Prayer Request

the latest thing on our hearts

I know it’s been a while since I have updated here, and that it’s probably about time for some more Questions and Answers. But in the meantime, I wanted to send out a quick update and prayer request.

Wayne has been continuing on with his detox protocols, but has not seen any improvement. Because the nature of ALS is degenerative, and because each person’s experience can be different, it is basically impossible to tell whether the degeneration has slowed down at all. That said, we do have a few treatments and things that are coming up, and we are plugging away at the different possibilities of next steps.

Which leads me to my prayer request. There is a clinical trial being conducted at the University of Florida hospital, Shands, called COYA, which is a study directly for the treatment of ALS; the next phase of this trial starts early next year. In order to participate, we would have to discontinue any other treatments, so that they do not affect the results of the study. Our VA doctor is very excited about this trial, and Wayne has been leaning toward participating, but discontinuing the other treatments is a serious consideration.

One other component of this decision is that Wayne recently hired an employee, a young man who can be his hands. Wayne is able to continue working for some of his clients by diagnosing issues and then directing his new employee in doing the work for him. This has been a huge blessing, and such an encouragement to Wayne because he is able to keep his business operational. However, the COYA appointments most likely will be on Mondays, which is one of the days that this young man is available.

Participation in the trial would also involve traveling twice a month at first, then once a month, plus some phone and video consultations in between. Lord willing, our family had hoped to do some of our own traveling in the coming months, and these visits could potentially impact our ability to do the fun trips.

All that to say, this is a really big decision for us, and we would greatly appreciate your prayers for wisdom and direction as we sort through all of these pros and cons and quiet our hearts to hear from the Lord.

We love you guys! More updates to come.

(And in case you missed it, here’s a link to my most recent post, about the Mason-Dixon line of Thanksgiving foods, or, how to have 20/20 vision.)