Quick update for the prayer warriors
Ramona was having incredible amounts of pain last night when we came into the hospital. At this point it's speculation what was all going on. This morning will include a CT scan as well as other tests. Chemo will wait until the tests are done. We want to praise God that the pain has subsided and ask everyone to keep praying as we expect God to glorify Himself with amazing healing.
-earl

.........as I sit here I don't think I have the words to describe the supernatural difference in our house......and I don't even think I'll try....you've probably read the last few posts.... A big huge 'amen' to everything Ramona wrote. We're planing to go ahead with the chemo plans. A little bit of chemical is not going to hinder God from doing the crazy, unexpected things He has in store for us. Ramona is booked to enter the St. Boniface hospital tomorrow at 8 p.m.
-earl

Earl Cooke-healed!!!!

So I'm at my parents in Morweena. Earl is at a men's retreat in the Whiteshell with a bunch of men from Soul Sanctuary. Tomorrow we'll meet in Arborg for the Terry Fox Run.
First of all, I thank every one of you for your prayers, comments and emails. It absolutely blows me away how many prayers were lifted upward yesterday-thank you! I'd also like to thank the girls that I had supper with last night. Thank you for allowing me to be real with you and for caring so deeply-thank you for praying with me; you guys are awesome! Now, where do I start? I'm so excited about what I heard today, that I'll start with that.
A lot of you have heard me mention Earl Cooke before. (Check out the link to his blog) This last week, God miraculously healed him of cancer!!! He was also fighting sarcoma and at his last appointment with Dr. Wong, he was given hopeless news. The cancer in his lungs was spreading fast. He went in to the hospital on Wednesday to start chemo. He had pain in his ribs so tests were done and his cancer was gone! There is one benign tumor, but everything cancerous is gone. Needless to say Dr. Wong was floored! Wow, wow, wow! I've been encouraging Earl Cooke for months that he & I would be Dr. Wong's first sarcoma survivors- it's crazy to see that happening. It blows my mind what God is doing. He's constantly affirming me that He is in control and that He's in the healing business. Thank you Jesus-you deserve all honor, glory and praise!
My next story will seem stupid to many of you and I simply don't care. I'm not forcing anyone to read this blog-it's simply Earl & I pouring out our hearts, allowing whoever wants to listen, to listen. Ever since my last bout of chemo, atleast since January, I can not remember a time that I sweat. I can not remember ever smelling sweat on any of my clothes or on myself. Yesterday, I was sitting outside and smelled sweat. I couldn't believe it was me- needless to say I really stank.(Earl can definitely testify to that :) ) This was the first time that I had sweat in almost a year. To everyone else, this is nothing to be thankful for. Most people wish they wouldn't sweat. I on the other hand, long to be healthy enough to sweat. I have no idea why I suddenly sweat, but I take it to be another little sign that God is healing my body. I'll let you think what you want.
And so here I sit, trying to absorb it all in-so thankful that God is completely in control. We were created to praise Him, no matter what we're going through!
As for the decision on chemo, I'll wait to officially post that until Earl is back from the men's retreat. I will share that we feel quite strongly in a certain direction and have felt a lot of affirmation.
Please don't stop praying
Ramona

