I type this, he’s asking for something to eat, so I’m gonna stop and go fix it and then I’ll finish this posting.

I am on vacation until January 2nd, so I am spending a lot of time doing absolutely nothing. Thank you Jesus!

We will post again before the New Year, but just in case we miss you, Have a wonderfully blessed New Year and whatever you do, don’t forget to thank God.

Love
Diana & Frederick

Well, we didn’t make it to church today. Frederick was so tired and he had been very weak last night so I didn’t even try to wake him, I just let him sleep. He finally got up about 2 this afternoon. He seems to be not quite so weak, and he has eaten a few things and kept them down. Hopefully his stomach issues are gone. We are looking forward to an eventless Christmas, at least in the area of health issues! Smile!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

Diana & Frederick

It’s been a long week, but praise God, we’re still here! Frederick had a little set back with his stomach today so we spent the morning in emergency. He is doing much better, but continues to have a little bit of pain. We are so glad that he didn’t have to stay in the hospital for the Christmas holiday. We are looking forward to going to church tomorrow to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, Emmanuel!

Yesterday, Frederick had his INR checked and it continues to be too low at 1.5, meaning his blood is too thick. The problem with being too thick is the possibility of clotting. Blood clots can be very dangerous so please continue to pray that the coumadin will do it’s job and thin out the blood to the acceptable level of between 2 and 3. We appreciate your prayers and we believe that God will answer the prayers of His people.

I have been planning to send out a Christmas letter, but you know “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry” and good intentions if not acted upon are just that, good intentions. Please forgive me for my good intentions that haven’t been acted upon.

We don’t have a lot to say today, but we do want to say to all of our family and friends that we wish you the happiest of Christmas days and a wonderfully blessed new year.

Love you all!

We believe the word of God!

Frederick/Diana & Ericka

So the week started out a little shakey, but so far things seem to be doing well. Frederick just finished his fourth round of chemo. 5 days of an increased dose of temodar. As the tumor has been shrinking, we expect when he goes for his 1 month follow up in January 2008 (where did 2007 go), the tumor will have shrunk away totally.
That’s what we’re praying for. And while we wait for the manifestation, we will be working on building Frederick’s physical strength back up. This week he had less episodes of vomiting so that’s good too. His iNR is still too low at 1.6, meaning his blood is too thick so please be specific in your prayers. His INR needs to be between 2 & 3. Monday we go back to check the INR and we’re hoping it’s up. Especially since Frederick was craving and devoured a Jack in the Box Sourdough Jack and Fries yesterday. I guess if he watches enough food commercials along with being back on a steroid to help his appetite, he might just make it back to a good weight. Right now he’s into a size 40-42 waist pants and that’s with a tight belt. At his biggest he was in a size 52 or more. He’s almost lost a small man! Ha! Ha!

Seriously,We continue to be blessed beyond measure and we stand firm in the Lord because of the love and prayers of the people of God. We thank you so much for your continued prayer and support in every way. There is no way we would be able to stand during this time without ALL OF YOU!

Also, if you get a chance, please say Happy Birthday to Ericka. I know she’ll be surprised to hear that others have remembered her birthday.

Romans 12:12 remains our cry: Rejoicing in Hope, patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Diana & Frederick

Frederick had been off his coumadin since last monday. Last Thursday his INR was too high meaning his blood was too thin. So he couldn’t start his next 5 days of chemo. Yesterday his INR had gone down too much, meaning his blood was too thick, but it was okay to start the chemo. So far so good with the chemo. We now think it was the camomille in the sleepy time tea that messed up his INR. No more sleepy time tea!

Please pray that this round of chemo will create a significant attack on the tumor and when he is checked in a month, the doctors will be in awe! I know that God is able to do this if it’s his will, but I also know that there is a purpose for all of this so Lord, your will be done in and through our lives.

Praise be to God!
Diana & Frederick

Thursday was the endoscopy. We had a 9am check in time. After 3-4 pokes they got some blood for testing and we waited until 10:30 for the prep for the endoscopy. It is a relatively quick procedure but the patient is knocked out so it takes a half hour or so for them to recover from that. All good news. They didn’t find anything that would cause the vomiting of blood, however, the blood test showed that Frederick’s INR was too high meaning his blood was too thin. We don’t understand why because it had stabilized at a desirable level last week. So we stopped down at the oncologist office to find out when Frederick should resume his chemo and coumadin. They decided to squeeze Frederick in to see the nurse. We had a 1:30 appointment. Of course by the time they got Frederick and checked him out it was after 3pm. They put him back on decadron to try to help with his appetite and he will stay off the coumadin and hopefully his INR was drop by Monday. If it does then Chemo will start for 5 days.

Today, the physical therapist had Frederick up walking around and showing him how to refocus to help keep his balance. It was kinda cook to see how it actually helped. She also gave him more exercises to strengthen his legs. It was an encouraging time for me. I could actually imagine Frederick getting stronger and back to normal!

So please pray that we will be able to continue to keep Frederick doing his physical therapy and that he will get stronger and stronger.

Love ya’ll
Diana & Frederick

Guess who picked up his guitar today?  Take one guess!  He was a little shakey, but he said he needs to practice so he can get his “chops” back!  Now that’s what I call a blessing!  Thank God for the motivation!

Frederick was spitting up a little blood this morning.  He will see a GI specialist on thursday morning.  Please keep Frederick in your prayers!

Love ya

Diana R