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April 23, 2005
May the God of hope...
I’ve waited to write again until we had something definite to say. We’ve struggled to come up with the best arrangements for Wil. We didn’t find anyone flying directly to Portland at the end of May, and Wil didn’t want a three hour drive on top of a transpacific flight, or more hours of waiting alone in an airport for a connecting flight to Portland. So to speed his return he has agreed to fly straight to Portland on May 28, with a family we know as far as Tokyo, and then as an unaccompanied minor to Portland. That involves an extra fee, but not an extra flight for him. And Dave and I are booked to fly on May 10, arriving May 10 at the same time (on the clock) as we leave Manila!!
After we leave, Wil will spend a week with the family of one of his classmates (Nathan Bugbee) , and the rest of the time with the Burdicks. Brent has been our pastor, his wife Kim an incredibly supportive friend, and Dawson and Wil have been best friends for a number of years. They leave for home assignment on May 31, so are going more than an extra mile in including Wil as a part of their family during those last hectic days.
Thank you for praying for our sorting and packing to be balanced with time with friends. We’ve finished going through files (I still had notes from Bible studies I led 25 years ago and Tagalog language study materials that went back even further!) and sorting books. And we’ve even gone through the things that we had set aside that reminded us of Ben. So the hardest part of sorting is over. My friend Tammy came to help with packing and in less than four hours she had packed almost everything in the china cabinet and most of the books…everything we had finished sorting and even more! Many other friends have offered to help, but we can’t even keep up with Tammy! Today John Cranston and Dave are building a box to hold our paintings and framed pictures.
This Sunday we will attend Lord of Life Christian Fellowship to say goodbye to friends there and the following week, after a three day visit to Calapan, Mindoro, we will stop in Tanauan to say farewell to more friends. I lived in Tanauan two different times when I was still single, we were married in the church there, and it was home for the first year of our marriage. I just wish there was time to return to other places I’ve lived in Batangas province and other churches I’ve been a part of as well. We’ve been blessed already by healthy farewells with many Filipino and missionary friends here in Manila.
The Lord really is upholding us. We had one bad night (4/22) when we felt very much under attack: so many things seemed to be going wrong, so much confusion, I was in physical pain and Dave and I were both feeling discouraged. But we saw it as a spiritual attack, prayed together and focused on promises God has given us, and within 12 hours we were coping again. We know many of your are praying, and even though it is hard to write when everything looks bleak, we know the Lord is in control. One friend included Romans 15:13 in her note and I want that verse to be true for me: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Posted by David at 11:35 AM
April 15, 2005
Plan A, plan B
It seems like as soon as I write an update, everything changes! Well, not everything. I do still need to return to the US for medical treatment and since there is no way of knowing what drugs will be most effective in containing my cancer, or how long they will continue to be effective, it’s clear that we need to consider this as a permanent move. But God could decide to heal me completely or to keep the malignant cells under control through medication for years to come, so the future continues to be in His hands. He knows the number of our days, and what He wants to accomplish in and through us.
We saw a second oncologist on Tuesday and Wednesday in Singapore, Dr. Karmen Wong, a lovely sister in Christ. The ‘Plan A’ she recommended was identical with Dr. Khoo’s, but she also said that ‘Plan B’ could be to begin with the aromatase inhibitor treatment, and if or when that proves to be ineffective, move to Plan A. We have opted to start with Plan B, and I have already been taking these tiny tablets for several days with no adverse side effects. Their job is to inhibit estrogen in my body and hopefully contain the tiny spots that have shown up in the liver. This treatment will need to be monitored every two months through blood tests and CT scans. As long as it is effective, I can continue on my one-a-day tablets. If the spots start to grow I’ll need to have a central line and start on chemo.
Going with Plan B allowed me to start treatment sooner, and return to the Philippines for almost a month before returning to Portland, Oregon. My surgeon, Dr. Chua, gave me permission to fly with Dave and Wil, and took us all out to dinner the night before we left! We should have been treating him!! Dr. Wong has given me a large enough supply of the medication I’m on to keep me going for almost two months, but just in case there are any snags along the way, our OMF doctor doesn’t want me to wait more than four weeks before returning to the States.
Wil wants to stay to finish the school year at Faith Academy and we think it will work out for him to stay with friends for the last two weeks. So our first concern is to find a seat on a plane for Wil with a missionary/ family traveling to the US soon after May 26th. He is OK with taking a short connecting flight after he get to the States to join us, but doesn’t want to make the trans-Pacific flight alone. Please pray that we will be able to get Wil a booking soon. Many return to the States from Faith Academy for the summer. So the trick isn’t finding someone going, but combining that with an available seat. Once he has a booking, we will try to get seats ourselves on a flight on May 10th, arriving in Portland May 11th. If we can’t get a ticket for Wil, Dave will stay in Manila until he and Wil can fly together. We are already receiving offers of accommodation from friends at church, so have no doubt that we will have a roof over our heads when we arrive.
Dave’s next concern is sorting and selling and shipping belongings and Karen’s is seeing as many friends as possible and healthy closure before leaving the Philippines. Ask God to give us the grace and strength, wisdom and peace to finish well on both fronts.
Posted by David at 1:57 PM
April 11, 2005
He is in control...
Dave and Wil arrived in Singapore on Friday evening and on Saturday morning we all met with Dr. Khoo, an oncologist. The treatment plan he recommended sounds good to us especially since it is less toxic and maintains quality of life (minimal side effects, i.e. no hair loss, not too much nausea) and treatment can be either twice in one week and then two weeks off or once a week for two weeks and then one week off. I will need a portacath (similar to the Hickman catheter Ben had) to receive the two medicines. From a comparison of scan results after two months (since the cancer has already spread beyond the breast tissue) we would know whether the treatment is succeeding, and, if it is, I would only need to continue it for a total of six months, followed by daily tablets of an oral medicine.
