Here is forwarded latest known info on Kristina.

----- Original Message -----

From: Audrey Thorkelson

Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 5:00 PM

Subject: Kristina

Hello dear friends and prayer partners:

 Many, many thanks for your prayers for Kristina.  Tom and I just
arrived home and I confess I am exhausted.  Please forgive me for the informal email but I do not have the energy to call each one of you, although I would like to be able to do just that.

I will have to say I "felt" the prayers that supported us all,
especially Tuesday.

We have good news and "guarded" news!

The Doctors found NO cancer in either her bone marrow or the skeletal tests.   That is a BIG praise to God's faithfulness and the power of your/our prayers.

 As the cancer is a very aggressive one they wanted to begin
chemotherapy instantly but gave her the option to
 meet today with the Oncologist to "harvest" some of her eggs for future use.   The chemo at best damages the eggs and possibly destroys the reproductive organs so this is a good idea to pursue this avenue.

Next is an MRI and a Mammogram to determine if they were able get all the cancer during surgery on Oct.14.

 As the surgeon did not realize it was cancerous he may not have removed it all and left cancer cell tumors in her breast area.

Depending upon the results of the MRI and Mammo she will either undergo Radiation Therapy or have a mastectomy.
Difficult either way for a 19 year old.

They have prescribed 16 sessions, 3 weeks apart, of Chemotherapy.   The first two or three will have to be in the hospital
so they can monitor how she responds to the chemo.  She will loose her hair and it will weaken her immune system.

How do I ask you to pray?   First praise God for the answer of NOT
finding cancer in her bones.  The Doctors consider
her "lucky" that it manifested itself in the soft tissue area!   But we
know better!   :)

Pray she can get into the MRI area quickly as Stanford is very, very
busy.   Please ask the Lord for wisdom for the
Doctors as they decide how to best treat her following the results of
the tests.

  Kristina will turn to the Lord for strength and courage during these
next few days and weeks.   She seems to be more
upset that she will not be able to continue college than the possibility of loosing her breast!   I'm not sure the enormity
of the problem has sunk in yet.

The Doctor's have stressed they MUST do the treatment aggressively because if the cancer comes back in any way her
 prognosis of survival is very poor.

God is able to do far abundantly..........

Thank you Lord for Your mercy and grace in our time of need.  Thank You for our 5 year old grandson who wants us to live with him permanently and thinks the greatest thing was us walking him to
school!    :)
 

Blessings and my love to you all,

Audrey