Continued prayers for Amy

As I finished my last post, this just came to my blackberry. I'll let you know if they toss me in jail for using my electronic device while the doors were closed......shhh, don't tell.


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Dear friends and family,

We hope this finds letter finds you all well.

In the time since our last update--in which we joyfully informed you that Amy has responded well to treatment and that an MRI showed there has been no new tumor growth—we have been coming to grips with the fact that life with cancer is more complicated than we first thought. Naively, we kinda assumed that once we reached the MRI and got a thumb's up from the doctors, The Jensens of Lakewood, California would be allowed to return to "the way things used to be." But that has turned out to be a case of wishful thinking.

First of all, Amy has begun her year of monthly chemo treatments. For five consecutive days every month, she takes a pill that's not quite double the dosage of what she was taking when she was on the daily regimen of chemo after her surgery. This new treatment leaves her totally wiped out. By the third day, she startreally worn down. And after the last day of pill popping, she needs 2-3 days to recover. I'm helping out by working from home during these treatment windows. Please keep Amy in her prayers; the physical ordeal of her experience is not yet over.

And then, there is the emotional aspect of her experience. Over the past two weeks, Amy has struggled with emotional weariness and something that someone like me might imprecisely call depression. The old, ordinary things feel daunting, even getting ready for bed, which ironic, considering that her overwhelming desire right now is to just lay down and sleep. Amy also finds herself thinking about her mortality and worrying about new tumors growing in her brain. The nature of her cancer is such that the only guarantee of never getting a brain tumor again is… never getting another brain tumor. We know the cancer cells are in her head. They may be irreparably "injured," or they may be only stunned—there's just no way of knowing for certain unless they start doing something. Something bad. And so, what Amy has realized is that she's stuck in a state of scary ambiguity—like living life waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The good news is that our family is doing well amid this trial, and overall, Amy's will and sense of humor remain strong. She's getting the help she needs and has the support of her friends and family. Still, we ask for a renewed round of directed prayer for her. (If you can also toss in a request for extra energy for me and extra patience for the kids, that would be awesome). Specifically, we ask for God's blessing on her the morning of Tuesday, June 5, when she goes in for a follow-up MRI. We hope to see a clean picture—no new tumors, no residual swelling from the radiation, no strange "blips" that leave our doctors going "Huh. I have no idea what that is." We will learn the results of this new MRI the next day, and I will post a new update at that time letting you know what we know.

We thank you all for your love and support. For our friends and family in Portland and Seattle, we look forward to seeing all of you in a few short weeks, when we make our annual summertime swing through the Pacific Northwest.

 Love to all,

Jeff, Amy, Ben and Lauren


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Sent via blackberry