The elephant in the room

I've never been good with pretense, so sitting here today I realized that the question no one really wants to ask is..."how long does Paul have now that we have stopped treatment?" A fair question but not one with an easy answer. Paul's tumor, while methodical, has always been slow growing. That's one reason why he has had such a good quality of life for 2.5 years past relapse. What we don't know is the extent of Paul's bone marrow disease currently. That may be the deciding factor. If there just aren't enough "good guys" (i.e., stem cells) in there anymore (b/c it's overcome with NB), then his reds will drop off, and he'll increasingly struggle with oxygen. Alternatively, with such a low white count, any type of infection would be rapid and aggressive. We also do not know about new tumor involvement in organs (lungs, liver, etc.), but he has never had any problems there so it would be surprising to have it now. Or something else could happen. Like I said, no easy answers. He could have 2-3 days or much longer. I think what we all are praying for is healing, one way or the other. He feels pretty crummy although thankfully pain is not a big issue.

Today Paul is fairly nauseous and has very little energy. He hasn't gotten out of bed, and don't expect him to until we can conquer the stomach ache.

We have been blessed by your comments. I know that Paul's life has affected a lot of people. I'm obviously at the front of that line. Again, even at this point in the cancer journey, while it appears to be wrapping up, we do not lose heart or despair. This is because you are praying against that very thing on our behalf, and because our God can still heal Paul. I hope your knees are sore from all your praying. (-: