Devotions

Recently the Director of Women's Ministries at our church asked for the ladies to write devotionals to compile in a book that could be sold as a fund raiser...given the faith strengthening time I am going through in my life at this moment, I tried my hand at writing (even though that talent really lies with my mother and sister)...the following is what I submitted...Thank you for your continued prayers, notes, and comments...we are immensely blessed!!!
~Jayne~

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you.” Isaiah 43:2

“He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increases strength.” Isaiah 40:29

In God’s Word we are given many promises and when turmoil hits, we long for, and hang on every one of them; recently I’ve learned this more then ever before. A little over a month ago my 43 year old, healthy husband was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. The diagnosis was devastating and we were not sure what to do next. The doctors didn’t recommend operating because of the tumor’s location, but it is treatable with a pretty good prognosis. Our prayer was for God to heal him long before any treatment needed to be done and we believe strongly in God’s faithfulness and answered prayer, although the answer isn’t always in our timing.

Jeff has just started radiation treatments and will start taking a chemo pill tomorrow. The last brain scan was taken 1-2 weeks ago and the tumor is apparently still there, so God hasn’t taken it away, yet.

Isaiah 43:2 tells us that we can go through many terrible, maybe life threatening, things and none of them will overtake us. Assuring Jeff & I that God is going to answer our prayer of healing, it may mean going through the treatments including nausea, hair loss & fatigue, but we will not be overtaken. Isaiah 40:29 tells that when we are worn out, God gives us power and increased strength…which assures us that even though this journey has just begun for us; God will give us the strength to complete it.

Many of us have different journeys set before us by our God, some more serious than others, but no matter what road you find yourself on…gain strength through your Father in heaven and hold on to the assurance that you will not be drowned in the rushing waters or burned by the flames.

God is with us!!!

Hello all!
We are still dealing with the memory deficit...but...at times there are things Jeff is able to pull out of his memory banks and he surprises the heck out of me. He then forgets it 10 minutes later, but I believe it's a good sign for him to be able to do that once in awhile. There are certain small facts he is able to retain day to day (the year, treatment schedule, etc...). The doctors are now telling us that this may take longer than just a few days to get better...they assure us that it is not permanent, but it may take weeks or months to get it back (aarg!!!). In the last few days I have spoken with a few of the higher ups at Jeff's work and together we decided that this would be a good time for him to go on disability. Through a good friend of mine, Carmen, I was informed that I can also go out on Family leave disability which is a program provided for the dad of a newborn to take time to bond with the baby or if you adopt a child, also if you need to take care of a loved one. Since he is having trouble being by himself when I'm at work...I've decided that this is a blessing for us...the radiologist's office had no problems filling out the paperwork for both of us and I should be able to mail it out this weekend.
Last night we went to the Thursday night prayer service at our church called Oasis...we've been regular attenders since Jeff's diagnosis and I'm a little ashamed that it took desperately needed prayer warriors to get us there regularly, but, I do believe we will continue to attend even after we are out of the proverbial woods. Anyway, If you haven't jumped over to the Buccowich's web page from ours, let me fill you in on what is going on at our church...we have a total of 22 people in our church who are dealing with Cancer or tumors and at least 31 more with various medical inflictions...that's way too many, even for a church as big as ours...some of our members have felt strongly that God is up to something & the Nord's agree...God IS in control, but our church members are under attack. The normal order for the Thursday night service is to pray for the church, Pastors, marriages, service projects etc...NOW...we are beginning a prayer vigil for healing!!!! Last night was the start of united prayers for God's direction on how we are to pray for all inflicted and on Sunday night we will come back together and discuss what God has shown different people as a direction for prayer...then from Sunday to next week Thursday we are praying unceasingly in whatever way God has directed. Many believe that God's going to do miraculous things through the inflicted at our church. Please join us in our efforts to seek the Lord's leading with the health concerns of the members of our church.

The Nord's immediate prayer concern is Jeff's memory...please pray that it is restored soon and continue to pray for peace, strength and healing for Jeff, Susan, and all the others in our church that are dealing with life changing medical conditions.

Without Our God & all who read this, we would truly be lost!!!

~Jayne~

20+ Questions

Today is the 6th day that Jeff cannot remember anything short term...we now know for sure that this is very common in the beginning of radiation treatments...the brain tends to swell a bit which hampers memory and when the swelling goes down, the memories come back. That fact is very comforting, but Jeff keeps forgetting that this is temporary and every morning he wakes up and thinks he's had a stroke and that his memory is gone for good...I am constantly reminding him that he should get his memory back in a few more days. Since Wednesday afternoon he has been taking yet another medication which should help with the swelling and I've noticed small improvements in his memory every day...so my prayer is that with no radiation treatments needed today or tomorrow the swelling will have a chance to go down a bit and memories will be easier accessed!!! Until then, life in our house is just like a movie...Groundhog's Day for Jeff; and 50 First Dates for me (except he knows who I am, Thank God)!!!! For those of you that like to research stuff, I've added a few links at the right of our blog to give you an idea of what Jeff's tumor is all about.

I've also added a link for our church's website and the Buccowich's website...please continue to keep this family in your prayers as well.

