Mrs. Levie

Hello everyone. As you have probably noticed, I haven't been posting much lately. We've been having a difficult time over here. After we got back from Georgia, Mrs. Levie was admitted to the hospital because she was having difficulty breathing. We later found out that she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Although Edward and I are not religious, we hope that you all will pray for Mrs. Levie. I've pasted Julie's formal announcement below.

Dear friends and family,

I just wanted to write everyone a quick note about my mom's recent hospitalization.

On Sunday, October 12 she was admitted to the hospital due to fluid build-up in her chest, which had caused her discomfort and difficulty breathing for a long time. Her health began to deteriorate rapidly over the last few months to the point that she was unable to walk, stand, or even speak without wheezing and struggling to breathe. A group of her friends (along with her pastor) confronted her that Sunday and urged her to seek medical treatment. Without that intervention, she would probably not be with us today.

The root of her breathing problem appears to be advanced breast cancer, which has spread to her lungs and bones. She has now been in the hospital for over 3 weeks and she will have to remain there until the fluid build-up in her chest has been mediated. She may undergo a surgical procedure later this week to remove the malfunctioning pleural cavity so that her left lung can work at full capacity once again. (A handful of other treatments have been tried, but to no avail.)

Her weekly chemotherapy treatments began last Monday. We're all hopeful that these treatments will do their magic and halt the spread of cancer. We're also hopeful that she'll be able to come home soon (until then we're busy readying the house for the possibility of wheelchair accessibility and sit-down showering).

The support from my mom's Livermore friends has been amazing--she actually had so many visitors her first week in the hospital that she complained to me about not having time for a nap!

As you know, my mom *loves* receiving short notes and cards in the mail. If you would like to send her a get-well-soon note you can mail it to my parents' house in Livermore.

My entire family would benefit from the power of positive thinking and prayer from all of you right now. My mom needs "get well" wishes while the rest of our family could use prayers for concentration on our regular work/school duties.

Thanks in advance for keeping my mom in your thoughts,
Julie (Levie) Bower

--
Julie C. Bower


So now that you know what has been going on in the past month, you can all understand why I have not been posting. I pretty much think about Mrs. Levie, school and what we're going to have for dinner. It is not a happy time for us even though hockey has started and we have a new group of friends to hang out with. We're just hoping to make it through the rest of school so that we can come home.