Weekend Prayer Requests

Sam went in this morning for his second chemo. I stayed home so that his sister, Ann who is a nurse could go along and ask more intellegent questions for us. She will be our "nurse-in-residence" as she is living in our little basement apartment. She also just completed an on line nursing course on cancer.

Please pray for Sam especially over the weekend and following week. They say that the effects of chemo are cummulative so this could be a rough week. We'll try to keep you posted on it. In the mean time pray that the chemo kills the cancer cells without too many side effects. The list of potential side effects can be scary. They tell you everything upfront so you won't be surprised, but everyone reacts to chemo differently.

Along with the chemo, that drips in intraveneously, is some anti-nausea medicine. That really helps, but only lasts about 72 hours. After that he may have to take some pills. He did that on several days this past week and it seemed to help. However, he did feel like he had the flu a couple of days. The bad thing about those achy symptoms is that he can't take aspirin. Pray that he has a good week and is not too wiped out.

This morning after my Quiet Time with the Lord a song was going through my brain.
"Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His Wonderful Face and the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of His Glory and Grace."

I'm trying hard to do this but cancer is not strangely dim yet. Jesus's face sure is wonderful though and I don't know how we'd make it without his Glory & Grace. The Lord is using your emails and comments to help encourage us and help us keep our eyes on Jesus. Please include your last names on your blog comments because we know too many folks with the same first names. We love you all and appreciate each and everyone of you.

Sam - the BUSY bionic man

Thursday Sam had his medi-port put in and is all "hooked up" for his future chemo experiences. It went very well all except for having to skip breakfast and wait until the hospital lunch came at 2PM. He just about licked his plate clean. The nurses were hoping he'd leave his lemon bar for them but he took it home for "afternoon tea"!

They had put him in "la-la land" but he could see some of what they were doing on a monitor. When they woke him up he asked if they had started yet. It's amazing what they can do. The "port" was slipped in under his skin on his chest through a small 2" cut. They made another smaller cut up by his neck to slip the tube down into his vein. He was such a good sport and only complained about the small cut. The port allows him to be hooked up each Friday quite easily and frees him up to be BUSY. However, he's not going to be doing bench presses.

Friday was BUSY from 9 AM to 1:00 trying out this new bionic piece in his chest as he got his first chemo. When that was done he said, "Let's go to Lowes. I want to get a part for my sprinklers. You can go to Costco for pills and ice cream." Is this guy supposed to be sick? They gave him meds along with the chemo to keep him from being nauseous and they seem to be working and are supposed to last 72 hrs. Pray that Monday and beyond go well.

After our errands and a chocolate coated, dipped in almonds Dove Bar we headed home for a healthy home cooked supper with his sister. We explained all our chemo lessons to her over dinner since she will be our nurse in residence.

This morning we dressed for our usual Sat. morning bike ride but opted for homemade Belgian waffles on the deck and a late afternoon hike in the part. Right now he's out on his riding mower cutting the lawn. Is this BUSY bionic guy supposed to be sick? Pray that this continues. It must be all your prayers for us so don't let up. Next Friday's chemo is supposed to have a cumulative effect. Pray that he continues to beat the odds and predictions.

The opposite of BUSY in my mind is being still or resting. There's a wonderful verse that is painted on the front wall in our church back in PA. I had often thought it was a curious choice for an evangelical church to have front and center. I've given devotionals on it in the past but recently it has taken on new meaning and depth and I'm very glad that it was on that wall each Sunday morning for all those years.

It is Matthew 11:28 -29.

vs. 28 "Come unto Me all you who are weary and heavey-laiden and I will give you rest.
vs. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and YOU SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS."

The last couple of days this passage has been featured in my devotionals from Oswald Chambers. He says at one point, "The great solution is the simple one - "Come unto Me." The depth of our reality is tested by these words.........Whenever anything begins to disintegrate your life with Jesus Christ, turn to Him at once and ask Him to establish rest........"

Space will not allow for me to share the whole devotional but if you can go to My Utmost for His Highest for days 8/19 & 8/20. At one point Oswald even says, "It is the sick man who knows what health is. ......." He goes on to say, " The child of God never prays to be conscious that God answers prayer, he is so restfully certain that God always does answer prayer."

We find that very encouraging as we are storming the gates of heaven for a miracle. We hope it encourages you too.

Back from the north and moving forward up our "hill"

We had a lovely visit with both the Governor and First Lady of RI on August 12th. We got a tour of their Capitol and then they took us out to lunch at a wonderful restaurant along the water. The weather was delightful and what a joy to get to know them both better and hear how the Lord has led in their lives.

