Waiting

Just to let you all know....
We are still waiting for Toronto to call with the date for surgery or even if they'll definitely do it. We know that they have my information but because the secretary is on holidays we won't hear anything until Jan. 2nd atleast.
Just so you know
Ramona

Well, I'm just sitting around on a Saturday evening and watching Mony clean the house. Give me some credit, atleast I admit it. Anyway, just another note that we appreciate the encouragement and prayers that come from the people that read this blog. We still haven't heard anything from Toronto, which, I guess, is not that big of a suprise. I talked to Joanna on the phone today, it sounds like she has done all the research about the hospital and accomodations out there and those kind of things (for those of you who don't know me, I'm pretty bad at researching)....oh ya...i had mentioned earlier that we were concerned that Ramona's arm was tingling again (the same as when the tumor was big)...we still sometimes wonder what is going on in there...in case people forgot Ramona still has a wound in her armpit from her biopsy in July (looks like a .5 inch long slit)...anyway....I was changing the dressing the other day...and it looked like there was a lot of puss there so i irrigated the wound (stuck a plastic needle into her body and squirted saline into the wound...as i squirted...out gooshed a clump of something...it was like like a tubular 1.25 inch long/.5 inch diameter blob of scrambled eggs covered with vanilla pudding and a hint of dijon mustard (and a neat looking blood vessel or something in there)...it was kind of rubbery...might be dead tumor i guess...anyway...have a good night...earl

Now that we're finally home from our day in Winnipeg, here is the the news. Within the next few days Dr. Wong will send Ramona's CT results to Toronto to be looked at by the surgeons there. This does not guarantee surgery, but as Dr. Wong said, "it's the best possible Christmas gift I could give you". This is all likely to take place in early January. Thank you all incredibly for praying...it's time to head to bed...(the CT report is right in front of me...for those of you who like details there are many more...)
Goodnight (woo hoo),
Earl

Friday morning...about 10 a.m....I phoned Kathy, Dr. Wong's nurse...i got the answering machine...my message went something like this..."we are concerned about Ramona's tumor and are feeling impatient...Ramona has a tingling feeling in her arm like when her tumors were bigger..." ....ten minutes later...Kathy calls me during coffee break..."the CT results are right in front of me...the tumors shrunk...come meet with dr. wong on monday at 11:45 a.m...." needless to say i was absolutely blown away and shrieked (i guess you can ask my co-workers, i'm sure it was more of a manly grunt of joy) in delight and booked it in my little Neon as fast as i could to go tell Mony (she was volunteering at school)........a day later now...it is still encouraging to have good results (although we don't know the details of how good they are)...Ramona's arm still feels like it used to which makes us wonder what's going on with that tumor...we pray we can be in Toronto ASAP...
Learning to trust the God of miracles,
Earl

Tomorrow is the big day! Part of me tries to block it out and yet really I have quite a lot of peace. Somehow I really think that my CT will show that my tumors have shrunk significantly again. I remember the last time that I had a CT, I was lying on the stretcher praying like crazy that it would show good things. And sure enough that test showed that my tumors were responding to the chemo. That was 3 rounds of chemo ago and I'm really hoping for the same result. I have to be in Selkirk by 9:00 but my scan is only at 10:30.
So many are praying and I firmly believe that God is so capable of doing whatever He chooses with that test. Thank you for joining Earl & I in praying.
Just a little side note: Last week I got super excited because my eyebrows are growing back. This week I noticed that my eyelashes were also coming. No they were never all completely gone, but pretty close. My head hair....well I'm getting pretty impatient. I've got more 'fuzz' than I used to but I'm not sure you can call it hair. It's white and the current discussion is if I'm going to have blonde hair or if it'll be brown like before. :) Yesterday in the mall I took off my toque for awhile and Becki, (my sister) did a lookout to see how many people would stare. It doesn't bother me as much as it used to so it really was quite funny.

So now we finally know when my CT will be. Next week Thursday, the 7th, in Selkirk. A week after that we meet Dr. Wong for the results of the CT as well as the Mugga. Earl & I are glad to finally have these dates but we are very disappointed that they're not sooner. We really feel an urgency to move onto the next step. We know that my cancer is an extremely fast growing cancer and what's not to say that my tumors are rapidly growing again??? Earl is spending a lot of time today calling doctors and nurses in Mayo and St. B. to see if this really is the best they can do or if it's wise.....
So that's what we know as of right now. Our prayer is that these tests and the results could happen much quicker so that we can get rid of these tumors the sooner the better.
For now
Ramona

Just a note to say that we don't really have that much to say....we talk to our nurses and they say they are doing what they can to make things happen...we still don't know about the CT scan.........i asked questions about Toronto and surgery and things...she reminded me not to have my cart in front of my horse...i'm not much of a farmer...but i think that means....stay calm...or don't reverse your horse....or something...those nurses really baffle me sometimes...anyway...medically speaking there is still not guarantee of surgery...so we pray and wait...for now....earl

Just a quick little note to let you all know that the Muga Scan went alright. The technician who did my scan gave us a preliminary on the results. (even though she wasn't supposed to) My heart has gotten weaker since the Muga that I had in July. However, it is still within the normal range. I guess now Dr. Wong has to see the results and ......
No info. on the CT. Seems that the waiting list is super long. They've faxed my info to Selkirk, maybe I can get one there sooner.
Thanks again for your prayers
Ramona

Just a confirmation that we are heading to Winnipeg today. Ramona's Mugga Scan (heart test) is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.. And we still don't know when the CT Scan is going to happen. Got to go...Thanx again for praying...earl

Wow. It is encouraging to be on the blog again. In the last couple of weeks I've been moving houses and actually working again...and as we speak I hope my boss isn't online...he thinks i'm sick...(i hope you can tell i'm attempting humor again (this site does not promote lying (even if it helps you get time off work)))...anyway...we are nearing the time to go back to St. Boniface for the tests. We are talking to the nurses and Ramona's heart test has been scheduled (except we don't know when) and the CT and Bone scans are not scheduled (as of yesterday)....soon i'll quite these (stupid) bracket things...thank you so much for praying for us...Ramona and I have struggled with many things in the last few weeks and are thankful for the friends we have that care about us and pray with us and help us refocus on God...Many people have thanked us for being honest on the blog...and ya...honesty is important...important within a relationship...there were times when i would write the blog...and only later people who had been with me at the time realized i was angry....a blog is an easy place to spill many things...and then just go on feeling better (or worse i guess)...blogs don't keep people accountable and they don't really care...i am interacting with a computer right now......all this could be my sermon illustration some day (helpful for me atleast)....if praying feels like blogging...that is a problem...God is very relational.....anyway...i'm going to go hang out with Ramona...we'll try to keep everyone posted on how life is going and specifics to be prayed about and stuff...Ramona and I are going to steinbach this weekend for the Evangelical Mennonite Cup (hockey)....for now...earl (another not funny story in brackets...Ramona and i haven't check our emails for so long we lost all our emails from 2.5 years of dating)...later...earl

Yes, I am now another year older. Twenty-three it is. Thanks to all of you who wished me a Happy Birthday. I can truly say I had a good birthday and I'm super thankful about that.
I know Earl & I have not been faithfully updating the blog. In a way I guess you could say that's a good sign. Nothing too tramatic has happened. I came home from my 5th round of chemo a week ago, Monday. Saturday night I got a fever and consequently spent all of Sunday in emerg. I was devastated as my family had planned to have a family birthday lunch with me that day. However, my family came out the city and celebrated with me in emerg instead. Because my white blood counts were so low I was in isolation, so I had my own room. Earl worked his magic and the nurses let my whole family in the room (but they all had to wear awesome yellow gowns). We had balloons hanging from the IV pole and streamers held up with medical tape. Because we didn't want to alert the fire department we didn't light my candles but instead I just did a fake blow. Even though I hated that I couldn't be at home, it was really special to be able to make the best out of the situation.
Monday morning at 7:30, Dr. Wong entered my room with some hopeful news. He had been at a meeting in Prague over the weekend and had talked to a sarcoma expert. He talked to a surgeon from Toronto who has agreed to do my surgeries for me IF the CT scan shows that my tumors have shrunk some more. I asked if we would continue with more chemo if the tumors showed that they'd shrunk and Dr. Wong said, "No". I'm excited and yet I know that Dr. Wong seems to change his mind all the time and so I'm holding on to a glimmer of hope. The next 2 1/2 weeks need to be filled with lots of prayer that the tumors have shrunk significantly again. And I remind myself that why not pray radically that the scans show that the tumors have disappeared and that surgery isn't even necessary. I can see my tumors every day and so sometimes I think that it's not possible that the CT could show that they're gone, but I know that God could make them disappear any second. Whatever His plan is, I pray that it will be done.
So that's an update again. I hope to head off to the school where Earl's dad is principal and see if I can help him out with some stuff. I'm hoping to do some of that in the next few weeks.
Thanks again for your prayers
Ramona

