Medical Update
As Dave explained in the previous post the results of the bone marrow biopsy were not good. They had gone from 8% blasts (cancer cells) to 80%. This was with the 2 weeks of heavy duty chemo he had had a few weeks ago. His blood is already filling with blasts. The consultant has moved from cure to control. Dave has gone back on vincristine, the first chemo drug that produced the first remission. If the vincristine does not halt the multiplication of the blasts then Dave may have weeks. If the vincristine can control the blasts he will have a few months.
I took some more video of Dave with the children. We have had tears but we have laughed today and loved. Tomorrow we are having a small birthday party ( brought forward) with Dave’s immediate family. Dave is still in OK health. Glenise (Dave’s Mum) and I put together a collection of photos into a power point for the party. I had real trouble working out which baby was which in Dave’s arms! The first few babies are fine: their photos were in albums, labelled. Ruth was fine, she was in pink. But was this Jonny, Joe, Tom or Tim ! ? Some clues could be gleamed from clothing, was it summer or winter. Or if I was in the photo I could tell by my hair style. In the end I think I had it sorted.
So its time to embed that cartoon again!
Love Tarnya
David Burge Updates 
Muzzel Tov for your birthday party & a double portion at that! We will pray the “drug switch” brings a positive result.Having God on your side is a real positive. A great wife & mother in Tarnya & a really fine family all there with you. We don’t know too many if any with all of these & a wonderful sense of humour to top it off. Your love for the Lord & His work has never wained. As a worker together with Him many have been influenced for good & found Messiah Jesus as their Saviour.
Brian & Vicky
May 15, 2010 at 10:03 pm
Dear David and Tarnya,
Know that God is nearer than your very heart, that you are loved and known and remembered in heaven and throughout the earth, even now this morning in Houston, Texas! Thank you for your example and faithfulness under the ultimate human stress. In Christ, we are conquerors no matter what!
Love and admiration,
Edward
Edward Fudge
May 15, 2010 at 11:15 pm
Dear David and Tarnya,
The latest report of the cell increase and drug switch has hit us all, but we know that nothing can seperate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I know that you are living in that assurance every day. God bless you! You are deeply loved by Him and by everyone who knows you.
Clio
Clio Thomas
May 16, 2010 at 2:01 am
Hi David and Tarnya
Wish i had some wise words that would encourage your souls. We are praying….
Joni Ereckson-Tada said “God uses sfuffering to purge sin from our lives, to strengthen our committment to him, to force us to depend on grace, to bind us together with other believers, to produce discernment, foster sensitivity, discipline our minds, spend our time wisely, stretch our hope, cause us to know Christ better, make us long for the truth, lead us to repentence of sin, teach us to give thanks in a time of sorrow, increase our faith and strengthen our character.
It is my prayer that you will know these blessings through your time of suffering, and we, who are covering you in prayer, will learn to live this way
in the business of everyday life.
You are never far from our thoughts and prayers
Happy Birthday- enjoy your day
Love Nicky Waddell
nicky waddell
May 16, 2010 at 10:18 am
Dear David, Tarnya and children,
this must be a difficult time for you all. May you be comforted in the knowledge of God’s love, sovereignty and perfect will. Be comforted also in the knowledge that spiritual life in Christ is the greatest possession you can have. Trust in God’s promises, He will not fail.
I hope that tomorrow will be a day of precious and blessed moments, leaving you with wonderful memories.
Love in Christ, Penny.
Penny
May 16, 2010 at 8:53 pm
Isaiah 53:5
5… and by His stripes we are healed.
Under Roman law in Bible times, a criminal was either scourged for a lesser crime and then set free, or crucified straightaway if guilty of a greater crime. But Jesus was both scourged and crucified. Pontius Pilate had hoped that after scourging Jesus and presenting His bloodied body to the people, they would be satisfied and willing to let Him go. But the people were not and demanded His crucifixion instead.
Don’t think for a moment that the people had power to inflict such suffering on Jesus. It was all part of God’s plan and the scourging was necessary for only by His stripes are we healed.
The Roman whip used for scourging was made of leather straps embedded with glass, bone and metal hooks. With just one strike, the instrument would have been wrapped around Jesus’ body, causing the glass, bones and hooks to cut deep into His flesh. And as the whip was pulled back, the hooks would have stripped His flesh off, exposing muscle and bone. Indeed, the psalmist says, “They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me,” (Psalm22:16–17) and “The plowers plowed on My back; they made their furrows long”. (Psalm 129:3)
Although 39 was the maximum number of times one could be whipped according to Jewish law, I believe that Jesus was whipped more times than that because the Romans, who were not likely to regard Jewish law, carried out the scourging.
Whichever the case, His back would have been reduced to a mass of bloody, mutilated flesh. That day, Jesus’ blood flowed freely from His body for your deliverance from every kind of disease and physical affliction. God allowed every one of those stripes to fall on His Son’s body so that your body need not be scourged with diseases.
My friend, if you are sick or suffering from some physical condition, know that Jesus took the scourging as full payment for you to be free of that condition. He bore those stripes so that, today, there is no sickness, no disease left for you to bear. By His stripes you have been healed!
Wee
May 16, 2010 at 10:15 pm
[…] further chemotherapy did not achieve the desired second remission, and the results of a bone marrow biopsy done afterwards were so bad that it was clear that a transplant was not an […]
John 16:33 « David Burge Updates
May 20, 2010 at 9:39 pm