The following day, the 13th we visited with Maine's First Lady. She shared the history of her gorgeous, old, New England style home. The weather again was perfect as we walked through her flower garden out back. Earlier in her careers, Karen had been a dietician so she had some encouraging ideas for Sam's new diet. Pray for both of these families as they too face uncertain futures as this is both of their last terms. Thirty seven governors change at this next election so make sure you VOTE.

We left Augusta and headed for the Maine coastline. The drive was beautiful as we meandered through old, picturesque, tiny towns. We arrived at Acadia National Park and checked into our quiet campsite at Seawall. We took our dinner at the Jordan Pond House in the park and the food and view were terrific. We toured the park on Saturday starting at the very top of our east coast on Cadilac Mtn. where we drank in the 360 degree views.

The next stop was a friends rustic cottage in the Adirondacks. There we met up with Sam's sister, Ann and her husband Phil. We chased them around the lake in kayaks, did a jigsaw puzzle, watched a dvd and enjoyed Ann's good cooking before the long drive home into our unknown future.

Today, Wednesday the 18th we spent the afternoon at the oncologist's office being taught about chemotherapy. It's back to looking at the immediate road ahead and pushing hard on each stroke of our peddles. Tomorrow, Thursday, August 19th, Sam will go in to Reston Hospital to have his medicine port put into his chest. It will allow the weekly chemotherapy to be given easily. They will have to "put him under" to insert the port device so it will take the whole morning and he will be groggy when I take him home.

Friday, August 20th he will go to the oncologist's office for his first round of chemo. It will take 5 hours for it to slowly drip in. We will get a lot of reading done each Friday as we repeat this two weeks on and one week off. After three rounds they will probably do scans again to see how the mass is shrinking and the cancer cells are being killed off.

PRAY that the Lord takes our new improved nutrition regime and these drugs and multiplies their effect and works HIS miracles in Sam's cells and body. Sam has an excellent and positive attitude which will stand him in good stead. Pray for me to be strong and encouraging. (A nurse, I am not! Thankfully, Ann who is a nurse will be home this weekend to help us.)

Will you join us in claiming Exodus 14:13?
"Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord."

Remember what our friend, Karen, (who also is a cancer survivor) said,
"It was the faith of the paralyzed man's friends that caused Jesus to heal the man; not the man's faith."

We are counting on your prayers and faith to be like the paralyzed man's friends, tearing off the roof tiles and lowering the man before Jesus in the house below. We love each and every one of you and are sorry that we haven't been able to write back to each of you but your cards and printed out emails surround us.

Johns Hopkins Review

We had a very nice time in Baltimore. Hopkins got us an excellent rate at a beautiful hotel and we went out to Little Italy for dinner after Sam's MRI on my birthday. The next morning, Tues. the 10th, we met with a doctor at JHH. He gave us the report from their team of doctors which pretty much concurred with our Reston oncologist although he thought that the mass on Sam's liver was not covering quite as much of his liver.

JHH recommended the same chemo cocktail as Reston has suggested and feels that this is the best approach along with eliminating white sugars, fatty foods and red meats. Because Sam experiences early satiatity they also agreed with lots of small high calorie meals throughout the day. Now the challenge for me, Sam's resident dietician is to fatten him up without fattening me up :o)

The JHH doc said we could still go on our little "vacation" before starting chemo so we are at our son, Scotty's in NYC for two days and will go on to meet the first ladies in RI and ME as we had planned. We will spend a couple days in ME before driving home to start our weekly "cocktail hours". We will do two on and one off weeks rotating like that for nine weeks and then re evalutate things and see how the chemo is working.

Please pray that Sam's body responds well to all this and that we do well emotioally. I was re-reading Chuck Swindol's book "Encouragement for Life" this morning. He starts his second chapt. with I Peter 4:19 which has the words "entrust" to a "faithful creator". Chuck goes on to explain the word "entrust" this way.

Entrust. What a wonderful word! It is a banking term in the original text, meaning to deposit. When it comes to trials, we depost ourselves into God's safekeeping and that deposit yields eternal dividends."

Sunny Saturday's Perspectives

We got up this morning and pretended life was normal. We went for a bike ride to the Great Harvest Bread store and bought a loaf of Apple Scrapple Bread. (Is this is a start on becoming a health food nut?)

On the ride back home I was working my way up a long hard hill. Sam was well ahead of me. I thought that this is much like what we are tackling in our lives as we face CANCER. If I look at how long and steep the hill ahead is, I get discouraged and want to get off my bike and walk it up the rest of the way.

If I look down at the bike path and work on each push on the peddle right below me, I do better. I make it up the hill with one push at a time focusing on the road below. As I do this, I don't realize or see how steep and long the hill is ahead of me. I don't think about quiting and before I know it I'm at the top catching up with Sam and enjoying a cool drink of water from my bike bottle.