It's Monday morning and time to leave the hospital......almost...last night we were praying that Ramona's hemoglobin would rise above 90...it was 88 yesterday...instead of going up by 2 it dropped 2 and her hemoglobin is 86 meaning she needs to stay here for a blood transfusion...the blood should be here by about 10:00 or 10:30 and then she'll have it all in her by about supper time and then...we're good to go...yes we were definitely at the Franklin Graham Festival last night...the volume and passion of the worship really makes a person wonder how awesome heaven will be...we enjoyed Casting Crowns alot...as it is for so many other people...the song 'Praise you in the Storm' is really special...we didn't realize until a few days ago that the song was written for a girl that had a Sarcoma...Ramona also had to drink a medicine that she usually gets in IV form...it says on the label to drink with a cola and one nurse told us that it smells like a mixture of urine and ammonia...anyway...it actually worked fine...and it was perfect that Wayne and Essie Herrod were right there praying for Mony as she was drinking her Mesna...our nurses and the Franklin Graham staff were really good in making the details of the little trip work....our 4 week break starts tonight...and as much as it seems like a break...it's not alot of fun to wait...i'm not sure how to explain it...we need to pray harder than ever...and we wish we could be physically doing something to fight cancer.............i guess the summary is that we're learning what it means to trust....later...earl

Ramona and I are sitting here at the kiosk watching our time and money slip away...wondering what we should be writing...this round of chemo has been "much like last round"...meaning that the nausea effects sure aren't fun...but they are bearable...Ramona is telling me now that the biggest thing for her is her attitude (imagine that...Ramona having an attitude)...okay....apparently if i am going to write all this i have to explain it...so never mind...all this to say that being here isn't exactly fun...we have the name for the cancer (thanks to the Mayo Clinic)...unfortunately i can't remember it...in english it is officially now a muscle sarcoma...it doesn't change much...it shows that dr. wong's 'guess' at the beginning to decide which treatment to use was the right decision...we really appreciate the people who stopped by this week...it makes it alot more 'fun' to be here...this week has been a big reminder...if you think you have any hope in this world placed anywhere but God...you are sure to be disappointed...thanks so much for praying....and if you're thinking of visiting on Sunday afternoon...you'll have to come to the MTS Centre...we're going to go see big Franky and Casting Crowns...(Ramona has a three hour pass between her bags of Mesna)...
With love, Sincerely, Yours Truly,
Earl and Ramona

we're back...and no...being in the hospital isn't that much easier than it was any other time...this is the beginning of round 5 of chemo...and we finally got to talk to Dr. Wong after his long vacation...the plan is to finish this round and then take a 4 week break...after that 4 week break we would do alot of testing to see what happens from there...they would need to do a heart test since the major side effect of doxyrubicin is heart damage...also at that point they would do more CT scans to see how the tumors are shrinking...if the chemo is still significantly shrinking the tumors...more chemo will be done, but a incredibly nauseating heart protecting drug will be added...i imagine if the tumors aren't responding anymore we would try a new approach...as dr. wong put it...surgery would still be a radical approach...for a little while, with that last positive CT scan, we almost forgot that God is ultimately in control of Ramona's health...this definitely reminds us again......anyway...chemo starts in about 20 minutes...thanks so much for praying...

For now,
Earl and Ramona

Uncle Ray & myself at the marathon. Uncle Ray is the one who organized the event and put countless hours into it. Thank you! 

Hey
For all of you who are wondering how I'm doing, here's a quick update. I am feeling really well and have a lot more energy than I have had in awhile. There are times when I almost feel 'normal' again. I love it. Yesterday I baked cookies for the first time in over 3 months and the day before that I helped my mom make pizza sauce. I'm absolutely loving feeling this good and at the same time trying to block out next week.
Thanks again for all your prayers, support and comments
Ramona

We're experimenting with pictures again, trying to make this all work...here goes.

This is us on Oct. 9, 2006 

We are having all kinds of trouble with the blog today...so if you are reading this...feel blessed...anyway...we were presented with the money from the tournament last night...and we were absolutely blown away......once again a giant thank-you to the hundreds of generous people out there...there are many stories coming out of this tournament of how God is working....once we figure out how all this computer stuff works we have all kinds of pictures from the tournament and from life in general....a quick answer to prayer today was the visit to emergency...about a week ago when i was packing Ramona's biopsy wound...a fuzzy cotton ball from the end of a Q-tip stayed stuck inside her somewhere...we were wondering all last weekend when this would get infected and cause all kinds of problems...we were encouraged by nurses to go to emerge as soon as possible but since we were trying to stay out of emerge this weekend we waited until today...we were expecting this to be a gruesome experience fishing around for a little cotton ball inside a wound that gets redressed every day.....and who knows how mushed up it would get inside a person's body for a week...anyway...today was the shortest emergency time yet...in a matter of minutes the doctor pulled out the cotton ball...still in the tear drop shape it has on a Q-tip.........in other news we saw dr. wong today...we have been waiting to ask him all kinds of questions about ramona's future......we saw he was wearing a purple shirt and he looked pretty frantic first day after coming back from holidays...there was no verbal communication...we'll try to snag him some time soon...thanksgiving supper at Grandma and grandpa's in 11 minutes...got to go
Keep looking to the Creator of the universe for inspiration,
Earl

it's been a pretty incredible weekend...the only time Ramona has been in emergency this weekend was to escort me to get my face glued back together (only a minor hockey injury)...obviously that hits the top of the list of things we are thankful for....Ramona isn't nearly perfectly healthy and this is actually a pretty tedious stage in chemotherapy...tiredness, mouthsores, stomach/esophagus pain...and stuff like that...but it is still awesome not to need to be in emerge...the hockey tournament this weekend was a surreal time...and a huge thank-you to Ray and Lori and the Petkau family for putting it together...i haven't been on the friendsoframona site since the tournament but i hope pictures and details are posted there....there are so many little special things that happened it almost brought me to tears sometimes....they deserve personal time...not a random/general blog thankyou...thanks so much for praying
-earl

i kept saying to everyone this week...unless something goes wrong we will definitely be out Monday morning...monday morning has come and gone...Ramona is in the process of beginning her transfusion as we speak...the doctor assured us this is 'normal'...chemo is not good for your bone marrow...so she'll get two units of blood we should be out of here in the evening sometime...my apologies for making everyone think i was frightened...sometimes it overwhelms me how many people read this...i know the world is looking for a feel good story and sometimes Ramona and I just don't feel good.....and we just want to be rude and we are rude and so many things that don't translate into a feel good story...we are thankful for a loving, forgiving God and so many good friends...this has been one of the most encouraging weeks for us with the many good chats we've had with people coming to visit...thanks so much....i am sitting here actually amazed why God chooses to use normal humans and why He would love us....i remember saying to my dad that i had blown my chance to connect with Ramona's roommate's husband...he, in my opinion is loud and rude to his wife and us and nurses...etc...this morning i was fairly direct and rude with him...and I Cor. 13 was running through my mind...and there are some thoughts on rudeness in there......i just wrote him a little note apologizing...i...don't know what to say...i met him now on my way down to the computers and he was broken up and telling me how his wife of 55 years is now dying of cancer...he only found out in the last day or two...and in Mony's guess she has a week or two to live....it is so incredibly hard not to let my our own rights...rights to quietness, fast nursing ....get in the way of opportunities to be a shining light
Keep fighting out there,
oh ya...James and Adrianna commented on the blog...so that is their names...keep praying for them...
Earl

Honestly, I'm almost sitting here in hospital shaking as I write this....and don't be frightened...it has nothing to do with Ramona's health...she is sleeping right now...and we just finished having a rather pleasant afternoon chat outside with Corey and Melissa Plett...one thing Ramona mentioned after the chat was just realizing how huge the mental aspect of cancer is....physically Mony is feeling sick from chemo...but decent considering the circumstances...and as I'm rambling...the main thing Mony said I should mention while I'm blogging is to thank everyone for praying about her anxiety...God has blessed Mony with amazing...peace...this round...relative to last round.......i'm just trying to think how to word this...but I'm once again realizing how huge a factor a person's faith is in times of sickness...two of our friends here in the hospital have been on our minds quite a bit...down the hall from us there is a newly married couple....i didn't ask them if i could write about them on the blog...but they are intense Christians and their news seems more hopeless than ours...she was having seizures from the cancer in her brain...even without their names you can pray for them...they were a huge encouragement to us...and looking back on this week we are incredibly thankful for the friends and family we have...we are excessively blessed...i'm excited about playing hockey in Mitchell and frankly blown away by what Ray and everyone are doing...and i guess i rambled and I have no time to explain why i was frightened.....so i'll explain later...i'm just blown away...by how much exposure our random thoughts have
Keep going nuts,
Earl Petkau (only funny for those who read the sun)

just a note...we were incredibly encouraged by the people that stopped by last night...Ramona and I are sitting here in the Atrium of the St. Boniface hospital...having just finished breakfast...day 2 of chemo begins in a few minutes......Ramona isn't feeling "too horrible"...we're still plugging away...