Nigeria

I sit here and cry. I just finished reading the comments on the blog and all the emails you've sent and I'm amazed. The crazy thing is that most of you, I don't even know! God is up to something pretty crazy, I really can't fathom it. Thank you for your encouragement-thank you for praying. I'm just so in awe of God today. Let me fill you in.
This morning, one of my close friends came over that I hadn't seen in a year. We had a great time chatting and in the process, she told me how God had healed her this past year! God had really been speaking to her about dealing with some inner stuff and as a result, she was completely healed of an allergy and other medical stuff. Talk about amazing. Talk about affirming. I just got so excited. Here I am, seeking God and the Bible for healing, and my friend, totally unexpectedly, shares her story of healing-wow!
This afternoon, after chatting with 2 pastors, about which direction to take regarding chemo, Earl & I went to the Light Christian Store. One of the pastors had suggested getting some Praise & Worship music and had suggested a certain artist, so we decided to pick it up on the way home. All day, I'd been feeling pretty miserable with pretty intense chest pain, so after a bit I sat down in the store. I always like to watch people and today was no different. I saw an obvious African couple go to the counter and I thought, proceed to buy something. I heard them talking about sales and discounts and so on and so I gathered that they couldn't afford to buy this kid's CD/book that they wanted to buy. They left the counter and returned the item. The woman was still dressed in her traditional African clothes and I started dreaming about going to Africa, etc. etc. This couple really got to me. I started to wonder if maybe I should give them some money so they could buy this children's music. I imagined that they had just emmigrated and were probably really poor. I didn't really want to give them any money-I was too shy. I felt stupid, I mean how do I know if they're poor? What if they'd be offended? Was it just my imagination? I couldn't knock the feeling, so after we payed for our stuff, I told Earl how I felt. He encouraged it and so he went and gave them some money while I went to the car. I don't normally have these kind of moments, so I went to the car and prayed that that money could be used for awesome things and that something good could come out of it. After a few minutes, this African couple and Earl come out of the store and they come meet me. Before we've even introduced ourselves they wrap their arms around me and start praying. (Earl had told them I was sick) Here we were, in the parking lot-2 white people and 2 Africans hugging and praying-crying out to God. I thought we must look pretty crazy, but I didn't care. Turns out this couple are missionaries from Nigeria. They are traveling around, speaking about healing and have even written a book on healing!!!! Not only that, their son had a tumor on his head and was miraculously healed and the father also was healed miraculously! Wow! What an incredible God we serve. They were wanting to buy children's CDs, etc. because they are passionate about children's ministries in their country.Earl & I were so overwhelmed and then we found out that they were working with a church that is within walking distance from our house. They are currently living right close by. We gave them a ride to the house that they're living and the woman of that home gave us delicious Nigerian food for supper. After supper, we attended the Bible study. Now, I'm just trying to wrap my brain around it all. I feel so blessed to have so many people praying for me. I'm just amazed how God works. It's no accident that I felt God speaking to me, to give that money. It made me wonder, how many times I miss out on incredible blessings, just because I use the excuse that I'm shy. Earl & I were blessed and encouraged way more that that money ever meant to us. Let me just encourage all of us to be bold-who knows the blessings you will receive!?!
Ramona
PS. I'll try to do the Terry Fox Run in Arborg on Sunday. (hopefully bike) Love to see some of you there.

Yes, so we received my CT results on Monday. Just as we expected, the news was dismal. In two months, the tumors have doubled in size and one is putting pressure on the blood vessels going to my heart. Yes, it's scary and overwhelming. However, I told Dr. Wong that Earl & I were believing for a miracle. That even though it doesn't make sense medically, I am going to survive. I said no to chemo for now, but am really battling if I made the right decision. Dr. Wong said that I need to make that decision now, because in a month or two it could be too late(meaning the chemo would make me too sick because my body would be too sick to handle it). I believe without a shadow of a doubt that God will heal me miraculously. However, I don't know when. I am so sick and tired of chemo. The thought of it is so overwhelming that I begin to cry. The worst part by far, is being 'locked' into a small space for a week. The surroundings are so discouraging and depressive. I can't battle chemo, it's simply too much for me. BUT, I know God would somehow help me get through it. So here is where all of you readers come in. I need you, every one of you that believes in the power of prayer & or fasting, to please pray for Earl & I. I'm asking as many people as possible, this Friday, to pray specifically for direction as to whether or not I should have chemo. (Medically speaking, chemo will only prolong my life, not cure the cancer.) If God speaks to any of you, please email us at earlramona@gmail.com. I want to go confidently in a direction and believe that God will show us which way to go.
Thanks so much for your prayers. I know hundreds of prayers are and have been prayed for me and I am so grateful. May I become a woman of God, that is one day used to impact the world and give God incredible glory. Know that every prayer is valuable and may God bless you.
Ramona

Hey everybody,
Earl & I are now officially living in Winnipeg! We moved on Monday and are starting to feel settled in. Earl will be going to the University of Manitoba studying Nutrition and starts classes tomorrow.
My health is obviously weighing heavily on our hearts and minds. I had a CT scan last Friday and will receive the results on Monday. Unless God does an amazing miracle before Monday, Earl & I know that Dr. Wong will give us bad news. The tumor on my leg has grown tremendously and gives me a significant amount of pain. I try not to dwell on this because I firmly believe that God is healing me and that through a miracle I will survive this cancer. There are so many things that I am passionate about and long to do with my life. I don't believe that my life is over. God has wonderful things in store for Earl & I together. As much as I believe this, there are times when I doubt and fear so much. When I wake up in the night crying with pain, I wonder where God is. I get discouraged and just want to give up. Then when the pain is gone, it's somehow so much easier to trust and believe that God's in control. What a reminder to trust God-no matter how you feel, or no matter how things appear, God is still the same God and He knows what He's doing.
Pray for us to keep trusting. Pray for us that no matter how hopeless Dr. Wong sounds, that we won't let that get us discouraged, instead let him see that we serve the God who heals and who gives hope. Pray for us as we need to make decisions regarding chemo.
Thanks again for your prayers and support. Many of you have shown your support in tremendous ways-thanks for the food, the gifts, the money, the garden produce, etc. You may not receive a personal thank you note, but please feel personally thanked.
Ramona

I guess there has been quite a bit going on since the last post. First, Jay and Lonita got married a couple of days ago. A huge congratulations to those kids...and I hope you guys are relaxing and enjoying your honeymoon. In the midst of the fun of a wedding we've also been talking to doctors.

