Something Short...and eggs

This week has been busy for me and my mind has been on overload!

How is Rachel...She is strong emotionally!!! Wow, I have been totally impressed with how strong she is and how focused on the Lord. We went to the nutritionist on ...early this week, can't remember the day! and she was just overflowing with a positive attitude. Rachel firmly believes that God can heal her! She has such confidence in Him! I was blessed just hearing Rachel speak of her faith in the Lord.

Rachel can now eat 1 egg a day and she is in heaven! The nutritionist gave her the OK to eat an egg because Rachel has been craving them. We went home and I was able to make her quinoa grains

sauteed spinach and a poached egg...Rachel loved it!! Said it was the best thing she has eaten in 6 months. I enjoyed it too!!

From Rachel 5/18

SO after much thought and prayers, I've decided what's best for me right now is to stay with my doctors at Upenn. I just feel that I have such a good relationship with them that it would be hard to give that up. Though I LOVED and really was impressed by Cancer Treatment Center of America, I don't feel that it's the place for me (I would though, recommend it to anyone!!!). I was glad that they were able to give me a second opinion and that it matched up with what my doctors at Upenn said.
I've been getting stronger and stronger each day. I've been able to go back on my supplements from GNLD, started a new supplement from holistic Dr. called Transfer Factor by 4life.com I'm taking my weekly dose of I.V. Vit C, eating a mostly vegan diet (cooked by my wonderful sister (Betty Arnold Biad]), drinking essiac tea, juicing (done daily by mom and Betty), ionized water, B-17 injections (in the BUTT!!!), Mistletoe injections (to the stomach, UCK!!) Thank God for me mother (Barbara Arnold] who gives them to me even though she looks like she's going to pass out!!, and a multitude of other cancer fighting elements!! But mostly I'm relaying on prayers!! I'm always so blown away by the outpouring of prayers by my family is Christ!! Thank you all!!!
And so now the "NEW" chapter in my journey. After much prayer and thought, I've decided to try a low dose of Chemo. I've been thinking about this for a while, it was one of the recommendations from the Hospital in Mexico. I was not ready to make this decision even one month ago. But as God has planned it, each little step comes when I'm ready to deal with next thing. I have a Doctor at Upenn that is willing to give me a low dose of Carboplastin, it will be administered weekly in quarter doses. I feel comfortable now with this decision. The first time I had Chemo in Sept '09, I felt bullied into it, even in Dec and Jan. of this year I felt like I was not ready to go there. But now God has given me a peace about it and also has brought me a Dr. who is very willing to listen and most importantly HEAR me!! Dr. Ford is willing to have me continue on with all my "holistic" treatments and even encourages me to do Vit. C and all my unorthodox treatments. She is also going to monitor my health very closely, and she agrees fully with me that if I get sick or can't handle the treatment that it's not worth it and to stop immediately. Because this treatment will not cure me, she does not believe that the possible side effects are worth the short amount of life that it will give me in the end (of course that is her words, I know that I'm not going anywhere till God calls me home:) SO I'm asking everyone out there to pray a very specific prayer this next week. I will be going in for my first treatment on Tuesday (tentatively) and my mom and I are praying that if this is what God wants for me, I will be able to tolerate the treatment. IF this is not what God wants that I will get so sick that I just can't go on with another treatment. Please join my family over the next week and help us with hearing God's calling for my life right now.
Love, Rachel Arnold Edgar]:)

A message from my Mom

Hello my dear ones
Today we learned that the cancer has matasticized to Rachel's bones.  The places where they see tumors or there may be tumors are in the skull, around the eyes, in the shoulders and along the spine.  These tumors are so small that they did not show up on the MRI.   This means that Rachel has stage 4 cancer.  Though this is a heavy blow, we have not given up hope.  We are still standing against the evil one in the evil day and against his fiery darts, as Eph. 6 tells us to.  And we stand firm through prayer.  We are more than conquerers.  As Rachel says, this is a win win situation: either she goes to be with Jesus sooner, or she stays with us for a while longer.  I love you all.    Barbara

Another Day

Yesterday I had the day off:-) It was busy with cleaning my house and then my brother Wayne came over for dinner. It was nice.

Today we are back to juicing and cooking for Rachel. How do we feel today?? I feel overwhelmed and like giving up...there I said it!!! I want to feel strong today but I don't:-( I still will continue on for Rachel but seeing her in pain and struggling with cancer is hard. Questioning what God's purpose for this and why He is allowing Rachel to be in pain. On top of that my washing machine broke...why??? I need strength ... this is where I need to stop relying on myself and turn to the Lord. I think I need this time of weakness to come to the point of turning to the Lord because I have been leaning on my own strength...that's wrong.