okay, they started the first bag of chemo a few minutes ago...Ramona and i were going to watch the Mother Teresa movie together...but Mony is sleeping now...so i came down to write...as far as the ultrasound is concerned...i don't know what is dead tumor and what is infection...the part that is infection they think they can have under control by the time her counts are down again...so the chemo begins...all the nurses tell us to expect delays and all sorts of 'complications' at this point in chemo...essentially we should throw the chemo 'schedule' out the window...anyway...i was telling Mony a story of what happened to me and she thought it would make good comic relief on the blog...so here goes...

Beware of the Crazy ST. Boniface People :)
Yesterday Rick and Elaine and their 5 year old daughter Robin(my uncle and aunt) visited us (which was awesome). Just to hang out I walked with them to the Louis Riel park/tomb/church close to the hospital. Now, as we were walking back to the hospital, Rick picked up Robin and carried her on his shoulders just so we could walk the same speed. For no reason in particular a guy walking behind us mentioned, "your daughter's butt is hanging out". Which in and of itself is a small problem...whatever...but he thought it needed to be mentioned and we weren't sure if he was joking around or what...so i stopped and making sure i was catching his point i asked him to repeat himself...this time more vehemently he repeat that this little girl was immodest and her parents were perverted...etc...by this time he was right beside us and it seemed apparent that this was a big deal to him...so i came beside the man and was trying to usher him by us and i mentioned to him that he could keep walking by...my hand touched his back and instantaneously he turned and kicked me in the stomach...needless to say i was a little thrown off...there was no more physical contact...which seemed wise at this point since the combined weight of Rick and myself was about 3 times his weight...anyway...at this point his side of the conversation consisted mostly of words that aren't worth repeating and not fit for family radio...apparently that slight contact on my part insinuated that i may be confused on the type of gender i choose to love...also...we were all cowards...and speaking directly to Robin...your parents are from Satan...and as he was walking away from us...unfortunately i couldn't stop smiling and so...he shared with me that if i didn't stop smiling he'd find me and he'd have a knife next time...so anyway that was our pleasant walk in the park......

on a completely different note...i was really encourage from reading 'the purpose driven life' today...i often forget that the main thing God desires is a relationship with us...he doesn't love us because of what we do...He just loves us...be encouraged...and have and awesome day...earl

Good morning...back at the hospital here it looks like chemo will be underway anytime...Ramona's dressing is being done right now...the hydration will start...then the chemo starts pouring in a few hours...Ramona looks as good as healthy as I've ever seen her in the hospital...it was hard for her to hear they were going to make her sick again...for now...earl

They just finished Ramona's ultrasound...either she has a lot of infection...or there is dead tumor...they don't know...while we wait...they'll give her a transfusion...likely chemo will start tomorrow...pray that it is dead tumor and not infection...and by the way...we have had a really awesome day in spite of all this...thank you so much for praying...earl

We're back home at St. Boniface...I've been impressed how Ramona is handling all the delays that they are throwing at us...i was going to write a long list...but i'll save that for some other day...right now...Ramona is waiting for an ultrasound to see how bad her biopsy wound infection is...we think it should be good enough to get some antibiotics and continue with chemo...but apparently we're not doctors...we're actually thankful that they take things seriously...so chemo is on hold right now...also...Ramona's hemoglobin is low again so they will be doing a transfusion in the afternoon...after they take the TPA out of her formerly plugged PICC line........anyway...that's the medical story for now.........to be continued...
Keep up the good fight,
Earl

Hey everybody
Well in about half an hour Earl & I are off to the city to begin my 4th round of chemo. Chemo won't actually start today but the bloodwork and hydration does. To put it quite simply and honestly, this is something that I am dreading immensely. The last few days have been truly amazing. I have been so incredibly healthy. Many times it has felt like 'the good old times'. Not only have I felt good physically but my spirit seemed happier than it had in a while. And yet there are times when it all hits me and the only way to describe my emotions is that I am sad. Somehow feeling so good makes it so hard to go to a hospital and be stuck on my ward and get sick. However I know that it's the only way and praise God that we know chemo is working. One of the biggest fears that I have for this round is that I will get anxious like I did last round. I have decided to refuse the drugs that make me anxious and rather deal with the nausea. I guess I'm writing this to ask all of you to pray that God would keep the anxiety away. It means so much to me that I know that I can tell you this and so, so many people will be praying. Thank you
Well Earl has cooked up a delicious brunch so I'll go
Ramona

Wow, a blog! This is cool.

Wow, a blog! This is cool.

Hello from Steinbach!

This is Ramona's Uncle Ray with some info about a new website and an upcoming fundraiser.

The fundraiser, Friends of Ramona 24 Hour Hockey Marathon, will be in Mitchell Manitoba beginning Friday Oct 6 at 7pm and ending Saturday Oct 7 at 7:45 pm. This is a recreational level hockey event that will require at least 100 players over the 24 hours. We have been asking local businesses and individuals to sponsor this event for the last few weeks, and now we are asking all blog readers to join us in making this event a huge success. We have been working on this for some time now, but we need many more players and we need many more sponsors to help reach our fundraising goal.

Players are asked to pay (or raise the amount in pledges) an entry fee of $50 each to play up to 10 hours over the course of the event. Players who raise $100 or more will keep the commemorative Friends of Ramona hockey jersey. Entry deadline is October 2, so don't delay!

We are asking businesses to sponsor the event (businesses may use this as an advertising expense) and individuals to donate to the event. We are expecting this to be a fairly large scale event with local news, radio and newspaper coverage. All profits raised will be forwarded to Ramona Reimer Trust Fund, and as previously determined, in the event that we raise more than needed for this cause the remaining money would be donated to Cancer Research in Canada.

The Player entry form as well as the Donation/Sponsor form is now available on the new website, www.friendsoframona.com.

The website, www.friendsoframona.com will be up in full very shortly. Limited info is on the site now but it should be complete sometime this weekend, so keep checking back! The site will be your primary source for fundraising information (dates, times, forms, pictures, contact info etc.)

The organizing group for this event is Ramona's family in the Steinbach area (Petkau Grandma, her Children and Grandchildren). We have come together for "brainstorming sessions" as a big group and numerous small "coffee time" meetings as well. We are all looking forward to a great celebration of what God is doing in the lives of Earl and Ramona and so many others as a result. We hope you will join us in anticipation of Ramona's healing.

Your involvement as a business sponsor, individual donor, player, referee, volunteer or spectator is greatly appreciated. Please contact us with any questions.

Ray Petkau
204-326-6201 home/office
204-371-9146 cell
rpetkau@mts.net

Since we last wrote we have spent two mornings in the Arborg Hospital. And Ramona still has the same amount of blood as before. The first morning was a wee bit frustrating...Apparently Greyhound was supposed to drop off the blood in Arborg...instead they missed the drop off and the blood travelled safely back to Winnipeg...and so the blood went back to the blood bank got re-packed and sent to Arborg via another route and this time arrived safely in Arborg this morning...by this point in life Mony is feeling quite a bit better so a blood count was done again to see if Ramona really needed the transfusion...to make a long confusing time short and to the point Ramona doesn't need the transfusion anymore...so we left...and another thing...her white blood cell count is 17.3...wow...that really scared the doctor(until he found out that Ramona is taking Neupogen which is a drug that help the white blood cells)...so ya...we continue on with life...thank you so much for the encouragement...it helps us retain our focus...earl (and mony is laying right beside me here)

Well we're sitting on our couch at home after a fairly eventful weekend. Friday night after celebrating my dad's birthday at my parent's house Ramona had a fever, and we headed straight to st. b. Ramona spent the night in emerge with everything relatively under control but on some pretty intense antibiotics. Saturday was a day of waiting for the oncologist in emerge...at around 4 o'clock they discharged Ramona...and at relatively the same time Ramona started feeling a little worse...we weren't even sure we should bother coming home, but we did.....on Sunday afternoon while I was playing hockey in Gimli with the boys...Ramona had a fever again and her parents took her to st. boniface...by midnight they discharged her and we went to the Norwood hotel expecting a blood transfusion this morning...for those of you interested in numbers...on Friday Ramona's white blood count was 0.4 and by Sunday night it was 1.3...non-chemo humans would have numbers ranging from 4.5 to 11...anyway...the transfusion didn't happen today...but we're expecting it to happen tomorrow morning in Arborg.....in many ways it feels like the spiritual battle is increasing...this is fully into chemo with all the pains and side effects...the novelty of excitedly becoming healthy is different when there is such a realization that the chemicals will be flowing in again right away bringing in a fresh wave of pain.....on a slightly different note...when Mony and I write our book when we're 90 years old...it will have a few really long chapters about relationships with family/friends/each other/strangers/medical professionals/and God....but i'm not 90 yet...i'll quit writing...earl

A picture

This is us on December 3, 2005. 