Trying to summarize:
At the time of the last post Dr. Wong had essentially no hope of any good news for Ramona. A day or two later I had the reports of the scans sent to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, hoping that they might find some glimmer of hope. The email I got back from Mayo is likely the most discouraging five sentences ever written. There was no way to glean any hope from that email. Palliative chemo, is what he was talking about. Meanwhile, we have been talking to Oasis to see if they really knew what they are talking about. I seriously questioned them and the group of doctors saw her case again last Thursday. They called me on Thursday and stuck to their guns that Ramona is in good shape. And this has been our struggle, how can doctors look at the same scans and have such different interpretations.
Anyway, today we had a Telehealth appointment with Dr. Waddell (lung surgeon) in Toronto. To our surprise, he said that to him, all the tumors in the chest looked operable. Lung surgery is not exactly an appealing thought, but it was refreshing to talk to someone outside of Oasis who atleast had a small glimmer of hope too. He would need chemo to be done first. We asked him when he thought chemo would start. He figured chemo would need to start in 3-6 months. So this is where we are at, in the time before the doctors here think chemo would need to start, we hope it will become even more apparent that the Oasis treatment is working. We will do everything possible to boost Ramona's health during this time. We have asked Dr. Wong to have a scan done at the end of August to evaluate where everything is at.
One good thing that has happened is that medical uncertainty is a huge wake up call for us. The God who we often think doesn't care, is actually the same God who loves us enough to have sent Jesus to die for us. God does miracles, not doctors.
-Earl

This is absolutely ridiculous. If we both hadn't fallen off the emotional roller coaster earlier in the day I'd know how to write. I called Oasis this morning to make sure that they were sure that Ramona is doing good.....and...they're sure. We talked to Dr. Wong today and he looked at the same scans that Oasis has and says that there is nothing her can really do for Ramona. The cancer is back full force and chemo will only temporarily slow it down...............ya.......that was the same scans he was looking at...............I'm leaving out huge amounts of important information...but I rode home from Winnipeg with Ramona listening to her talk about how she should quickly clean the house and make extra food this week because maybe she'll be having chemo soon????!... There are many phone calls and decisions to make. Please pray that healing happens somehow.....
Earl

Just a quick note. I'm not sure how to explain this, but we have have test results in front of us from a CT scan taken June 26th. It is the weekend, and there is no doctor here to explain the results to us. I have tried contacting Oasis clinic, and will try to call there again tomorrow. The results we see seem a lot less positive than what we believed this last week. Please pray for us as we wait impatiently to talk to a doctor......and...I'm writing just so you might know a little better how we're actually feeling right now.
-earl

We have the results! Ramona's scan shows that there is no major cancer activity and that her immune system is doing it's job! It was a little scary for me, because as I mentioned previously, the technician at Glendale MRI let me hang out in his office. This meant that I got to see some of the PET results as they were coming up. I saw what to me looked like an area of activity where there formerly was cancer. This scared me quite a bit, but I didn't know exactly what this meant. And the technician didn't either. Obviously a doctor needed to explain this to me/us. But, I didn't mention anything to keep us from both being worried. Anyway...I have a lot left to understand about the complexities of PET scans, but the important part is that Ramona is doing well. We'll spend the next day and a half here in Tijuana, getting medications....and since everything seems to be good. We'll spend some time on the beach.




This was our hotel last night.

Glendale MRI institute.

Tom Cruise's garbage cans. Like all gullible tourists we bought the five dollar, find-a-celebrity's-house map. Tom lives in a jungle...not that unlike Madonna. I guess if I was famous I'd plant lots of trees too.

