Glenn’s memorial

I just want to take this opportunity to say thank you for all the cards, tributes, phone calls, emails, prayers and expressions of sympathy.  It has been very encouraging to hear how Glenn's life touched so many people worldwide - a real testimony of how God uses us in our weaknesses.

As all of our family are out West, and Glenn wanted to be buried in a family graveyard next to his grandparents, we had a funeral service here in Mississauga and then travelled out to our home town to have a memorial service for our families and friends out West.  The memorial service in Alberta was videotaped, and is now online at www.persecution.tv for those of you who may be interested in watching it.

As you can imagine, Glenn has left a big hole in our hearts, and yet we rejoice that he has now joined "the cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12:1) cheering us on.  The call to each of us is to carry on, standing strong and fighting the good fight.  We grieve, but not as those without hope.  Thank you again for all your love and support.  We continue to covet your prayers as we adjust to life without Glenn.

Keep the faith....

Love,

Denita

Final posting

As many of will already know, Glenn went home to be with the Lord yesterday, Jan. 26/10 around 7:00 in the evening.  Since Saturday, when he came to understand that he wasn't going to win this battle, Glenn set his face towards the end as determined as he lived his life - with focus.  As you can imagine, it is a profoundly (is that a word??) sad for the me, our kids and families.  Thank you so much for all your love and support through this extremely hard and tiring journey.  We continue to covet your prayers as we adjust to life without Glenn.

Lots of love,

Denita for all of us (Joel, Becky and David)

Follow up update

Just a quick note to let you know Glenn had his nerve block on Tuesday and it would appear that it has been effective.  Glenn has hardly had to ask for extra pain medication since, so now the doctor is going to try to lower the Methadone.  Thanks for praying.

Denita

Update from Denita

Thought it was about time to send out another update.  Glenn is still in the hospital.  By and large the pain is under control during the day, as long as the nurses remember to give him his meds on time.  He still does wake up with quite a lot of pain, however, and because of that the doctor really can't cut back on the pain medication he is giving Glenn.  A nerve block is scheduled for Tuesday, so you can pray for that.  We should know in a day or two if it worked, and if so, the doctor is hoping to drastically cut back on the Methadone which should clear Glenn's mind up and help him stay awake more.  Yesterday, Glenn started getting some more congestion in his chest.  This is causing him considerable anxiety and he is terrified of getting pneumonia again.  For now the doctor is keeping his eye on it, but he will not hesitate to put Glenn back on antibiotics if things get worse.  Please pray that the Lord will fill Glenn's mind with peace.  The fear of not being able to breath is preoccupying his thoughts and making it hard for him to concentrate on anything else.

We all really appreciate your thoughts and prayers.  Thank you too for the cards, emails and phone calls.  Your support along with the Lord's grace and strength are seeing us through this difficult time.

Love,

Denita

Appreciation for your prayers

Video update from the hospital

Greetings from the hospital

I have decided to drop a brief note on my blog to let you know how I am doing rather than trying to update all of my emails, facebook posts, etc., since this is this where most of my friends find out how we are doing. So please check here to get updates on me.

I am not doing well, to put it quite simply. This morning was one of considerable pain again. Plus trying to find ways to free up my bladder and bowel movements, and you can tell that life is one big bowl of cherries for me.

It just seems that life is tough right now. I am hallucinating from time to time and yesterday I really really wrestled with whether my life was coming to an end. I still feel that I have things that I want to do however. I am not ready to call it quits yet. But life is getting harder and harder to live and fighting yet another bout of pneumonia has stretched me. So please pray that I will be ready to go when God wants me to go.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  It's hard to believe it is almost 2010 (3 more hours to go)!  Thank you so much for all the concentrated prayers during this Christmas season.  I have really sensed God's presence, and while it has been a hard time, "the joy of the Lord" has been my strength.

I just got back from seeing Glenn.  The past 2-3 days the pain has diminished considerably so the doctor has started lowering his dosage of Methadone.  As the pain is going away on it's own, there will be no need to do a nerve block now, which on one hand is a relief.  For about 3 weeks now, Glenn has been sleeping most of his days and nights away, so as you can imagine he has gotten quite weak.  The last 2 mornings he has had raspy breathing, which is beginning to concern us.  The doctor says his lungs sound clear so far, but we are keeping our eyes on it.  We are hoping that once the Methadone dosage is lowered, Glenn's mind will clear up and he will be able to be awake more and able to think clearly.  Besides that, there really isn't much else to report.

All the best to each of your in the coming year.

Till next time....

Love,

Denita

Merry Christmas

Another Christmas!!!!  It’s so hard to believe another year is almost over.  Wow!!  May this be a blessed season for all of you.  Thanks so much for standing with us in prayer and for all your encouragement.

Glenn is still in the hospital.  Not much has changed.  He usually wakes up around 3:00 a.m. with a lot of pain and it takes until about 9:30 a.m. before the drugs kick in to make him comfortable enough to be able to sleep.  He then spends most of the day sleeping so that when I go to see him in the evening he is a bit more alert and able to visit for a bit.  As it is the Christmas and there are a number of days off around this time of hear, not much else is happening.  The doctor told me they will probably do the nerve block next week.  He is still hopeful that the radiation will work, but I’m beginning to wonder as it’s been two weeks now since he had his radiation treatments.  Besides that, there really is not much else to report.  We are weary and at times feel overwhelmed, but we continue to persevere knowing that God is in control and our lives are in his hand.

God bless you and Happy New Year!

Love,

Denita

Update

Hi!  Just wanted to write a quick note to let you know that Glenn is back in the hospital.  Last weekend was a nightmare as far as the pain was concerned, so on Tuesday, the doctor decided the best thing would be to change Glenn's medication from the pain pump to Methadone and oral drug.  He told us, though, that it is very difficult  to figure out the proper dosage with Methadone, so he wanted Glenn in the hospital for the switch over.  Thursday night was the worst night of pain for Glenn yet, so when the doctor came to see him in the morning he told Glenn he was going to increase the dosage, but he would be very sleepy.  By that time, Glenn was about ready for anything and he agreed so for the last 2 days Glenn has been sleeping most of the time.  Yesterday Glenn woke up with a fever and his hemoglobin was down to 69, so blood cultures and other tests were done to see if he has an infection of some kind and he was given another 2 bags of blood last night.  When I saw him last night he had better color and was more alert so the extra blood seems to have helped him a bit. 

Please pray for peace for Glenn.  He is quite discouraged by this latest turn of events.  I will try to keep you informed.

Denita