I guess we haven't posted much in the last few days...which is a combination of a few things...first of all...Ramona has been feeling significantly better in the last few days...there was no wheelchair needed to get out of the hospital on Monday...and things at home have been.......fairly normal....i guess...We keep in touch with the hospital staff...and visit local hospitals...but that is the definition of normal...Ramona has been helping out my dad in school here a bit and helping her sisters do homework...and things like that...i have been helping the housemovers with a few local moves in the last two days.....sometimes it's nice to act like the cancer doesn't exist for just a little bit...everything on the blog feels like it is cancer related and that sometimes makes it hard to write...at the same time...when life is intense...it is incredibly encouraging to realize how many people are praying on our behalf...and this blog is a nice connecting point....keep praying hard...there is still minor infections and a a slight cold in Ramona's body...at any point this may become a serious problem and we will be in St. B......Ramona and I have been reading in the book 'Purpose Driven Life' by Rick Warren recently...It is once again so good to put things in perspective...that book is written with eternity in mind...instead of trying to sum up that book i think i should go rest beside my wife soon...earl

Good morning...we may or may not be attending mass here at St. B this morning...actually...while i'm trying to joke around here i should check how many different kinds of a Christian a person can be in this hospital...anyway...things seem to be going quite well here...Ramona has yet to vomit this round...the worst thing seems to be a sort of drug induced anxiety...it's pretty intense at times...Ramona really needs to be the one to explain what it feels like...we also both have colds at this point...if Ramona still has it in a week...that will not be a good thing...everything seems to be on pace for us to be out of here on Monday morning...also...i had written a long update the other night while i was in deep thinking mood...i read it over and realized i couldn't publish it...there has been some learning about God in the last few days...later...earl

I guess we were in for a little suprise again today. After Ramona and I were outside we came back to the ward for what we thought would be a little surgery to remove potential infection from the site of her biopsy wound. It turns out that they put her under for surgery, but on the bright side they found little/no infection...what may cause pain in the wound is that the tumor is dying and the dead cells in the middle of the tumor have no where to go...essentially what this little surgery did was make the wound bigger and raw again so that it can heal faster...a dying tumor i would say is a 'good' reason for pain...I haven't talked to Dr. Wong alot since we heard about the CT Scans...Ramona's day nurse-Michelle- told us that Dr. Wong was starting to mention the idea of surgery...this is quite something from the doctor who said this was incurable and that surgery was not an option unless they thought they could get everything....praise God...I'm going to go get some sleep...earl

just a quick note...we are downstairs in the hospital reading the comments now...it is a huge encouragement for us...we'll head outside and get some fresh air before Ramona's freedom is over...i'll fill in life's details later...earl

!!!!!!!!!!!

Hugs all around....We definitely heard some exciting news today...they suprised us with a CT Scan today...the scan shows that the lung and auxilla (armpit) tumors have shrunk significantly...this is a giant answer to prayer....our doctor told us we aren't nearly out of the woods yet...but this is incredibly significant...i can see a mess of medical information floating around out of news like this so i will keep things vague until i have a clear picture of what this all means...for now...the chemo continues...they have reduced the chemo because Ramona has had serious infection both times after treatment......anyway....keep praying hard...i have been hit with something lately as well...focus on your relationship with God...He isn't just a giant vending machine that gives us things when he feels like it...also...as far as visiting here is concerned...pretend this is our house...to party hard every night makes people tired...but it sure is boring alone...since july 4 we have spent 24 nights at home and 21 in the hospital...anyway...it's hard to know how to sum up everything with one toonie in a kiosk...we just thank God for the way he showed Himself today...earl

We just want to praise God for the wedding yesterday...already in the first round of chemo we had the invitation to Reg & Ang's wedding posted on the wall of Ramona's room as a motivation for Ramona to get out of the hospital...and after the second round now it was Ramona's goal to be at the wedding and to eat all the wedding food...and honestly...a week ago when she was in emergency and hadn't eaten properly in about 5 days...it seemed unlikely...yesterday....we were at the wedding...Ramona was healthy enough to be candlelighter and to help with other wedding things and she ate alot of food (including the delicious cheesecake my mom made)...wow...in other, but related news Ramona also received some new hair...not only does it look amazing, but it provides a great way to frighten unsuspecting people...all joking around aside...the last week has posed interesting questions for me/us...i think about the blog/everyone praying/our church/myself/cancer/healing etc...and i wonder what is missing...God has chosen not to heal Ramona yet....there are many people praying...do we know how to pray?...i was tempted to ask everyone i knew to fast and pray for 3 days before the big CT Scan that is coming up in 10ish days...but something doesn't seem right...for myself i feel like i don't even have a clue who I'm talking to...i'll just spend three days begging an impersonal force to heal my wife.....the cliche of making my relationship with God #1 is my big question of late...what does that look like?...who is God?...I threw some of these comments at Al Friesen the other night...he told me to show up at church on Sunday because he was speaking on these type of questions...it's time to go change Ramona's dressing and get ready to head to church...for now...earl

Hey everyone
Just a really quick note to let you all know that I am home once again. I am feeling a lot better but am still having a bit of difficulty eating and drinking. Today, however, is much better than yesterday so thank God for that! I am hoping to help my cousin Ang with some wedding prep this afternoon. Totally looking forward to hopefully being able to do something instead of lying in a hospital bed.
Thanks again so much for your prayers
Ramona

I'm actually in the university right now showing my brother where the free computers are...Ramona is with her mom and brothers at the hospital...anyway...we come home tommorow...it was an incredibly hard morning for Ramona to realize she would have to be here another day...but she seems to be enjoying life a little more now...physically, she still has a little pain in her throat, but everything in general is good...due to the blood transfusion she has alot more energy....much more to say...but last night i once again realized how incredibly powerful Ramona's testimony is...the peace and hope of a 22 year old with cancer is jarring/fascinating for anyone thinking about the purpose of life.....my lunch is ready...later...earl

right now my mom and ramona are talking about cheesecake recipes so i decided to blog...today was a bit of a waiting day...the blood transfusion that was supposed to be starting quite a while ago just started...everything involving infections and low blood counts seems to be under control...just a matter of waiting and dealing with things until ramona is actually healthy enough to leave the hospital....yesterday they told us it would be probably be wednesday...ramona's intense pain seems to be getting better...she only had morphine twice today (if i remember correctly).....i guess that covers some facts...i think i'm out of money for my kiosk machine here again...for now...earl

Well, lets deal with some facts first, before we get carried away with anything else. Friday morning, Ramona is a feeling sick, but I talked her into coming to Hodgson with me to pick up some antibiotics. On the way there she threw up. We had planned to eat breakfast together, but honestly I don't think she has kept any food down since then. Anyway, by Friday afternoon, since Ramona couldn't drink, we decided to head to the Arborg hospital to get an IV and hopefully find a cure for the heartburn that we causing her incredible pain and keeping her from eating and drinking. We stayed in Arborg from about 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Ramona got fluids, but even in the hospital kept throwing up. The heartburn medication doesn't seem to bring any relief. Anyway, a big thank you to the Arborg staff. You guys are amazing. Whatever the case, we went home and spent the night at home. Ramona's chest kept hurting more and she would randomly just throw up. All the medication felt useless and we were both emotionally shot. And ended up praying a few times within the night that God would wake up other people to pray. By about quarter to 6 this morning we called Dr. Wong and he encouraged us to come into emergency because of Ramona's pain and her temperature was 38.9 C. I had this funny feeling just to wait a bit to see if the fever would go down before we jumped up and headed to emerge....I don't know why but by 6:24 her fever was down to about 37.7...and Ramona's pain had gone away....and we wondered if God was pulling a little miracle here or what....unfortunately by about 8:30 the pain was back...by around 10:30 we really needed to see if this was really heartburn or what the pain was, so we sped off to St. Boniface. Ramona has now been in St. B emergency for 12 hours. They are treating this "heartburn" as an esophagus infection right now...she requires morphine to sleep. Please pray hard. Her parents are staying with her for the night. I am at Al and Laura's house again.
Here is the good news. By far the most exciting thing for us (especially Ramona) was that Ramona's uncle Henry came to visit. This is a giant answer to prayer. If you read our previous blogs we were really hoping certain people would come to Christ through this cancer. Uncle Henry is one of those people. He said he would come visit again. While you're praying for a miracle in Ramona's life, please pray for Henry as well.

