Rnporter’s Weblog

Rosa and I want to truly let all of you know just how much we appreciate all the comments, prayers, love and support we have received since this all started last Tuesday afternoon.  Wow!  A whole week has gone by and we are not sure just how much longer we have.  But this I’m sure of and that is that God is mighty and strong enough to sustain all of His children throughout whatever trail or test they may face.  So Roy and Rosa Porter and their family have nothing to fear but that we would miss to blessing He has prepared for them at the finish line. Praise God!

Since we started blogging about Rosa 475 people have viewed it and read at least one of the blogs so I pray that they have seen the work of God and either share in the giving of glory unto Him or have been amazed at His works.  Perhaps, some have even been blessed when they were facing their on challenge or difficulty in life.  I even have faith that a soul could be saved in just reading anyone of these and be led by the Holy Spirit to have faith and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal saviour.  Amen! 

There have been 109 comments expressing love and support to all of the Porter, Powell families.  Thank you again.  That’s awesome within itself.  I am glad that one of you, Jason Sessoms, encouraged me to even consider doing a blog as a pastor and servant of Christ before all this happened.  God knew what was coming my way and opened the door graciously so that I would have a support system like I had never seen. After this is all over with I do plan to keep a blog going. 

Tomorrow, I also plan to draft a letter for Sharon, our church secretary to mail out.  I realize that there are several left out of things and aren’t getting the words I’m posting on the blog.  Those of you who have prayer chains are at least able to share it and update others, but I don’t want anyone to feel that I am excluding them.

Well I better stop or this one will be to long to read.

Love my church.  Roy

Good morning everyone.  Thanks for the prayers as Rosa was able to go through the MRI.  She is resting at this time and they are going to give her a morphine pump so she can control the pain.  That’s all for now.

Love you all.  Roy

P.S.  GOOD NEWS!!!!  ROSA’S LEUKEMIA IS IN THE CHRONIC PHASE WHICH IS THE EARLIEST PHASE AND SHE WILL REQUIRE ONLY THE LOWEST DOSAGE OF THE MEDICINE.  “PRAISE THE LORD FOR HE IS MIGHTIER AND HE IS OUR PROVIDER”. AMEN AND AMEN.

Rosa is resting as comfortable as possible I guess.  She has had a good day thus far and I’m thankful.  She has shown some signs of strengthening and that’s good.  As for the MRI I told those of you at church this morning, it want be until tomorrow.  The nurse was confused by it being the weekend and forgot that they only do emergencies.  So we have to wait some more.  But all in all things are quiet and I hope you all are getting some rest as well.

I enjoyed being with you at church today and sharing about Rosa and preaching.  I wasn’t sure how it would go.  I avoided as much contact before the service simply because I didn’t want to get emotional and not then be able to go out there before everyone.  I just meditated and prayed before each service. 

You all were very understanding and cooperative and for that I am very grateful.  Please know that Rosa and I know how much you love us and care for us as do Tess, her family, and Russ. 

As for that MRI, Rosa ask that you pray for her to be able to go through that.  She has had one before and the worst part for her is being able to lie that still for any length of time.  Hurting the way she does already and now with all the extra pain, well, you can imagine.  So please pray that she can do it.  And, pray for the results to be great.

Love Pastor Roy and all my family.

Today, Rosa has been drowsy and sleeping more that usual.  Her right eye must have gotten scratched or irritated somehow so they have put a patch over it with drops every four hours.  They have removed all pain medicine except for when she request it and so far she hasn’t yet she says the pain in her side and left hip is still about a seven.  Her body has slowed a lot because of that and it’s very difficult to get her into and out of the bed.  She is afraid of movement of any kind for fear it will just hurt like heck.  I don’t blame her.

Due to the drowsiness and sleepiness being without reason since she wasn’t all that medicated the doctor on call did order another C.T. Scan of her head today.  What they found was simply incidental and has nothing to do with the leukemia.  They found a mass, about tree centimeters in size, on the right side of her head.  The radiologist called it a, benign “Meningioma”. It’s not attached to anything and doesn’t seem to be contributing to any of her other symptoms or problems.  Praise God for that.  What will have to be done remains until the oncologist returns on Monday and adds that into the equation of treatment. 

Rosa remains to be a real trooper in all of this and I am very proud of her.  She is just hoping and praying like the rest of us for good to come out of it and God to receive the glory.  Please keep praying and keep lifting her up.  We know that God is a sovereign God and He is with us every step we take and every turn in the road.  It’s so great to have faith in Him and trust Him through it all.

Remember, Rosa and I love you all and will keep you posted as best we can. 

In Christ, Roy

Psalms 4:1 ( NKJV )  ”Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness!

You have relieved me in my distress; Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer. ”

God has certainly been faithful to us and heard our prayers.  We are praising Him that thins are looking better.  The white blood cell count is improving and we are hopeful that by Monday she will be able to go home. 

Please continue to lift her up on a daily basis and ask for renewed physical strength. 

We love you all and have so much to be thankful for.

God bless you and keep you in all His mercy.

Your friend in Christ,

Roy

Good news!  The doctor has confirmed the type of luekemia that Rosa has and it is Chonic myeloid which means it is treatable with a tablet and has a very high percentage of success in putting this type into remission.  She will be in the hospital a few more days to get her started and should begin to see results within a couple of weeks.  The white blood cells count will begin to drop and the spleen will shrink back to normal. 

We give God glory, honor and praise.

Thanks for all the prayers and please continue for Rosa needs to be restored in her health physically and gain strength.  So please continue to pray for her and all of us.

We love you all.

Roy Porter

My wife, Rosa and I had just left the doctor’s office where she had an appointment with her primary physican.  We were on our way home when she began to hurt just under her left rib cage with servere pain.  At first she wanted to go home and try and wear it off, but we soon discovered that she couldn’t even get into the bed for hurting so bad.  So back to the doctor’s office we went only to have them send her on to the emergency room.  Next thing we knew was that her white blood cells were elevated greatly.  Normal is between 6,000 to 10,000.  Her’s was 325,000, WOW!  That meant something was seriously wrong and we needed to find out.  The doctor soon was telling us that Rosa had a form of Leukemia.  We are now findind out it may be Chronic myelogenous which is treatable but can still be very serious depending on what stage it is in at the time.  We are hoping for the earliest stage. 

So i am asking all of you who read this please pray for Rosa especially and me and the rest of the family as we go through this together.  We are relying on God for strength and refuge every step from here.

Thanks and God bless you all and if you are facing a trail or maybe soon will, know that He loves you too and so do we.

Roy Porter

I was reading the prayer focus by A.W. Tozer in the PrayerPoint magazine from Samaritan’s Purse and discoverd an interesting point. That is, sometimes when we are praying we so often take for grantid that we are through when we quit. God, on the other hand may say that we are not through until we have prayed. A. W. Tozer said, ” The habit of breaking off our prayer before we have truly prayed is as common as it is unfortunate.” You may have prayed earnestly for half and hour or more, but it’s the last few miniutes that brings us to glorify the Father for we just then got into the proper mood to pray effectively. It’s not until we have struggled with our thoughts and request and drawn them in from the chaos of this busy world and distinguished the ideal from the real.
“Praying Through,” is what we can see over and over again illustrated in the life of all praying saints, from Daniel to the present day. So, “we cannot afford to stop praying till we have actually prayed,” can we?