I can't say that was an epiphany but I did pause and thank the Lord for that perspective. We arrived at home and enjoyed a slice of apple scrapple bread with cream cheese. I looked across the counter to my mug that says, "With God All Things are Possible" and thanked Him for for who He is and that He cares about the smallest details of our lives.

Please keep praying that we will know after Tuesday's consultation at JHH which way to "steer our bikes" as we push each mundane pedal on the road right below us.

Our Next Step

We couldn't write much last time because we were still processing our difficult situation. We just put the diagnosis on the blog so you would know something.

For our medical friends this is exactly what we were told. It's called Metastic Chelangis Carcinoma or simply put Stage IV Biliary Cancer. I guess this conclusion was drawn from all the MRI's, CAT scan, and blood work. He had the marker called CA 19.9 which I believe is a cancer producing protein. The oncologist in Reston (Dr. Felice) wants to treat this with 2 chemos called Gemzar and Cisplatin. People tell us that these are the "big guns" or "gold standards". But we don't know where we will ultimately go.

We are going for a second opinion on Tues. morning Aug. 10th at Johns Hopkins Liver Dept. They want us to come up there on Mon. night for another MRI. I am expecting Sam to start glowing in the dark soon. That should help me find him in the middle of the night. At least by now he's learned that they won't let you wear jeans in the donut because they have metal brads on them. Next time he'll wear gym pants so he can stay warm :o)

Monday is my birthday so we are going to go up to Baltimore earlier in the day and walk around the Inner Harbor before the MRI and then out to dinner after the test. The next morning we will meet with the Hopkins' team of specialists. Thanks for your prayers and encouraging words. When making comments on this blog, please use the initial of your last name as we know too many folks with the same first names. We are claiming Ps. 71:12; 14-18.

A.B. Tozer said,
"Unbelief says:
some other time, but not now;
some other place, but not here;
some other people, but not us.

Belief says:
anything He did anywhere else He will do here;
anything He did any other time He is willing to do now;
anything He ever did for other people He is willing to do for us!"

quick answer

It's stage 4 Biliary CANCER with spots on the lungs.

MTCP test

Sam enjoyed his second time going through the MRI machine so much that he fell asleep and the technician had to wake him up to tell him to hold his breath. :o) We were the last scan of the day. Afterwards we went out to dinner and came home and watch a John Candy movie. Proverbs says, "Laughter doeth good like medicine."

Now we wait until we talk with the oncologist tomorrow at 3PM to hear how his parts showed up on the scan. Pray for peace and patience for us and for discernment for the doc as he reads the scan and breaks the "news" to us.

We couldn't make it through all this without your continued prayers.

August Begins and Tests Continue

We praised the Lord all weekend for the stomach results but were still haunted in the quiet moments with the uncertainty of where Sam's cancer is. While we've ruled out stomach and liver and probably large intestine there are still a lot of places where his cancer could be. We continue to need your prayers for peace and for wisdom for the doctors.

We had a wonderful weekend at our daughter Kristi's lake house with Kevin and his family as well. What fun to watch our two grand daughters interact and get to know each other better. Sam's cousin Paul brought his family for Saturday afternoon boat rides and swimming. Sam felt well and we forgot our problems for three days.

Tuesday Aug. 2nd it was back to the hospital for more tests. We had a CAT scan and a Bone scan. Sam gagged down what they called a vanilla smoothie and went in and out of a machine they affectionately called a donut. It was nothing like the smoothies and donuts that you and I enjoy. They put some sort of radioative "stuff" in his viens and told us to wait 2 hrs. Then the put him on a slab and told him to lie still while they slowly ran him through some other machine. I tried to entertain him by reading a magazine to him.

We won't know the offical readings on these tests for at least 24 hours but the technician leaked out to us that we shouldn't lose any sleep over the bone scan. Whew!

Tomorrow, Wed. the 3rd we will go back to the hospital to have some sort of test called an MRCP of the abdomen to evalute the pancreas and biliary tree. I don't think that's like any tree we've got in our yard :o) Poor Sam has to miss another meal fasting for yet another test.

The family doctor called today and said that the biopsy samples that were sent to TX for further evaluation did not reveal anything. So another big question mark.

We hope all this gives our medical friends some insight because we sure don't know what to make of all this. The bottom line is to keep praying for the doctors to find out where the cancer is located so that they can treat it and begin to work on shrinking the large mass on Sam's liver.

Today a dear friend texted Zeph 3:17 to us as we sat in the radiology waiting room. It's so encouraging to know:
"The Lord your God has arrived to live among you. He is a mighty Savior. He will give you victory. He will rejoice over you in great gladness. He will love you."