As I'm holding my wife's head while she vomits and writhes in pain, I sometimes think about this loving God that we worship.........................................you know, I'm just going to leave that comment hanging...I think we've only seen the tip of the iceberg in how God will use Ramona's cancer..............thankyou for those comments of God's power...we hope to share more stories of our own too....in closing a quote from I Thessalonians 5:17 (New Living Translation) "Keep on Praying."
Goodnight,
Earl

I've been procrastinating blogging for a few days now. I'm really not sure what to write. I scared me a bit the other day when I heard just how many people are reading this. In these last few days at home I've had so many thoughts and questions about life I can't even begin to put them to words. And I wish that I had some huge revelation of great things to share with the world....We look around us and wonder what is happening...we miss the spiritual intensity of camp...there is very little novelty left in dealing with chemo side effects....yesterday evening i was asking Mony how she was feeling....and she asked me relative to what...apparently relatively to the 4th day of the actual treatment she was fine. this morning things are still getting worse though....the heartburn is increasing making it incredibly hard to eat or drink...she threw up once this morning already...i guess as she is trying to sleep right now...i need to send out a big request for prayer...and another thing...if God has done powerful things in your life in the last day or two...let us know...it feels like we often need reminders of Gods strength...when Ramona is feeling good it is easy to credit that to prayer...when she is feeling rough....who do we credit???...the medical update is that in about 2.5 weeks we will find out if the tumors have shrunk...until then we wait and pray....in the next 2 or 3 days here is when Ramona's white blood count drops to almost 0...likelyhood of spending some time in the hospital increases...
-earl

Well good evening. The rumors flying around me seem to say that I miscommunicated a little bit with my comment about seeking medical information. It's not that we need more ideas, I was trying to hint that well-researched/proven ideas would be appreciated on the phone, It is more helpful than just posting anonomous random information. One of the frustrations for us is that there seem to be so many things that are just designed to make money off of cancer patients. Thanks so much for all the prayers and the encouragement. It feels like it has been a long day. I think I'll go crash. Later, Earl

I'm home!!!! I'm so totally home and out of the hospital. I'm so ecstatic to finally be able to be home again. This round of chemo overall was a lot easier for me. Physically it is was easier, mentally not so much.Right now however, I am not feeling super, super good. I'm still deeling with some stomach pains. And yet, I am home and am so grateful. Thanks so so much for all your encouragement. After not reading the blog for a few days and now being able to again is so refreshing. Thank you.
Ramona

in some ways it's hard to blog...it feels like we're repeating the same things over and over...but when i look at Mony lying in her bed, i realize that that is kinda where it is at...the moment we lose focus on God this all becomes discouraging...Ramona is just done her last bag of chemo, but just to finish off the other medication, it'll be Monday by the time we are out...our families are amazing...everyone is in Winnipeg today, Ramona's parents were here for the night last night....i really want to give specific information...but i feel to gittery to sit here....keep praying for Mony...she seems a little discouraged sometimes, but then people ask her about big picture dreams, and she is incredibly hopeful. She is a beautiful woman with a beautiful faith.....one last comment before i'm off...if you have medical advice for us...please use the phone...later...earl

........usually words come to me instantly but this morning...i have this horrible sensation i won't be able to sum everything up....We give so much credit to God...and Ramona keeps talking about how many people are praying for her......thanks again so much...this morning was rough in some ways...we went outside for a second but Ramona is more sick and more tired today...although if you see her for only 15 minutes you might not notice...............................it's just weird for me to sum up because it's a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for me when Mony is throwing up.........pray that Mony stays optimistic for the next few days here...we're almost out of prison...i was so excited last night...it scares me to think that the tumors might not shrink...but from my perspective they look smaller....this is no medical proof...i'm not sure when they will do the next ct scans...but for me it is exciting to think of the possibilities.........
Keep worshiping the Creator,
Earl

Weird. We're just kinda sitting around waiting for something exciting to happen. Ramona keeps talking about how due to people's praying she feels better. She hasn't thrown up all day. This definitely leads to sitting around and dreaming of being healed and wondering how God is going to do this all.....we have only begun to see how God is going to glorify Himself....I want to write something here about being obedient to Christ but I don't know how it fits into this blog...Ramona and I have just taken note lately about how God uses people that obey Christ instantly (check out the first few chapters of Matthew)....for now...earl

I really shouldn't be on the internet right now. It's pretty amazing for us. Up until this afternoon/evening i've told everyone that I would be sleeping in a chair next to Mony from tonight on. We both expected that she would be throwing up and kinda out of it by tonight...continue to thank God that Mony is feeling good enough that she's fine for the night...she is still feeling....sick...i guess...only those who have gone through chemo will understand how she feels...I came to Al and Laura's so I could get a bit of sleep.......so i guess I'll go sleep...but we've been really blest with visitors...enough people dropping by to keep from getting bored...but we're not overwhelmed...Mony seems to be alot wiser in knowing how to deal with chemo...other than the obvious physical prayer requests...Mony and I seem to have innumerable opportunities to talk about a God that gives hope...pray for that too...good night y'all....earl

Hey just a quick note telling you all that Ramona and I are sitting together on the main floor right now reading comments. Praise God that Mony feels this well. The comments are incredibly encouraging (one thing, make sure you leave some way to identify yourself in case we know someone else with the same first name). We're going to go outside for a few minutes before they have to hook up the chemo again.

Keep going nuts,
Earl AND RAMONA!!!!

They'll be plugging in the chemo any minute now...I was getting a little gittery so i came downstairs while Ramona's dressing is being done...Everything was so crazy last time...so many tests the first day...so many unknowns...and now Ramona is pretty much telling the nurses what to do...for myself i was so glad to spend the night at Al and Laura Friesens's again...it is incredibly refreshing and encouraging to chat with Al. Ramona is waiting to get the chemo done as fast as possible to get out and healthy for Ang's wedding. It feels kinda weird for me to be in St. B and not be frantic. Ramona is feeling much healthier right now than she did when she came in for chemo last time. Pray that it translates into a much better feeling chemo treatment as well. ...I can't remember if i wrote about it previously or not but i'm a little to lazy to look back...I have been thinking about the song 'Blessed be Your Name' by Matt Redman. I was driving home from somewhere and listening to and kinda pondering the song. The line 'my heart will chose to say' is very interesting for me. The song itself is an incredibly emotion filled song. It is a perfect Christian 'feel good' song for lack of better word. And I was thinking exactly about how that fits together, the idea of energetically living a life praising God but also simply choosing to praise God when everything sucks.....and then I got home and and it almost scared me...Ramona unwrapped a gift that I was supposed to bring home and it was the book 'Blessed be your Name' written by matt and beth redman......anyway keep praying hard and going nuts everyone...out of time on kiosk again...later...earl

Ramona and I are back to the St. B internet kiosk. The emotions that hit us back in this place are.......not exactly the most pleasant. Now instead of being 2 bed 2 Ramona is 46 bed 2. That is about the extent of the new excitement around here. I'm trying to think how to sum up the last few days....The volleyball fundraiser happened...i had alot of fun playing...Ramona got to hang out with the crowds for a while...and thankyou all incredibly much for the donations...umm...on Sunday we kinda hung out with family for the day...on Monday we had an interview with Cindy McKay of the Interlake Spectator. We hope really hope God uses that. We came to the Peg last night and for our romantic date I got to shave Mony's head...Today Ramona had her PET scan which essentially is a experimental better scan than a CT scan. After the scan we finished our date with $14 worth of cheesecake. and now we are in the hospital...for another week of chemo...it honestly feels like prison here...we know how to act happy and we know how to write blogs that would sound really exciting so everyone would be really happy and really encouraged...but sometimes we just sit and ask why...thankyou for continuing to pray...we know God has stupendous plans in place..............................i guess to save money in the kiosk we'll call it a night...

