Update for April 28th

I did my chemo treatment yesterday. All my counts were high enough to receive the drugs. The doctor did say I have a case of Thrush which is a fungus in my mouth. If not treated it could get serious. He prescribe a prescription of Nystatin so I will be taking that three times a day now. Everything went according to plan with the treatment. I would like to thank my brother Ron for coming and sitting through the treatment with Linda and I. What a boring day it had to have been for him. I am still carrying around the chemo fusion ball with me and will go in to have it removed on Thursday. My next treatment will be in two weeks. I hope and pray that these treatments are working by shrinking the tumors. They are long, not fun and pretty boring.

Please continue to pray for Linda and I. God renews us each and everyday for this long battle that we have been going through.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" Philippians 4:13

Update for April 22

Linda and I are at the cabin this week. We came up yesterday evening and are staying until Sunday. We haven't been up since the first of January. The weather has not been the greatest be we are cozy inside out of the rain and wind. We took a drive to the lake today and it is still coated with a layer of ice. Linda is working from up here and I am just relaxing doing some reading and bible study. We took our dog for a long walk this morning and it was good to breath the fresh air. It's nice just to get away for a few days. I will be back to chemo next week on Tuesday so I need to take advantage of this time.

We are so blessed to have this mountain retreat and we thank God for it each time we come up here.

Please continue to pray for Linda and I.

God bless you all

Doug

Update for April 15th

I had my chemo treatment on Tuesday as planned. Everything went accordingly. We got to MSTI about 8:30 and and left about 3:30. It's an all day affair with not much to do but sit and watch TV or do word puzzles. I did get sick Wednesday morning and threw up several times, but now seem to have it under control. I am back on the schedule of treatments every two weeks until my next PET Scan in about three months. We are going back to doing 100% instead of the 75% we were doing before. I will be going back in today to remove the fusion ball that I have been carrying around with me since Tuesday.

Last Saturday I was able to give my testimony at our men's breakfast. It was exciting to tell my story and what the Lord has been doing in my life. After I was done all the men (about 70)gathered around me and prayed for Linda and I. It was really neat to have that kind of support from the men at the breakfast.

Well that's about all for now. Looks like we will finally get some nice days so I hope to get outside some. Maybe get to the cabin next week.

Please continue to pray for Linda and I as we go through this long hard journey. With these new test results (see last weeks blog) things don't look as good.

God bless you all for your continually concern and prayers for us. We love you all.

Update of PET Scan

Linda and I went to the doctor yesterday to find out the results of my PET/CT scan from last Friday. I'm afraid the results were not as good as we had hope for. There were five area's of concern. Let me give you the conclusion from the report:

1Multiple new subcentimeter lung nodules and increased activity within the larger left upper and lower lobe lung masses consistent with progression of metastatic disease.

2 Interval increase in activity and size of left parotid mass, consistent with progression of metastatic disease (this is the area behind my ear).

3 New left lateral segment liver lesion consistent with metastasis (this is a new spot in the liver).

4 Stable activity at the rectoanal junction, which is likely related to postsurgical changes, but residual or recurrent tumor in this region cannot be excluded.

5 Persistent activity in the right posterior 6th rib, consistent with skeletal metastasis.

As you can read there are several area's of concern from this report.

What's Next

We talked about several options and the doctor wanted to go back over my charts for the last 6 years to see if there was anything that we could try differently. He did mention a drug named Erbitux. This drug is classified as a "monoclonal antibody" and "signal transduction inhibitor" by binding to epidermal growth factor receptors. As for right now I was put back on the schedule to start up chemo next Tuesday. We will go back to 100 percent instead of the 75 percent that I had been getting. Of course all that could change after he has read through all my charts but for now that is the plan of attack.

Steve Camp wrote a song several years ago that I take a lot of comfort in, here is the chorus.

He Covers Me

Steve Camp

Chorus:

I know that some day I will be free

The weight of sin shall be released

But for now He covers me

And though the trials never end

I learn to take them as my friend

For each day He covers me

Saturday April 3rd

Linda and I were at the hospital bright and early yesterday to do my PET Scan. I was the first one in line to check in and the first appointment of the day. Everything went as planned except for the pain I had in the area's where I had had radiation done. Laying on my back really hurt. I made it through the scan and was relieved to get it over with. I was done about 9:30 and then it was off to breakfast.
I will find out the results of the scan on Tuesday when I meet with the doctor. We will go over the results of the scan and discuss further treatments. Please pray for good results and a good report from the doctor.

I hope everyone had a great spring break. Tomorrow is Easter. I pray that you will celebrate the day that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ rose from the grave.

John 11:25 Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live."
Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Christianity would be just another empty religion. The resurrection is at the very foundation of our belief.

Happy Resurrection day!