Isaiah 41:10 "Fear not for I am with you; be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you."

Here I am at UCSF on a good day. A bad day is stomach upset and inability to even look or smell food. I'm having one of those bad days today. What a way to lose weight.

Dear Family and Friends,

Today is day six of the side effects of the hard chemo, Melphalan. So far the Lord has kept me from the mouth sores and other digestive problems, except for the upset stomach. The Melphalan basically tears up your inside plumbing as it goes about seeking to destroy all stem cells that contain myeloma. On day three, they transfused me with my cleaned stem cells, so both of these things were working at the same time. The chemo does not touch the cleaned stem cells because they are too formidable of a foe. The chemo looks for the weak stem cells full of myeloma. The doctor came by this morning and is prescribing some better anti-nausea medicine. In spite of the side effects, I know that Jesus is right beside me, holding me up by His righteous right hand.

I have a lovely single room with my very own bathroom. My window looks out on the tops of the hospital buildings with trees in the background. There is a trail with railings that zigzags through the trees. Sometimes I watch people on the trail, wondering where they have come from and where they are going. I pray for them to know Jesus. Who knows? Maybe no one is praying for them, or maybe they are facing overwhelming odds. God can meet their deepest needs.

Medical Update:

1) I am just finishing the first of a three week stay at UCSF. My blood counts have to fall more before they will come up again. When they start to come up again, I will have the stomach shots again (neuprogene) to increase the production of the new stem cells. The doctors are going to be watching the numbers rise to ensure that the new cleaned stem cells are properly embedded and reproducing well. They don't want to send me home before my immune system is showing signs of recovery.

2) I should be released around March 18th or so. My sister, Mary Lou, will be flying into San Francisco from Dallas to stay with me for two weeks. She has a friend in Pleasanton who will pick her up and when I am ready to be discharged, she will drive us to Modesto. After those two weeks, my other sister, Linda, will be flying into Modesto from Branson, Missouri, to help take care of me for the second two weeks. Then my nephew, Denny and his daughter Emily, will fly from Portland, Oregon, to help me on week five. Isn't it wonderful to have such a loving and caring family who will give up their time to care for me. What a blessing.

3) Of course there are many other oncology patients here on the 11th floor of the UCSF Medical Center who need prayer. Please pray for Armen who also has multiple myeloma. He is married and has a five year old son. Also pray for Joel who is from our area and has a form of lymphoma. Next door to me, there is a patient who is also a prisoner so he has a couple of big guys sitting outside his door who are wearing badges. I don't know what kind of cancer he has but if he is getting Melphalan, he's in no shape to hurt anyone or escape anywhere.

4) The nurses here are very dear and considerate. They try to think of your needs and meet them. One of the nurses, Rei, took the picture above in the Solarium, I believe, where the windows look out on the Golden Gate Bridge on a clear day.

Please pray that God will:

a) Be glorified in my life even when I am not feeling my best

b) Heal my body - every part

c) Direct the cleaned stem cells to their proper place in my body and embed them

d) Cause the cleaned stem cells to reproduce

e) Continue to call those we love, who do not yet love Him

f) Encourage us to share the Good News before His soon return

Thank you for your prayers. People are praying for me all over the world. That is incredible. Don't think that your prayers do not matter. They do.

My stomach is grabbing my attention again, so I'd better close for now. God is faithful and will continue to be. Give Him all the glory for what He has done. Great and marvelous are His works.

Kept by His righteous right hand,

Jane