Back To The Hospital
Well, friends, after a healthy rest, I have some news. The doctors have decided to admit me into the hospital. I am going to have surgery to insert an epidural which will hopefully manage with the pain.
Hello friends, Zac started to write this but is just too tired. So, this is Mandy. I am going to do my best to fill you in. The past two months that Zac has been on hospice has been rough. He has found no physical comfort. He is having a hard time breathing and is now on oxygen. He is not sleeping or eating. If he tries to eat, he ends up throwing it right back up. Because of that he has lost quite a bit of weight. Our nurse has been excellent helping every way she possibly can. Unfortunately, the pain he is experiencing,which the Dr. describes as visceral, is hard to treat with oral medication. So we are now at “Plan B.” He is going in today to have a temporary epidural put it. If he tolerates this well and we see it is helping with the pain, he will then have a permanent pain pump put in. This pain pump requires surgery. We will know more through the next couple days at the hospital. Our prayer is that the temporary one goes well, he has no pain and that the pump will be a success. If this works we are looking at Zac being pain free for the first time in many months.We ask that you remain from visiting or sending flowers.
We are so thankful for all of the support we have been shown. What a blessing. We love hearing from all of you that you are thinking of our family and praying for us. The love that has been shown to our family is overwhelmingly wonderful. So continue with us on this journey. Pray with us, hope with us. Always keeping in mind that God is God and God is good, no matter what. Even if this procedure is the end. Christ is All!
Thanks Amanda for the update. Praying for each of you from Flagstaff!
Hey Zac and Mandy, praying for you and your family. We’ve never met, but you have touched me and my family here at NewSpring!
Leo, Kim, Steve, Nicole, and Jessica
I got you Zac!
praying for you and your family brother…
Praying for you guys!
Thank you for the update, Zac & Mandy. Praying that this procedure will provide relief.
i was sorta hoping, just for fun, that the “alternative” pain mgmt would be weed. so hopeful that the epidural will be effective…love you guys!
We are praying for you Smith family! I am sorry to hear he is in so much pain and I wish I had the words to say. From my own experience I know that there just is not words to say so instead I tell you that I love you guys and will continue to pray for peace and comfort!
Zac and Mandy, although I have not commented here, I have been following Zacs progress through this blog and FB. I just wanted you to know how much my family is praying for you. Not just the three of us but my extended family and church family. Please continue to let us know how we can pray and support you and your family during this time! Tomorrow is hope;)
Thanks for the update, M &Z. I hope it all goes as well as it possibly can and brings Z some merciful freedom from pain. Love you guys so much.
Praying for you and your family with all my heart.
Zac, I have prayed for you everyday since the service. You are such a inspiration. I know God has a great plan for you and your family. Your life has made me change the way I look at and live mine. Thanks for living for Jesus the way you do. My prayers are with you and you family. Jason Adams
Our prayers are with you and your family. God Bless. Love, Aunt Carol
Mandy, please convey to Zac, and know that it comes for you as well, that God sent scripture to me this morning as I read my devotion for this day–
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
Lam 3:21-26
Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Psalm 34:8
Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence O Lord…”I have bestowed strength on a warrior; I have exalted a young man from among the people.” Psalm 89
Thank you Zac and Mandy for your witness. The miracles are coming. God IS who he says he is, and he never breaks a promise. Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gifts. I pray in thanksgiving for the answers to all our prayers.
I am praying with your family for relief, and thanking the Lord that his hand, more marvelous than all, is over this situation.
Lifting you up in prayer from Philadelphia.
Thanks for completing the update, Mandy. We are praying for you over here in Kenya. I like your last comment, Christ is All. I preached a message once on the theme, Christ is All, All is well. May our good God work His will out in your lives and open even more doors of service through this long ordeal. We love you guys.
Praying for you guys, Zac and Mandy. Thank you so much for keeping us tied in with you in prayer.
You are in our hearts and prayers.
Thank you for the update. Think about and pray for you and your wife and your children all the time.
Love you guys and praying for your daily!
Hi Mandy,
Just want you and Zac to know you all have been, and remain, in our prayers. God IS good. One Day, in heaven, when we are finally all together, we will surely see just how good He really is. I want to thank our daughter Meg, and son-in-law, Ken Wilson, for letting us know about Zac and what he has been going through. And we will be asking the Lord for some pain relief soon for Zac.
Many people in Springfield continue to prayer for you and your family.
Our prayers are with you – we have been praying and following Zac’s blog for quite some time now, and to say it has been an inspiration to us would be an understatement. May God give you all the strength needed in the days to come. The Rojas family in Canada (Laurie Smith’s sister)
Zac estamos orando por tí….
Dios ahce cosas maravillosas en nuestras vidas, y se que lo está haciendo con tu vida…….. confiamos en que Dios se glerifique en tu salud…..
Good to get an update. Praying that Zac will be able to experience relief from the awful pain he is experiencing. Your family is often in my thoughts. Sending love from California…
In fervent prayer for you guys. Praying for no pain and cool pillows.
Zac & Mandy, your family is in our dailly prayers. What an awesome testimony your faith in our Lord provides. I am in awe that in the midst of all that you are going through, you still keep your focus on God, and continue to love and praise him. Making time to spread the word of God, with your faith, adoration, and strenght the Lord gives you, you are helping us grow stronger in our faith with God. You are a true inspiration, always giving the glory to God in everything that you do.
God Bless you all!!
Praying for relief and comfort! Numbers 6:24-26
Praying by the day, hour and minute….always with you all in our hearts in Quito! Much love and grace thru this valley!
I am praying along with the rest at NewSpring. Zac is an inspiration. God is God and he is good.
We’re praying for you guys!
Amanda,
I love you! I’m there with you in prayer and in spirit.
Jeanette
i love you family and i’m praying you up big brother— God is the Greater Than….
Up and praying for you all tonight. May the Lord bless and keep you, make his face to shine upon you and place his countenance around about you.
Dear Mandy and kids- I am praying for you all to have comfort and peace in your hearts. Zac was a true soldier of Christ, and is an inspiration to millions of others who also suffer.
I know what he went thru b/c I had the same cancer when I was 28 (1994) and another serious cancer in 2003.
Zac is now in the prescence of the Lord and is no longer suffering…he is probably dancing with Jesus and the angels. And I’m sure he is looking down upon his family with tremendous love, and is praying for you all daily.
May God’s angels wrap their loving arms around you daily. Your sisiter-in-Christ Jesus, Marianne