On another note, today was Dalaynee's last swimming lesson and she finally had the nerve to jump off the side to the teacher...she's been scared about going under water, but she told me this morning that she's not scared anymore and she's going to jump...and she did...and, of course, I didn't have the camera ready, but we were very proud!!!!! I'm going to try to sign her up for one more 5 week session this summer yet...she'll be swimming on her own before we know it!!!!!



As always, we thank God for each of you!!!

~Jayne~

The Latest...

Well, it's been a little while since I've updated because there wasn't much change...but...now I have some new news. Jeff started radiation treatments last week Wednesday and chemo pills yesterday. On Monday he woke up very disoriented and sick to his stomach (a prescription we got for nasea is working great). After puking a few times he slept and when he woke up he wasn't sure what the year was or the day of the week. He didn't think he had started any treatments yet and he couldn't remember anything from the past few days...very scary for him and me!!! We now have comfort in knowing that this is only temporary...2 doctors told us that it is very common in the beginning of radiation that the brain will swell a little and that could cause short term memory loss...when the swelling goes down, he will remember again. He still is foggy today and very scared because he thinks that he had a stroke or something. He's crying a lot...he has a little relief when I tell him that it is just temporary, but then forgets that in 10 minutes again. We should be able to get yet another pill today that will help the swelling to go down quicker and then he will remember again.

My friend Susan is due to have a 2nd surgery soon to remove more of her tumor. We did go see her last week and she recognized us but Mike, her husband, said that she probably won't remember that we visited. She is having a hard time, but I'm told that she still seems to be improving a little bit each day...so that is good news!

In all of this we stand firm in our faith and know God's will is perfect!!!! God bless all of you!!!
~Jayne~

My Wonderful Husband!!!!

Well, there is not too much new with Jeff...except the cancer Dr. in Long Beach was okay with the LA's cancer Dr. working with us too (for some reason I thought they wouldn't like another doctor looking into the case)...anyway he told us that the LA Dr. had a new study he was looking into for Jeff to see if he qualifies for it...that would mean that we'd do the chemo and radiation at Long Beach and if he qualifies for this, somewhat experimental, treatment then we might have to go to LA for that...so we may still have to drive into LA, but if 3 different treatments will give him a better chance, than we will gladly drive to LA. They are supposed to let us know this week when the radiation will start and the experimental thing and chemo will probably start at the same time. The LB Dr. said that they have a total of 6 weeks before they absolutely have to treat him...so...tomorrow will start the 6th week since he was diagnosed. He's still in pretty good spirits and the only thing slightly affected by any of this is his short term memory...that could be stress, meds, or damage from the seizure...only time will tell.



NOW THE BUCCOWICH FAMILY:

My friend Susan, who I told you about in previous posts had figured on having surgery to remove her tumor early next week, however, last week Wednesday night (the 4th of July) they had to do emergency surgery because her motor skills and speech were deteriorating by the day...she got through the surgery fine and her family were told that they were able to get 98% of the tumor...then in the last few days her husband was told by the doctors that after looking at the scan they took after surgery...they were only able to remove 70% of the tumor and that it looked like it may have been malignant, stage 2. She had the tumor on the left frontal lobe of her brain so her left eye was swollen shut from the surgery and she was having trouble with the vision in her right eye...the doctors told Mike the reason for the vision problem was because she had a slight stroke...I'm not sure if that was before the surgery or during...anyway this morning in church I talked to Mike and every day Susan is getting a little better...so...we believe that God will pull her through this valley and she also will be healed...she & Jeff will have mighty testimonies!!!!!!

We are thankful for your prayers and ask that you continue to lift up both of our families!!!

~JAYNE~

Anticipating Treatment

Well, either they didn't look at the CT scan on Friday, or they didn't see any change...because...no one seems to be shocked at what it showed...I have to remember this is all in God's timing and not mine!

What they did on Friday was put this wet thing over his face...it looked kind of like bee's wax type material...it stretched and as it dried it stayed in the form of his face and head...there are big eye, nose and mouth holes so it's not too claustrophobic. Now they will use the image take in the scan to pinpoint the exact location that the radiation is needed and he will have to wear that mask during every treatment. The more precise the radiation, of course, the less chance of damaging other parts of the brain while shrinking the tumor. Tomorrow we have an appointment with the Oncologist at LB and we're told he will give us a prescription for the chemo pill. They told us that it is pretty likely that after a few treatments Jeff will be more tired and lose hair...but they don't anticipate him being too ill...so we are thankful for that. Another thanksgiving is that he only needed 1 anxiety pill yesterday...so...his stress level is leveling off. Our prayer would be that he is able to get past the thought of what this tumor could do to him and try to focus more on what God is going to do through this tumor! We actually had a great weekend just spending time with Zack, Laynee and then last night our city put on a block party for the 4th and we met my parents and Laur to watch the fireworks show. Even through this valley...we see the hand of God and feel blessed in many ways!!!!

MORE ON THE BUCCOWICH FAMILY: Susan is home now, but has surgery scheduled for the 8th or 9th of July...she had breast cancer last year and had that surgery last July 11th...very ironic...the doctors are pretty sure that the breast cancer is not related to her tumor...we still don't know if hers is malignant or benign. Please continue to keep them in your prayers too. THANKS!!!
~Jayne~