Sunday, June 30, 2013

Camp over, I'm back

Camp is over so I will be much more reachable again! :) (at least as far as the blog is concerned) God was able to reach hearts this week. My prayer, our prayer as camp staff team, is that the commitments that were made will remain real in spite of all the mental garbage that modern teens get bombarded with by the media.
Lenora is slowly getting weaker. It did look like she was going to have another seizure this Friday but fell asleep before it was able to set in. The lady who stayed with her that night enjoyed discussing heaven and other spiritual discussions with Lenora. Saturday Lenora's mind was more confused again and today was no better.
Thank you for offering prayer support. It makes our load easier to bear. May God bless you for continuing to pray that His will be done!

Friday, June 28, 2013

Episodes

Yesterday (Thursday) Lenora slept for 8 hours. Then she woke up for a bit and seemed fairly clear for a bit. Then she had something like a seizure but soon fell asleep again for 4 hours.
When she woke up she was very clear and could communicate well. She asked for something to eat and drink. 
But then she had another episode where she had difficulty breathing - to the point that her face turned blue.
Amazingly, Lenora did pull out of that again too. She slept for most of the night – didn't even necessarily wake up completely when they turned her in her bed.

As far as we know Lenora does not have any pain; she is not moaning or anything like that in her sleep so we praise God for that.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Short and to the Point

Please pray for Lenora's constipation.
Thank you!

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Sitting up in bed

Cindy asked me to post this while Justen is busy with camp. ~ Delmar.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday, Lenora was very weak. Her voice was so quiet, it was quite hard to understand her when she talked.
Today,  She looks and feels better.She's alot brighter and her mind is clearer. She's easier to understand when she talks. She's eating a little more and drinking better. 
They had her sitting up very straight in her bed.
Her prayer request is that she would get stronger.
~Cindy

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Camp week coming up.

Well it appears Lenora is drifting in and out of consciousness. By the afternoon her face looked more pale then it's been for the past week. And yet by evening her face had more color in it again. Mom figured her memory was really poor. Lenora does recognize people sometimes but other times she's clueless. All things considered, I would say Lenora is worse then yesterday. Guess we'll wait to see what tomorrow brings. Pray Lenora will continue to rest in the everlasting arms of God. May you be blessed and refreshed this Lords day!


P.S. I will be working as counsellor at Wellman Lake Bible camp June 23-30 and will not be posting updates until after I get back, or if something happens that's significant enough for me to leave camp early. In this case, consider 'no news to mean good news'! So long.. Enjoy this last week of June.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Not as much rest

Lenora was awake much more today then she was yesterday. She ate a pint of refried beans at noon. She talks very quietly.
This evening she had a sharp pain in her temple after which she seemed to sink into her blind world and made no extra effort responding to people talking to her.
That's Lenora's day in a nutshell. Thank you for checking in. God bless you for caring about her!

Fairly alert

Yesterday Lenora slept deeply until 2 pm. Then she was wide awake for several hours and spent some time on the patio in the sunshine. We were surprised how much she remembered about things that happened while she was very sick in Winnipeg. We didn't think she was aware of what was happening outside her world but she seemed to somehow have caught that Grandma was in the hospital but is now home again.
Lenora ate fairly well and was quite alert. We spent some time last night singing with her. I accompanied with my guitar. She sang along as best she could. She is so weak that her voice is very quiet a lot of the time.
This morning she said she had some pain in her back. Otherwise she's pain-free. Dad talked with her on the phone for 10 minutes this afternoon. That was a real surprise!
Thank you for praying for Lenora. She is at peace in her situation. When she prays you can tell she is talking with God as with a friend!

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Fundraiser

There's a fundraiser happening in Arborg MB. I attached the poster. Screenshot was the simplest way for to convert to image file as blogger doesn't attach pdf's. Or I haven't figured out how-to at this point. Back to the point. See below for further details..

.....

Lenora seems to feel fine in spite of throwing up occasionally. She slept real deep from morning until 2 pm and was quite alert while Dad was in to see her for a few minutes. There doesn't seem to be any significant upward or downward spiral today. Let me put it this way. The waiting and uncertainty got old a while back already.
Thank you for praying.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Doing ok

Lenora had a fairly good day yesterday with lots of visitors. She was awake and sang with us for a while. Her memory is short so she doesn't remember who's all been there to see her. Thanks for coming and showing your support.
She slept ok this past night and is doing alright this morning.
Below us a picture of Lenora in her room in Grandview.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Transferred to Grandview

Lenora arrived in Grandview 430 this morning. She seems to be doing ok. I fed her breakfast and lunch. Both times she ate a little bit.
It's great for Mom to be home for part of the day at least. It'll be great therapy for her since she loves the outdoors, gardening, and the family time that comes with summer.
God's grace is abundant and we are grateful to you all for praying for Lenora. We trust God will fulfill His perfect plan though this valley experience. As Revelation puts it. .... "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." (Revelation 5:12 NASB)

Friday, June 14, 2013

Getting transferred

Lenora is having a much harder time staying positive now that she seems to be feeling better. The plan is to transferred Lenora to Grandview hospital tomorrow around noon. We are looking forward to having mom live at home again and Lenora much closer!

