Sweet friends,

Rusty sent a lengthy email today, with both wonderful and serious news. The great news is that Liz stood up by her bed with both heels on the floor. Considering all she has been through, the doctors and staff are completely amazed. Rusty attributes this to Liz having seen her children and the mighty prayers of many people. Glory to God!

Liz has a virulent case of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. One side disease a person can get with this is a skin disease called paraneal pemphigus. Liz has it. It must be differentiated from Stevens Johnson Sydrome, which AJ picked up as a possibility when I described the symptoms. Liz's skin is eating itself from the inside out. It is excrutiatingly painful and itchy, with awful blisters around body parts with a mucous lining. There is a 90% mortality rate. Yeah.

There is now a spiritual and emotional battle going on for sweet Liz. She has mostly been unaware of the battle she has endured so far. She told Rusty the devil is trying to drive her crazy. She has seen herself in the mirror for the first time and can look down at her ravaged body. On top of this self-image/body-awareness shock, she now has to endure the emotional and physical trauma of chemotherapy.

Rusty is going to have to make her eat and make her get some exercise if she is to survive. She is still very, very weak. Please don't let up on praying for Liz, Rusty, and the children.

Pressing in,
-Donna