I've been rich and I've been poor.

Rich is better. I saw a poster in a shop once that said that. I thought it was cute.

The miracles we need seem to keep piling up. Karen just got a call from the hospital pharmacy saying I can't continue with chemo unless we pay the full $7,000 for chemo drugs we've already been provided and for which we've been billed. We have $3,000 in our medical donations account, but they told Karen they won't take a partial payment. We did just have $2,000 until today, when we received another significant donation, but those are few and far between. We were holding that $2,000 in reserve to pay for things like the upcoming cat scans that should be scheduled for sometime in the next week or two, that require up front payments rather than being billed. So we could only pay $2,000 now toward the drug bill, holding back the remainder for the cat scan. That means unless another $5,000 appears in the account between now and Tuesday, I'm done with chemo. Otherwise, I'd be receiving several more -- probably between 4 and 8 more weekly treatments. I have no idea how much difference that makes to life expectancy, but presumably some.

My oncologist may have some thoughts on how to get around the financial problem to continue treatments. I'll be able to talk to him about that on Tuesday when I go in to schedule the cat scans. We're also working on scheduling a trip home to Texas around Christmas. I'll work at that time on getting approved for medicaid there, for the possibility of treatment at home if I could benefit from further treatment and can't get it here in Australia.

Beyond that, in God we trust. We remain, as ever, in his hands and he is wise, powerful and loving and that's enough. And we have this day which he has given us, and it's good.

We've just moved into a townhouse of our own, out of the Hearns' house, and we don't have internet connected there yet, so my ability to post updates here and at www.choosing2live.com has been limited. I hope to update www.choosing2live.com after my oncologist's visit on Tuesday, the 7th of August.

Love,
Brad