for now,
earl and ramona

Another Night in the Hospital

Yeah, so I have this wound in my left underarm from the incisional biopsy that I had done over a month ago. I guess it's been getting deeper, (approx. 3 inches) and looking pussier and overall not very good in the last few days. Since I'm starting chemo again on Tuesday, I'm obviously trying to get my body as healthy as possible until then. Somehow an infection doesn't seem like a good idea. So yesterday we called my doctor and were told to come in and get it looked at and get a swab taken.
So last night after hanging around at Earl's parents for the evening we headed off to St. B. We had to wait a few hours but things went well and we're home again and Earl is now getting my prescription filled. Hopefully this antibiotic will fight whatever kind of infection I have.
That I guess kind of sums up what is going on medically. Physically I feel really good. The thought of going in for chemo next week is something that I am really dreading. It's hard when I feel so good now only to go to the hospital and feel horrible there.
One of the biggest emotional battles I'm facing now is loosing my hair. I got it cut really short a few days ago to make the loss easier. It really helped but my head is starting to look really patchy so I think Earl will probably shave it off for me just before I go in on Tuesday. I thank God that He doesn't just carry us and help with 'big' battles but He totally and completely cares about the tiny things that we go through.
Today the community is having a volleyball tournament fundraiser for Earl & myself. Earl & I are hoping to head out there today and Earl is joining a team. How do you thank people for all that they're doing? How do I hang around with all these people that came out just to show that they care? How does a person accept that? These are some of the questions I ponder.

So, I guess we haven't technically written on the blog that we're home. ya...we're home...I'm going to try to keep this short....Mony and I spent a day apart for the first time in a long time...i went to go move houses and Mony hung out with Becki and her mom and all those sorts of things....it was fun, in a way, for us to do something different so we have new things to chat about....anyway...it's incredibly encouraging for us to read the comments...there is so much focus on the greatness of God...and that encouragement is so fitting...just a huge thankyou to the people doing fundraisers...and so many people still praying...there are many things I want to write....but i have a date....talk to ya'll later....earl

Well, right now I'm lying in the motel bed in Fargo quickly giving an update before we leave. Yes, Earl & I should arrive home sometime today. In some ways I'm really glad about that and in other ways I wish that Mayo would have had some grand solution that would have forced us to stay out there.
Anyway, the thing on my mind to pray about is that the tumors shrink. God can totally prove the doctors wrong with their statistics.
Thanks for your prayers,
Ramona

We're in Fargo for the night. Ramona's comment right now is "i'm tired and my head hurts". I feel like sleeping too. Goodnight Y'all.

If you're looking for big medical news today is the day to read the blog. Well....sort of. At 6:40 this morning we arrived at the Mayo Clinic. Honestly, it felt like we were walking into an airport. Mayo is quite a bit different than St. Boniface. Anyway, Ramona had a few X-rays and blood tests first thing in the morning and that would be all for actual testing. The rest of the day was spent talking to different doctors and looking at the information from Winnipeg with those doctors. And this is where we put in a plug for Winnipeg. Mayo can't really do much more for Ramona than Winnipeg. First step is to see how the Sarcoma responds to standard chemo (what we're doing). Statistically there is a 24% chance that the tumors will shrink. Winnipeg could not differentiate what type of Sarcoma Ramona has, but now Mayo will try (the little pieces of Mony's body should be shipped down here shortly). Unfortunately, the information specifying the Sarcoma will only do a little bit of good. The type of treatment does not change. From what we know, it only changes the likelyhood of the chemo being effective on whatever type of cancer it is. Here is the interesting challenge. Ideally, Ramona will still have an operation after chemo and then they will remove the shrunken tumors and all will be well. They are still making it sound like a long shot. Ramona will only be a good candidate for surgery if she has an incredible desire to get well (and of course, the tumors have shrunk). I'm so thankful she is such a determined person. On another note, she is starting to lose her hair. This is obviously rough. She is an amazingly beautiful woman.......I wish I could kiss away the pain of losing hair, but it's probably not that simple (I'll try though). I guess it's time to start dealing with wigs.
While sitting in the Mayo Clinic I kind of needed to think about how pathetic we as humans are compared to God. Mayo has these little pamphlets celebrating human achievement and whatever. Then we talk to some of the top doctors in the world about Sarcomas and chemo and stemcells and nutrients and all those things....and the amount they don't know compared to the things they know is unbelievable. We're not even close to understanding the human body.
Anyway, we are done at Mayo for now. We will start to head home tomorrow sometime. We will keep in touch with them about how the treatments are going at home and send all the CT Scans here to Mayo. We will definitely consult these people here if we change treatment plans or need their opinions or want to try experimental treatments.
Check I Corinthians 13 about how many times the definition of love involves having hope and never giving up. It is pretty encouraging.
Prayer requests
Still, that God would be glorified by what we do and with what He does with the cancer.
That the tumors will shrink
The hair loss and next round of chemo will be incredibly hard for Ramona

Thanx for joining us in prayer,
Earl

Well...we're in Rochester...we just got to our hotel and Mandy and Ramona are upstairs dealing with dressing changes and I went to go look for a computer...sure enough...I found one...in case Ramona doesn't come down here I'll just write for a bit. Prayers were answered left, right and center today. The border crossing was no problem (atleast for the vehicle with all the medications and medical supplies). Mandy and Marlene spent some time in the garage. But all is well. For a large part of the day Ramona felt very well. The intense heartburn/hiccups/convulsing side-effects that go with chemo were almost non-existent today. Ramona and I spent alot of the time in her special back-of-van bed and watched a DVD on our computer to try to distract ourselves. Anyway...Ramona isn't exactly looking forward to the potentially innumerable tests in this next week. Tommorow we beg everyone to pray for a miracle. Pray that the tests come back showing no cancer. If God can do little things he can most certainly do big things.
Well, guess it's my turn now. Looks like Earl pretty much summed things up. I am so incredibly grateful that I felt so good today. God definitely answers prayer! One thing that God really showed me today is how important it is obey Him when He speaks. There were some things that God had really laid on my heart during chemo that I had still not yet done. One huge reason was because I wasn't brave enough fearing other's opinions. One of those things was sharing a song with my church that God challenged me to share over a week ago. It plagued me every day. Yesterday my pastor asked if Earl & I had anything to share with the church and I thank God for second chances as today my church heard track6 from Casting Crowns. I really feel that due to my obedience, God blessed me.
Well in a few hours, the tests begin. Right now I feel pretty emotionally unstable and wish this whole cancer thing were just some horrible nightmare. I praise God that He's in control but am anxiously waiting for His healing.
Thanks for your prayers and goodnight
Ramona

Financial link wannabe

Dear readers of this blog. Earl had asked me to see to getting the financial link happening. So far it hasn't. Something about people not answering their phone on the long weekend after Summer camp. Following is the cover letter which was to appear on the financial link to this blog.Thanks to all for the overwhelming encouragement and practical support.
sincerely,
Tim Reimer


Medical Alert
Aug. 3/06
In July of 2006, Ramona Reimer was diagnosed with an aggressive soft tissue cancer named Sarcoma. After several tests in Winnipeg her doctor referred to her cancer as incurable.
After much praying and researching we have decided to seek further medical help at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. An appointment has been made for Monday, August 7. The hope and prayer is that what Mayo offers will prove helpful.
Mayo is a private clinic. Our medical insurance does not cover expenses incurred there. Many friends have already shown interest in sharing in what may become a huge medical bill. A fund has been established which will serve as the official way through which anyone may participate financially. The fund is at the Arborg Branch #567 of the Canadian Bank of Commerce; account number 72-44533. Donors may deposit funds directly from anywhere into this account or send donations to fund manager Dan Reimer Box 1311 Arborg, MB R0C 0A0.
Costs are highly unpredictable. The initial expense of several thousand dollars has been covered by generous donations already. There is no urgent need for funds at the time of this writing. However, costs may escalate soon so interested donors are invited to keep in touch through the financial info link of Earl and Ramona’s blog: earlramona.blogspot.com.
With the eager interest shown by friends combined with the unpredictable nature of the amount of funding required we have decided that in the event that more funds come together than needed the extra monies will be forwarded to Cancer Research in Canada.
The prayerful generous support shown by numerous friends has been deeply encouraging. May God reward all of you!
Earl Reimer
John Petkau
Tim Reimer

