Update on Kristi Walker

...from an email I received from our dear pastor, John Durham.

It was great catching up with Chuck last night, it had been over a week since we spoke – and there was a lot to talk about, we spent about 40 minutes on the phone. Last week was filled with some strong victories – cancer counts in the blood went from 420 to 6 and then to 0 by Monday of this week. That count represents the number of cancerous cells in her bloodstream that would be harmfully distributed through the entire body. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t have cancer (there are still tumors and cancerous places) but it does mean that the cancer is not being circulated all over her body as it had been doing just weeks ago. There was also some good news in the liver function, some of the counts there have shown some improvement – one count going from 4.5 to 1.3, where normal in most people is 1.2. We need to all thank God for the good things and the victories.

However, Kristi went back to the hospital this week. She continues to be very weak and at times a little disoriented, she can only walk on a cane right now and needs to be assisted when she tries to walk. Her red blood cell count and hemoglobin counts began to really be off this week and it put her back in the hospital for 2 ½ days. The other disheartening thing was learning that Kristi needs to go to the doctor 4 times a week now to get all of the fluid drained that is being built up in her. Much like dialysis, she will be going Mon, Wed, Fri, and once on the weekend to get all the potentially infectious fluid drained from her abdomen.

Kristi had chemo treatments on Wednesday while she was in the hospital this week, which means today and tomorrow are really tough days physically for her. She has lost her hair and is bed most of the day – Chuck told me that Cade really enjoys crawling up in bed with her and rubbing her bald head. Kristi said one time it felt good, so now Cade feels it is his duty to be mom’s daily head massager. I couldn’t decide if that story wanted to make me laugh or cry when he told me that last night, my personal philosophy is to choose laughter when there is an option.

Chuck and Kristi are at that point now where they realize they need to move forward, and not be so overwhelmed with the all the heaviness of the past months. Whether it be thinking through the plans for the 3 boys in the years ahead, maybe writing a book for those who journey through the surprises of cancer, perhaps a fund to fight breast cancer...I think there are a lot of things on the table – but they just want to follow through on God’s purpose in all of this. One of the things Chuck and I talked about last night was God’s ability to redeem all things and that actually His redemption of things we call bad is better than physical healing.

They are really pleased with their new doctor, Dr. Graham. He wants to continue to fight this cancer very aggressively and has given them something they have not heard in this entire ordeal, and that is hope. Of course our ultimate hope is with God in Christ, but it sure is nice to hear a doctor articulate it as well every now and then! Let’s continue to build our hope on what God is able to do.