A lot has happened since Kathleen's last chemotherapy treatment and it's been good news! On September 12th, we made a trip to Iowa City to have the broken catheter removed from an artery in Kathleen's lung. Dr. Sun, an Interventional Radiologist from the U. of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, removed the catheter in less than an hour! He used a similar technique that is used for an angioplasty. He made an incision in Kathleen's right leg and used an instrument to go through her veins, through her heart and into her lung. Dr. Sun successfully retrieved the catheter without any problems or complications. By 4pm, we were back in DBQ. Modern medicine is amazing!

Yesterday (September 18th) the rest of the port was surgically removed by Dr. Obbink at Mercy Hospital. Again, no complications or problems of note. Kathleen is sore and probably will be for the next few days, but she is happy to have these foreign objects removed!

On Thursday (September 21st) Kathleen will begin radiation. She will undergo radiation 5 days a week for 6-7 weeks. From what we've heard, radiation is quite a bit easier to take than chemo. We certainly hope and pray that will be the case.

Thanks to all of you for your continued support and prayer. We certainly feel that we were guided to Iowa City to have the catheter removed, which turned out to be the perfect place to be. We have definitely felt the power of prayer since Kathleen was diagnosed in April. We thank you for those prayers and ask you to continue to pray for Kathleen. Specifically, we ask you to pray that her port site heals quickly and completely without infection. We also ask you to pray that God guides the radiologists and specialists as they provide treatment for Kathleen. Please pray that the radiation is 100% effective in removing any remaining cancer cells. As always, we ask you to continue to pray that Kathleen will defeat cancer and that it will never recur in her body again. If you are reading this, you know how special she is to you and to her family. Please continue to keep Kathleen and her family in your daily prayers.