Wow, so much has happened since somebody wrote. As Earl's Dad mentioned, Thursday night Earl & I as well as my parents headed off to St. Boniface. My fever was too high for comfort and so the doctor there told us to come in. When we were in Teulon I checked my temperature only to find that I didn't have a fever and I felt pretty good. However, we kept traveling and once in St. B. my fever resurfaced. I spent the night in emergency connected to IV antibiotics as well stuff to rehydrate me. Friday morning they released me with more antibiotics. My doctor is quite confident that with the antibiotics my fever should eventually go down.
I am also struggling quite intensely with heartburn. Seems that nothing is able to take away the pain and tightness I feel in my chest. Apparently this a side effect from chemo. Due to this intense pain, I am struggling to get anything into my system. I know that I am not drinking near enough, but the pain is so great it's hard. Earl has set his watch alarm to beep every 5 minutes so that I try to take a sip of something at regular intervals. Right now, the heartburn is pretty big on my list of prayer requests.
I guess it is obvious that we are not enroute to Mayo at this point. Due to my fever and overall feeling of discomfort we have decided to wait to leave until tomorrow morning. It is our hope and prayer and I will feel healthier by tomorrow morning. Please join us in prayer that God would give strength for the journey as it will be a lot more rushed than anticipated. Our appointment is now at 7 a.m. as oppossed to 8 a.m. as previously thought.
It has been so amazing to read this blog. The other night as we were enroute to the hospital, I mentioned to Earl that soon people would start praying for me, cause Earl's dad would put something on the blog. How encouraging to know that I've got so many prayer warriors.
This whole experience has instilled a real passion and desire in me that the people close to Earl & I , friends and family, who do not know Christ, would come to Him. That is my prayer and I invite all of you to join me in that.
The body of Christ is absolutely amazing
I love you guys
Ramona

Thursday evening ride into Winnipeg

Good evening,
This is Tim (Earl's dad) writing for Ramona and Earl.
After struggling with slight fever much of the day and eventually calling the Doctor in Winnipeg, E&R decided at around 11PM to head into the St. Boniface Hospital. They hope to get the fever issue under control before the trip to Rochester on Sat.
Pray about the fever, pray for God's peace to permeate all the details of planning this trip!
Tim for E&R

Hey again there everybody. First of all, an apology that Ramona and I aren't more addicted to our computer. As previously mentioned we are at home and the last two days feel like a blurr. Mony was amazingly well at times, and from meeting her you never would have known that she had just been through chemo. Today went to camp to meet our friends and to close that chapter of our lives. It is incredibly encouraging to see how many kids our coming to Christ. Give Evan a hug if you meet him. But, on the way home from camp Mony's temperature seemed to be going up and her body was chilled and so we stopped at the hospital in Hodgson. We just got home from the hospital with the antibiotics and our watching her temperature intensely. Our doctor gave us pretty crazy warnings about what can happen if you ignore a fever. The slight fever is the immediate prayer request as I sit here and write. As far as the Mayo plans go- I would have had to make a post every 4 or 5 minutes to keep everyone up to date with how often our plans were being adjusted. At this point we our taking Ramona's parents' van to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota on Saturday August 5th. We hope to get to Rochester on time to be well rested for the appointment.After haggling through many options (including fly and RV's)that seems to be the wisest. There is no change in any plan that could suprise me though. We have an appointment Monday, August 7th at 8 a.m., it is a 2 hour consultation. Unfortunately that's about as much as I know. Mayo is the epitome of ethical and they will not randomly do any diagnosis over the phone. Out there they may say, there is nothing we can do for you head back to Winnipeg or they may do every test in that exists and Mony may have some experimental form of treatment that puts her in intensive care for a year. We just really have no idea. And here is the most exciting option of them all, maybe we need to go to Mayo to do tests to prove that God has made the tumors benign. Along with the Mayo Clinic will come the question of finances. And here is the deal. Dan Reimer(the treasurer of our church) has agreed to help set up and manage a Trust account. This account should be set up by tomorrow morning. Between both my fathers and Dan Reimer the organizational part of finances will be taken care of. I am so incredibly thankful that they are willing to handle these things. I will try to have a link set up to this blog that will deal strictly with financial needs. At this point we have money available to get through the doors of the Mayo clinic (it requires a $3000 U.S. deposit to even see a doctor). From there we really hope we will have a picture of what our needs our. We have been incredibly overwhelmed by all the financial support and fundraisers that have happened. Even as I'm looking at this sentence I'm writing, I'm blown away by the inadequecy of it. When we see how much people are sacrificing......we just realize there is something greater happening. I think I need to comment on this later, there doesn't seem to be any words that suffice. God is working through so many people it bloggles my mind. I seems so weird to know how to spend the next two days. Mandy just finished Ramona's dressing as I am writing here which reminds me of the verses she showed us this morning. Check out Psalms 127. It really keeps things in perspective. We can have any doctor in the world we can eat any herb or any drug, unless God heals Mony, there will be no healing.
Later,
Earl

Home At Last!!!

Wow! I feel like there are no words to describe all the emotions and feelings I have felt in the last hour as I've been lying on my couch reading the blog for the first time in a week. Tears were streaming down my face most of the time as I am just in awe of how God is working. There are so many who are encouraging Earl & I, so many that we don't even know. God is absolutely incredible. To know that God is using such a terrible thing and making good happen is so exciting. It's so much easier to truly say that so far it's been worth it.Yes, Earl & I are home and I am feeling SO good. There are times when I almost forget that I just went through chemo. No, I still don't have tons of energy but I'm not in pain. Thank God for that
I guess the next few days are going to consist of doctor appointments and tests as well planning & preparation as we plan to head to the Mayo Clinic by Mon. Aug. 7. Please pray with us that God guides our plans and preparations as well as the doctors there.
Ramona

In some ways Mony felt alot better today, but she is incredibly tired now. I hope she has energy to chat with me in a few minutes. I sleep in the bed beside her in our little honeymoon sweet. There are huge decisions to be made in the next few days. Our meeting with Dr. Wong tomorrow morning feels like it could use an excessive amount of prayer. I'm out of time at my kiosk
earl

A new day

Ramona is still stuck in that room so I am writing the blog, but don't worry soon you'll have words from her. In case anyone wonders if God is awesome, let me tell you a story. Last night at about 9:30 My father-in-law and myself went for a cruise to go pick up some supper and get my belongings from Al and Laura Friesen's house. And Al told me what had happened to him during the day. Someone had asked him how they could pray for him. His response was, pray for Ramona. She has cancer in her arm, lungs, hip and who knows where else. At this point in Al's story I looked at him kind of funny because I didn't think he knew about the cancer in Ramona's hip. And sure enough Al told me he had dreamed about the cancer in the hip. As could be expected, my eyes open a little wider when someone tells me about prophetic dreams. Anyway, I asked Al if he had dreamed about anything else and in his dreams he had conscience pangs about not anointing Ramona with oil when he had prayed over her. So I told him to come on down. And no, God didn't instantaneously heal Ramona yet (that we know of), but after Al anointed Ramona I pulled Al aside and we had our own little revival service right there in the lobby of the 5th floor and we prayed and Al anointed me with oil as well. A giant step toward peace for me. A few hours ago I was made aware of something else. Al felt compelled to look at our wedding invitation. And check it out for yourself (if you were invited, and sorry if you weren't invited). Here is a quote that God obviously knew the importance of. "Where there is great love there is always miracles" - Willa Cather. There you have it. I guess for me that means love Ramona and love God and then see what happens. If there is lip shaped bruises on her neck do her a favor and ask Ramona if the chemo did that to her. In the process of trusting God here is the list of things that need praying for:
1. God to be glorified through this (never ever forget that)
2. Ramona's miraculous healing
3. We are having a meeting with Dr. Wong Sunday morning at 9:30 discussing many different things about what steps to take next
4. We are Very seriously looking at going to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota very soon. A million things need to come into place before that happens.
Enjoy your day,
Earl

I want to write a nice professional sounding post, but i can't right now. Everything is confused and messed up in my head. The bone scan previously mentioned showed that Ramona has a large tumor on her left hip, this will have been the original tumor. The new scan also showed that the cancer has significantly grown in the last week. The tumors in her lungs are bigger. The chemo will not cure the Sarcoma. And as i write right now, they won't even attempt surgery. Obviously, I will now research as to what else can be done. Winnipeg considers Ramona's cancer to have no cure. I want to kick and scream and say "Look what praying has done so far". Right after the doctor told us his new findings Ramona and I were talking about different Bible stories where God allows peoples backs to be right against the wall before he delivers them. God didn't stop Daniel from being thrown into the lions den. He just closed the lions' mouths. The thing about people coming to visit. If I think of the option of having to tell people to sit in the waiting room or of sitting alone in the hospital. I prefer telling people to leave Ramona's room when she gets tired. I don't know what else to say. If my name was Gideon, I would think that God has trimmed my army well below 300 people already. PRAY HARD.
Earl

Tim for Earl & Ramona

Hi this is Tim, Earl's dad.
Ramona and Earl had a full day today. The chemo treatment is taking its tiring toll on Ramona. She appreciates all the thoughtfulnesses and prayers of friends. Energetic visiting is however a little too much to ask right now. Friends who drop by are advised to be sensitive to her need for rest. One of the features of today was a bone scan, the hope and prayer of course is that no cancer will be found in Ramona's bones. Good night to all.

