May 30, 2014: Update on My Mom

Copied from my sister Lori's update she posted earlier this morning:

Strength for the Day: Update on Dorothy Kratzer - May 30, 2014

May 30, 2014 at 7:36am

As your days, so shall your strength be.– Deuteronomy 33:25

Mom’s body is very weak. Every day there seems to be some small thing that she is no longer able to manage. It is difficult for her tospeak and sometimes even breathing seems to be tedious.

Last night, the Lord brought the verse above to mind and comforted with these thoughts:
He will continue to give Mom strength for each day, each moment, each breath right up until her last.
He will continue to give Dad and the rest of us strength for each new turn in this difficult path.

Some thoughts that Dad shared with me yesterday:
When we follow where He leads, we are on His path.
It isn’t the wrong path, but the path that He has put before us.
Wherever He calls us to follow, He goes before and walks beside us.

Praise the Lord with us for His promises and His strength.
Pray that we would continue to take hold of God’s strength for each moment.

Update on Mom May 2014

The following was written and posted on Facebook by my sister, Lori:

Update on Dorothy Kratzer – May 2014

May 23, 2014 at 7:28pm

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” – Psalm 34:7

Mom begins hospice care today. While there may still be plenty of time left for us to spend with her, the little moments have become very precious. We are resting in God’s goodness at this time.

We are thankful that we were able to all be together as a family earlier this month when Mom was still in the hospital.

We are thankful that she was well enough to attend Ellen’s graduation on May 17 and stand with her when she received her diploma.

We are thankful that Stef was able to be home for a whole week and spend some time with Mom.

We are thankful that all of Mom’s siblings were able to come today for a visit. She was blessed by the time they had together.

We are thankful that Mom has been feeling a little better the past couple of days. 

More than anything...
We are thankful that God is good and that He holds Mom in His hands.

Updates on Mom April and May 2014

Much of this has been copied directly from Facebook update posts over the past few days.

4/29/14 evening:
Update on my mom and prayer request: my mom is going in for a liver biopsy tomorrow morning. They will give her platelets beforehand to try to avoid excessive bleeding as her counts have been low. The doctors have not wanted to start the new chemotherapy until they know what is going on with her liver. Please pray the test gives an accurate portrayal of what is going on and for wisdom for the doctors to know how best to proceed. Please pray for strength and healing for my mom as well.

4/30/14 early evening:
Please keep praying. My mom had the procedure, but is now bleeding internally. They are trying to find where the bleeding is in order to get it stopped. She will be staying in the hospital overnight tonight. Prayers are greatly appreciated!

4/30/14 later evening (few hours later):
Thank you so much! I just heard from my dad with an update on my mom. They got the bleeding stopped, my mom is stable and was moved to critical care for overnight.

5/1/14 early evening:

Update on my mom: I just talked with my dad and my mom is still in the hospital and will be kept overnight tonight as well, but she has been moved from critical care to a regular floor.  Her blood pressure and blood counts have been holding steady today.  However, she lost a lot of blood and it took a lot to get levels up again.  Additionally, challenges with getting adequate nutrition continue with new ones added from the recent events.  Prayer for ongoing healing are still needed.  She should hopefully learn the results of the liver biopsy next week. I believe they are still waiting to start the new chemotherapy until after they know the results of the biopsy, so please continue to pray for wisdom for the doctors.

5/2/14 late morning:

Update on my mom again: My dad just let me know that the liver biopsy shows cancer in her liver. They are keeping her in the hospital again tonight to make sure her blood levels stay stable. Please keep praying for her. Thank you!