Update on Cathy

Many of you have been fasting and praying for my mother-in-law, Cathy, who was diagnosed with cancer this time last year.  A year ago, the first hint that we knew something was wrong with Cathy was that she had jaundice.

For the past few week's Cathy's jaundice has come back in full force.  Bilirubin is a yellowish pigment found in bile, which is made by the liver.  Jaundice is when the skin and whites of the eyes turn yellow from an excess of bilirubin in the body.  Normal bilirubin levels for the average adult are between 0.3 - 1.9 mg/dL.  Her last labs showed that her bilirubin level was at 8.5 mg/dL.  We, of course, were all worried about her.

Sunday evening all of us Sorenson's headed to Jay and Cathy's home for dinner.  Before dinner, though, Cathy asked for a blessing.  Jay, Jamie, Park, Elliot, Mark, and Spencer all laid their hands upon Cathy's head as Park gave her a beautiful blessing.  The spirit in the room was so strong.  Cathy said she immediately felt at peace.  We decided as a family to fast for Cathy on Monday, and then come together again as a family on Monday evening to break our fast. 

During the day on Monday, Cathy was able to speak with her oncologist regarding her high bilirubin level.  He said that it is obviously high, but given her current state and her cancer, he wasn't too worried about her unless she was having fevers and chills, which she wasn't.  Also, Cathy has a tube that drains bile externally into a bag, and a tube that helps drain bile internally.  Lately she has not had the bag hooked up, which is probably part of the reason her bilirubin level was so high.  As soon as she hooked it back up, bile started to drain.  She has an appointment on Thursday to get her tube changed...the tube gets clogged and needs to be changed periodically.  Then, on Monday before she gets her chemo, she will get her blood drawn again to check her bilirubin level.  We are all very confidant that her level will be down by Monday, and that she will start feeling better.

We, especially Cathy, are all so grateful for all of the prayers being said in her behalf.  She said on Monday evening before we broke our fast that she has felt all of those prayers.