I sit here and don't know what to write. The morning seems like a lifetime ago. Today the chemo hit. Suddenly around 3 o'clock this afternoon Ramona was feeling really sick and light headed. The nausea was bad at some points but she never actually threw up. Essentially she's been sleeping since then, she wakes up many times but doesn't quite participate in conversation, she just falls asleep. It's a little unnerving for me in a way. She wasn't in much pain when I left the hospital. If Ramona feels the same way tomorrow as she does today, it doesn't really make sense to come visit her. Interacting with people tires her out. You guys have an amazing idea with the hair. Apparently, there is an 'Angel room' downstairs in the hospital where you can borrow wigs for free, but what Carissa, Becki, and Tobi are talking about seems incredible. And by the way, the incredible things the God is doing at camp is very encouraging for both of us. Everyone at camp, just keep going crazy. Thank you for the people buying me food. That pizza I have for lunch is about the healthiest thing I've had this week.
Ramona was writing a list of the many things she was thankful for, but that list is on our other computer. All the things in life that I was going to learn at my own convenience God is now forcing me to learn. On the privacy of this blog I really want to thank my dad for chatting for a long time and praying with me. I'm also incredibly encouraged after praying with Al Friesen tonight. Pray for Mony! Smiles, hugs, jokes, etc. and everything else that you and I wish we could do to magical make chemo okay, just don't quite cut it. It feels so incredibly helpless. It requires a powerful God. Please keep talking to Him. He is the healer....i guess i'll go to bed soon
Earl

Well, here goes. Thank you so much for praying. It seems kinda weird but I think I spend more time thanking people for praying than I spend praying myself. Life can only go on like that for so long. we feel like God is carrying us right now. Ramona's chemo started today. Physically I don't think she can tell much of a difference so far. She is tired and her back hurts a bit. But the full effect of what chemo does is not evident yet. I tugged on her hair, i guess that doesn't come out first day. The food: Mony is Mennonite to the core. It takes a little convincing to get her to let her hospital food go to waste and just eat some restaurant food. About the puss (sorry about my previous spelling error), it sounds like the dressings will need to be changed in the wound for the next month, but it is healing. Note to all computer geeks: we have no way to get internet access in Ramona's room and she is stuck on the fifth floor till we leave. Any legal yet crazy ideas accepted. The doctor said we would be here til Sunday-ISH, take note of the bold letters. We appreciate the encouragement from all you who came by. Becki and I have a little plan which needs some support so we can talk Ramona into it. We figure since she is losing her hair anyway, she should color it blue and make it all spiky or something......anyway...part of me realizes (as i sit here by myself with my head in my hands) that this is not something i can joke my way through. God is in the process of doing some serious internal rearrangement in myself and Mony. Keep seeking God. Mony's faith continues to be an amazing example to me.
Never give up on the Almighty,
Earl

We love pus

We just arrived in the hospital. Ramona is sitting beside me and i'm doing most of the writing (it is hard on her arms and body to be typing right now). Because some sort of substance was leaking from Ramona' s incisional biopsy yesterday, our doctor asked us to come in early. We were both afraid that it was the tumor leaking from the wound. It is a little frightening to see the tumor visibly grow in a matter of a day or two. Anyway, it turns out that the incision is infected and therefore is growing. The surgeons will likely have to open up the wound again tonight or tomorrow morning and remove the pus. Thank God it wasn't the tumor growing so rapidly. That might be some of the reason Ramona was in so much pain the last few days. Chemo is still scheduled for tomorrow morning.
Helpful Information:
Ramona is on the fifth floor of the St. Boniface hospital in the B Wing, Room #1
Visiting hours are :8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
The cell phone I am using has a number equalling 641-4017
Humans are welcome to come and visit.
We love you all, thank you so much for the encouragement and prayers
Mony is really looking forward to a delicious supper in a few minutes (cough, cough)
The end
Earl (and Mony who is sitting right beside me)

Encouragement for the prayerful

Right now, I feel the most peaceful I've felt in the last two days. Let me see if I can sum up what has happened in the last 48ish hours. On Wednesday morning the doctors threw the information at us that Ramona has a really fast growing Sarcoma. They didn't know exactly what kind of Sarcoma it is but since it is growing fast they recommend that we start chemo as fast as possible. This is a bit of an act of faith since only certain types of Sarcomas respond well to chemo. The other part of this is that sarcomas aren't very common and that affects the amount of information available. We went into St. Boniface yesterday to have a PICC line put in. (so the chemo can be put straight to her heart). This mini procedure took two hours, but we were at the clinic for about 7 hours. We have nearly talked to all the dieticians, nurses, doctors and pharmacists working at St. B. It is amazing, we dealt with about 7 or 8 different professionals and they were all really amazing people. Ramona's pain has increased in the last two days and is therefore on more morphine and other drugs. It is kinda frightening how fast this cancer seems to be hitting her. It was only a week or two ago that she was running most of the Beaver Creek Bible Camp and in the last two days, anything other than lying, really still seems to cause alot of pain. A combination of the cancer itself and beginning the morphine has made her really tired today.
I am inspired by the peace God has given Ramona. When we came to camp last night it was incredibly encouraging to hear that some of the campers had the idea to fast and pray for us. They had seen some of the counsellors fasting earlier. I should let Ramona tell the story later on when she feels up to being at the computer, but it blew us away. Ramona pulled those campers into our room to chat and pray with them and they were incredibly sincere. One of the campers was in my cabin two years ago and became a Christian. Now he is fasting and praying for Ramona. God must be doing alot of smiling.
Keep seeking God,
Earl

quick update

Thankyou for praying. I wanted to post something, but we need to head to winnipeg in a few minutes. Hopefully i can fill you in on what the doctors told us when we get back. When we don't know when or how God will heal Ramona we call it faith I guess. Her pain is increasing, please keep praying hard

Later earl

Thoughts on a Tuesday Afternoon

It's tuck time at camp. Mony is doing tuck, which i'm excited about and Judy is actually here to help her out which Mony was also pumped about. Today is waiting and pondering day. This may be our last 'normal' day in a while. We have an appointment in Winnipeg tommorow morning where they give us the low down on what is actually happening in Mony's body and what we should do about it. That's a scary appointment if you ask me. We may or may not come back to camp. Also, we have faxed some information to the Mayo Clinic, and we are waiting for them. Although my world has been kinda surreal, like this is all some nightmare. God still has ways of encouraging us. I'm still blown away at how many people are praying for us. I find that I really need to know who God is. This God has my wife's life in His hands. These all make good cliches, but somehow it's a struggle to truly have peace about this.
As has been firmly pressed into my brain lately, Go nuts, our purpose in life is to glorify God,
Earl

Hello

Hey everybody,
Thanks so much for all of your prayers. I know I emailed a bunch of you informing you of this website and so here I am attempting to fill you in on my life.
Today has been a pretty difficult day for me. I have not had a lot of energy and my bed is where I feel like being most of the time. It's hard for me to not interact with the campers and instead sleep.
Earl & I are still in touch with the Mayo Clinic and hope to find out some more information on that tomorrow.
God has been very real to me in the last few days. One of my distant relatives whom I have never met phoned me the other day and told me her story of how she battled through cancer. Her story was quite similar to mine and today she is completely healed. She is an incredible woman of God and was so encouraging to me. I am so in awe of how she listened to the Holy Spirit and tracked me down, shared her story with me and encouraged me. I truly feel that that was one way of God showing me that He cares for me even during this super hard time.
Thanks for all of your prayers. Please not only pray for my healing but also pray that God be honored and glorified through this whole experience. It is my prayer that his will and purpose be accomplished, not only in my life but however and wherever else he wants.
Ramona

Goodmorning everyone

Well just a huge thank-you to everyone who is praying for us. We certainly sense the prayers. Ramona is feeling a bit better today. The biopsy has been cause for many T3's. We are just getting the hang of this whole blog idea, so hopefully we can keep people in touch through this. Our tentative plan for this afternoon is to go to Winnipeg so Ramona can sign her name on an information release form. We want an opinion from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.
For now,
Earl

A note from the techno-not so-geek!

Hi everyone! Andrew just got this up and running for us and now we have to figure out how to use it! Check back soon!