Justen Loewen

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Doing ok

Well Lenora is doing ok. She sat up a few times yesterday. There's enough improvement this morning for her to be feeling discouraged. Sounds backwards to me but that's how it works. There's not much more to update on so I'll leave it at that.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Holding on

Another night and Lenora is still hanging in there. She was fairly alert, mentally, throughout the night. She dozed off once in a while but didn't really seem to rest well.
We'll see what today holds for her and us. God is Good!

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Actually hungry?

Yesterday evening Lenora became quite alert and so we sang for her about 15 minutes. Then teresa came in with her 2 week old baby so Lenora could feel him at least since she cannot see. She handled the night quite well. Even in her deteriorating mental condition, Lenora is focused on others, a sign of the unselfish character she had before she turned sick. Around noon today Lenora ate 1-1/2 pancakes with peanut butter, 1/2 an apple, 1/2 bottle of ensure.

Below I attached a pic of Lenora touching her youngest nephew.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Seizure

Shorter not as severe seizure but involved her whole body. Called this a brain storm. The doctors are saying she should be gone already considering her illness and the symptoms she's been having over the past several days. He also said she could likely go today yet but that it might be 3 weeks. Unpredictable.

And still hanging in there

God is good. He gave us all of Saturday evening and Sunday to spend time with and talk with Lenora. Many visitors came to show us their prayer support and walking through today's uncertainties with us. God is good! I don't know how long we will have Lenora but we are very grateful to have been able to experience this weekend with her together.
She drank quite a bit of water and ate a bowl of soup, a piece of breaded fish, and drank part of a bottle of meal supplement. We feel pretty good about that! As far as her mental clarity is concerned, quite random and mixed up. Her answers to direct questions would mostly make sense but her tongue rambled on and on. We did a lot of singing and these were the only times she could stay focused on something in reality.She slept about an hr and a half last night. Hopefully this night is better. We trust Lenora into God's hands. His plan for her life is bigger and far more fulfilling than any plan we can make up on our own! Whether God takes Lenora home tonight, tomorrow, next week, or 50 years from now, may His name be glorified on earth because of Lenora's testimony! Your prayer support as brothers and sisters in Christ has been phenomenal! The grace of God has been very real today! Praise The Lord!

Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations. (Psalms 100:1-5 NASB)

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Still hanging in there

Lenora is still hanging in there. We're talking with Lenora right now. She was listening to Dad talk about her youngest nephew. After a bit she started snapping her fingers. I asked her what song went well with that. She started singing 'In the Sweet by and by' so we joined in and she switched from lead to alto. Beautiful!

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Awake for a bit

Here's Lenora awake for a bit! Treasure every moment!

24 hrs left

Doctors say Lenora has less then 24 hrs left. She is in a coma now. Dad testifies to the very real presence of God with them at the hospital. Thank you so much for your prayer support as we walk through this time of grieving and yet rejoicing for the time we had Lenora!!

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Prayer request

I know there are more people then we know about, who are praying for Lenora and her family. Lenora's condition is becoming increasingly unstable as the days go by. We as family are asking for special prayer for Lenora. The following update gives you an idea what is happening right now.
This morning, Nurses had Lenora sit up with her legs off the edge of her bed. She ate a little bit but then she asked if she could lie down to finish eating. Mom seemed a little less discouraged this morning compared to yesterday. Everything considered though, Lenora seems to stabilize unpredictably, but isn't improving. The recent trend in her health has been ups and downs with each down a little more down then the previous one. The doctors are saying that back in January when Lenora first went to Winnipeg, the cancer was already too far advanced for them to be able to cure it. Even if they had been able to diagnose it at that time, chemo or radiation would simply have extended her life without solving the problem. Only those who've gone through either of the two treatments know what it's like. I've heard it's not fun in any case! This type is very hard to catch in its early stage but that's the only time there has been success with curing it. Medically speaking Lenora has no chance surviving. We're finding out if Dr James from Good Samaritan in Mexico has any hope he can reverse Lenora's deteriorating health. The reason she is loosing mental capacity is this: normally your nerves work to protect the surrounding nerves. When glial neoplasm sets in, nerves no longer function this way and begin slowly shutting down as they allow the surrounding nerves to be destroyed. Since the brain is the command center for the rest of the body when it shuts down as a result of more and more nerves malfunctioning, the rest of her body will follow. Unless God does a miracle there's no telling how long we will have Lenora... I find so much peace in knowing Lenora is ready to go see Jesus whenever He takes her home to heaven. As long as there is life in her body though, there is a possibility she will survive. She has a very strong will to live!

If you want to read more about this type of brain tumor there is a lot of info on the Internet. The details I gave you are from the doctor.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Moved out of step-down

Lenora has been moved to a regular room from the Step-down unit. It seems she's gaining some strength. She no longer uses the feeding tube and is eating orally. It's pretty awesome she doesn't feel nauseous! She's taking steroids orally to reduce inflammation in her spine and brain. Hopefully when the inflammation goes down, she will receive her sight agin as the optic nerves shrink to normal size again. She is stable enough to no longer be on oxygen. Not being attached to external support machines gives her much more freedom to move around. I guess this is all for tonight.

Thank-you so much for carrying us on prayer. Your support means more than we can ever repay!

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Preliminary results

As many of you are wondering what's happening to Lenora here's a little update on her. The preliminary results of the biopsy came back on Thursday. They says she's got glial neoplasm. The cancer team was in to see her Thursday. They are talking Chemo or radiation but are not giving much hope either of these will be a cure.
I saw her Saturday. Below is a picture of Lenora and my face.