How does Mom feel today... she feels good today. Yesterday was very hard for her because of the boys and she did not sleep a lot but today is better. The boys are constant challenges - they are boys!!! Pray that Mom stays strong and that she looks to the Lord for wisdom on how to handle the boys. It is so nice when people come over and take the boys for a while...like today Patricia is here playing with Izzy, Noah and Dane...THANK YOU!!!

Even though every tip of my body feels the pain in my heart...I still need to juice for Rachel. As I read through this I see how focused I am on myself...Lord, Teach me to be more selfless. Teach me to not give into my emotions but to know that I need to stay strong in the Lord and not give up.

As for Rachel. She is so tired! and she has been in so much pain that she has to take painkillers. The dr.'s think that it is the tumor pressing against a nerve. I think she is so tired and in pain that it is hard for her to focus on FIGHTING!! but she is just focused on getting through the day. She needs prayer!! Rachel should be drinking up to 8 glasses of juice a day and at least 1 green smoothie, 3 cups of smooth move tea a day, lots of water a day, one big salad, 3 tablespoons of flax seed oil and all her suppliments. We are not there right now but need to get there though...I want to start growing wheat grass and juicing that for her but not yet.

For the boys and Rob...people have been amazing and bringing food!! Thank you!!! yes, we could be cooking for the boys but we are tired!!! Our brains are trying to keep up with Rachel. Wonderful women have been coming over during the day to play with my kids...that is so amazing!!! Thank you!!! I want to help my sister but sometimes with the 3 kids I can't do everything that I want to do for Rachel. Knowing that my 2 older kids are having fun...that is awesome.

Busy!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!! Our Mother's Day started bright and early at Saint Matthew Baptist Church - 7AM service where the deacons and Pastors anointed Rachel with oil and prayed over her. This was an amazing time for our family as all 4 of us kids could be together with my parents. My mom was able to speak about trusting in the Lord through all of this.

I am not sure where any of us would be if we did not hope/wait/trust in Him while going through this painful time. Rachel has been in so much physical pain which has been so hard to watch and so hard for her emotionally to remain strong and determined. We sure could use as much prayers as we could get and please let us know that you are praying for Rachel...she needs it!!

My brother Wayne arrived Saturday night and has been "tasting" a bit of Rachel's diet:-) He eats anything! I have made him my Goat Kefir to get some good ProBiotics in his system. He also had some of our Juice that we make everyday from our beloved "Juicer from Hell" as my Mom calls it!!

We switched to this juicer back in December(?) because it was the one that the Gerson institute recommended and we have a love/hate relationship with the juicer.

 This juicer is a 2 step process that required both my Mom and I. First we have to wash/scrub all the vegetables and then mom has to grind them up in the tube part to the left and I squeeze it on the tray to the right. to make 4 glasses of juice for Rachel it takes at least 1 hour from start to finish...we would like Rachel to drink 8 glasses a day.

 We juice Kale, carrots, ginger, beets, apples, oranges and lemons. I get a glass of juice at the end and it is SO GOOD!!! I actually look forward to it each day:-) Mom does not savor the juice like I do but I think my taste buds are dead to all things that taste "good":-)

Recently we have had some amazing women come and watch my kids while we juice so I don't have to be feilding 3 kids and trying to prepare Rachel's Juice and foods...they have been amazing women!! I appriciate them because they are pouring out love to my kids and the "Mom Guilt" is slightly eased during that time.

Well, all three kids are up and I need to get them fed...I hope to show you the amazing cook book that my friend Amber let me borrow to cook Vegan food for Rachel...Love this cook book!!!

Meal planning - again

So, I have been going through all the recipes that I had planned 2 weeks ago...tweeking some of them due to the food restrictions...no raw spinach, cabbage. Now I need to work on the rest of this week and find out what Rachel likes. I was lent a great vegan recipe book...From the Kitchen of Two Sisters - Danielle and Lindsay Voeller. So this week I am going to be cooking from it and see how things go.

Tonight: Cozy winter Carrot Soup - pg 65
Thursday: Curried Vegetables over Rice pg. 114
Friday: Calzone Creations pg. 115
Saturday: Warm Dinner Wraps pg. 62
Sunday: all on her own! Happy Mothers Day:-)
Monday: Elegant French Leek Soup pg. 68

This morning I went to Whole foods with all three of my kids...Nearly lost my mind!!! Need to rethink that one:-)

We are getting ready to juice for Rachel now and then I will work on the carrot soup for Rachel and Taco's for the boys and Rob. Need to get some muffins in the oven for the carrot soup...oh! It is so good!!

A good egg substitute..

Reading through my blogs I ran across this good egg substitue - 1 T. vinegar + 1 T. liquid + 1 t. baking powder for each egg. Going to give this a try today when I make Rachel some muffins.

Where have we been this weekend??
Friday - Rachel had a bad day but she was actually able to eat some fruit.
Saturday- got a green smoothie in Rachel:-) Very happy moment for me!!!


Flat bread...sounds good but will have to try it out first.