We walked the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

We are at Glendale MRI and Ramona has just had her radio-active injection and needs to sit quietly, moving as little as possible for the next hour while the injection goes to work. The scan and wrapping everything up here should take about 1.5 -2 hours. This is a nice clinic with amazing staff (I'm using his computer in a room with a few technicians and some other lady having her scan just in the room in front of me). I'm not sure how good Ramona will feel after the tests, but hopefully we can enjoy a scenic ride from here...maybe we'll detour through Santa Monica....
-Earl

Back to Mexico

I'm feeling a little smug about my good deal here. Ramona told me that she would do the dishes if I would blog..........I guess atleast something useful might get done while she does the dishes....anyway.
We are heading to Mexico next week. It is three months since the previous CT scan and it is time to find out where Ramona's health is at.......it would be relatively simple to insert a line here about how we have great faith that the results will show no cancer.....but...it's not exactly always that simple to just believe....especially with what we see around us (pray for our buddy Earl Cooke, hisnameisearl.blogspot.com).
We fly out Monday morning and land in Burbank, California in the afternoon. Ramona has a PET scan scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday morning at the Glendale MRI Institute. This means that not only is Ramona's diet difficult at the best of times, in the 24 hours prior to the scan, sugars (fruit included) and carbs are eliminated too. The scan will be done Tuesday afternoon and we'll drive down to San Diego and be ready to be picked up by the Oasis van Wednesday morning. On Wednesday and Thursday we will be at the Oasis of Hope discussing the results of the scan and planning where to go next with the treatment...........
......i think we may start writing again....maybe....
We appreciate those of you who have encouraged us despite the fact that we rarely write,
Earl

Earl is now 24. We're camping at Hecla in the rain. We went under a shelter to make brunch. Earl got a bunch of camping supplies for his birthday and we had fun using them. I lit a sparkler and sang "Happy Birthday" to him for the first course of scrambled eggs.

As mentioned previously, Earl is having fun building. Here he's building a cage for my cabbage and broccoli. The idea is that the white butterflies that destroy cabbage are not able to get inside.

Pics

Yes, I still do get to eat 'normal' food. Sometimes I just have to be super creative. (Randy's 19th Birthday)

This spring Earl & I spent a lot of time working outside. It was a lot of work cleaning up the straw that was around our house and over our sewer. We also spent some time building a cat house. Earl taught me how to shingle and use his drill. Definitely a learning experience.

We went camping for Earl's Birthday at the end of May. We got rained out on Saturday so that was really disappointing. We're hoping to just go again soon.

One year since surgery

Yes Becki & I are home! We've been home since the 5th. Nothing very new or exciting has happened. My treatments in Mexico went well and now I will just have a CT scan every 3 months to monitor my tumors. Hopefully they will keep shrinking from the Laetrile injections I get at home three days a week, the over 50 pills (nutraceuticals) I take every day and my healthy diet. I had an appointment with Dr. Wong recently and he commented on how he never expected that 2 years after I was diagnosed that I would be sitting in his office chatting. He says that he doesn't know how to treat me because my situation is not typical. I told him I was going to be his first sarcoma survivor. I really get the feeling that he knows that there is something different about me and that he is starting to recognize that. My prayer from the beginning always was that God would be glorified through this.
On a different note...
One year ago today I said good-bye to my left hip. It's one year that I had my hip and armpit surgery. In some ways it feels way longer and in others it seems like it just happened. It's exciting that a year later I'm still around and healthy and yet it's also sobering realizing that my hip and arm will probably not improve much more. Whatever came back in a year is probably all that will. My walking endurance is definitely getting better. Earl & I try to go for a walk almost every night and I can already tell a difference.
My brother graduates from his paramedics training tomorrow and it's my other brother's 19th birthday tomorrow so my family is going to the city for supper to celebrate. I'm also 'celebrating' my surgery.
That's all for now
Ramona

Yesterday at lunch we had a pretty neat surprise. The patient representatives had decorated the dining room in a Mexican theme. They also had hired a 'band' to serenade us while we ate. It was pretty neat having 3 Mexican men sing to the patients during lunch.
Becki & I are learning how to take pictures of ourselves with the use of the reflections from the windows.












Becki's fabulous shot of a Mexican bee.

Having treatments in the sun.

!Hola!
No, I'm not really learning Spanish but since we are surrounded by so many people with different accents, my words are starting to come out rather weird. There are people here from Germany, England, South Africa, Australia, the US and so many other places. It creates an awesome atmosphere.
Treatments are going well. Today I feel a little more tired-not too bad though. Today it was a little warmer. Becki & I tried to soak up a little sun and whenever I wasn't on oxygen we went outside. It's been colder than we expected but today was nice. In a few minutes we want to go to the beach and watch the sunset.
This afternoon I took Becki to El Yogurt Place and she had some delicious frozen yogurt. Last night we walked to the theatre and watched August Rush. We were fortunate to have it in English. We've also done a little shopping and spent some time on the beach.
Right now I'm distracted by a 5 year old boy who's father is having treatment. He's trying to figure out where our room is so he can visit us. Really cute!
Have a good evening
Ramona

All credit for the creative pictures goes to Becki. She's having a blast taking pictures of anything and everything. :)