If everything worked perfectly, it would be okay to have the treatment here in Singapore, with Dave and Wil here at least during Wil’s summer vacation. But since we can’t be sure everything will work that way, and our insurance here may not cover the costs, our OMF doctor is strongly recommending that we return to the States for treatment.
OMF’s insurance policy in the U.S. for us is through Kaiser Permanente (a Health Maintenance Organization). Ben received excellent care through them and we expect the same will be true for Karen. But it’s hard to accept that this means leaving Asia and returning to Portland, OR within the next few months, and for Karen, even sooner. We are waiting to hear how soon treatment needs to begin, whether it could start in Singapore and be continued in the US, and how to make it possible for Karen to be back in Manila for as long a time as possible to say goodbye to friends and help with packing. Dave isn’t anxious to do that alone again! What is sure is that Wil will stay in Manila until the end of this school year. His last day of classes is May 26th.
Thank you for praying for us as we’ve processed information thus far. Please pray that we will be able to do something for the next two days that we will all enjoy as a family. Karen’s incision is healing well and she is gradually reducing the amount of pain medication she’s taking. We’ve been able to move from the OMF headquarter compound to a lovely condominium complex with a swimming pool so the Lord has provided a haven for us as a family. The only drawbacks are that Karen isn’t able to swim yet, and the phone isn’t connected, so we can only access emails here at the office. But Dave and Wil (and possibly Karen) will return to Manila on Thursday, so this is just a temporary break in communication.
The reading for today (April 11) in L. B. Cowman’s Streams in the Desert spoke to us very clearly. We don’t pretend to understand why God has taken us back to Asia twice expecting to start a full term and then pulled us out again after less than a year, but we do know that He is in control of our lives and plans to use this to His glory.
Posted by David at 4:29 PM
April 8, 2005
Friday Morning
It’s early Friday morning here in Manila. Wil and I are getting ready to fly to Singapore to spend a week there with Karen. We have an appointment tomorrow with Karen’s surgeon and an oncologist to go over all the lab test results and talk about proposed treatment options, which will most likely be chemotherapy of some sort. Karen is due to have the drainage tube removed from the incision today and will have a bone scan and two other tests done.
We are still trying to work out accommodation for us as a family for the week we will be together in Singapore. There are a couple of options staying with other OMF staff but we would like to be on our own as a family. Some OMF people are away next week so we may be able to stay in one of their apartments.
Pray that we will know God’s grace and strength as we receive what ever news the test results and the doctors tell us. Then we will need wisdom in knowing the right course of treatment and where that treatment should take place (Manila, Singapore or U.S.). We are at a place where we are totally cast upon the Lord. Everything else goes on hold once again as we with on Him and see what He has in store for us.
Psalm 34 has been a source of encouragement to me over the past two weeks as I am seeking to memorize it. One verse says, “I sought the Lord and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.” Pray that we will know the “peace that passes all understanding” guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus in these coming days.
Posted by David at 7:07 AM
April 4, 2005
Love and Prayers
This is Karen’s report after being released from hospital in Singapore today.
I've just returned from Gleneagles Hospital where I received very caring,efficient treatment, and good food! Even had lamb and broccoli and creme caramel on Saturday (the Lord knows those are some of my favorite things!)
And Melody, the nurse who admitted me, is from Angeles City in Pangasinan (a couple of hours north of Manila). I was in a 4 bedded room, but only about half the time was it full and noisy. The other half (including all day Sunday) I had all the space to myself, which was lovely. When I went to check emails I saw that there were 39 new messages and assumed I would be downloading a lot for other people...but they were all for me!! Thank you
to all who wrote so quickly and are praying for us. To be honest, I
preferred getting the hugs via email this time, since my right arm is still rather sore! It's rather uncomfortable typing as well just now, so am afraid I will only be able to manage updates, and not individual replies.
More information has come in from various tests I've had done, and I now know that I will need to have chemotherapy instead of radiation treatment. So that changes the time frame quite a bit. I still need to have a bone scan, chest scan, and results from the lymph nodes which were removed at the same time as breast tissue before seeing the oncologist. Then she will be able to plan treatment and give and idea of how long that will last. The surgeon said that it might be from six months to a year. So, instead of just a few weeks, we need to think in terms of a longer time frame and consider what is best for all three of us.
Our OMF doctor feels we need to be together to talk to the oncologist and consider treatment location options, so we are trying to arrange for Wil and Dave to fly to Singapore on Friday. Wil has been taking standardized tests last week and this, but will complete those tomorrow. Dave needs to get the next PMA newsletter out. Pray he'll be able to concentrate and do that by Thursday! And I need to have these other scans done as well as visits to the surgeon. I still have a drainage tube to carry around. It is passive drainage, so coming out slowly. Reminds me of Ben swinging his bottles of
medicine around!
I think this is easier for me to process than for Dave and Wil. For them it's once again being at a distance when receiving news we'd hoped not to hear, and being fearful of what that means in the future. So it is important for us to be able to process this together. A friend has given us a gift which will cover their airfares! Please be praying both for a speedy recovery from the surgery I've had, wise counsel from the oncologist, and the Lord's guidance as we consider so many different factors in making the
decision of where I have the chemo. Apparently we have about a month to work this out before I will need to start treatment. Dr. Chua suggested I look for a wig, but that idea doesn't appeal to me at all! Pray too that I'll be well enough so that we can enjoy some walks together in the Botanical Gardens and other parts of Singapore. Back to memory building.
Thank you all so much for your love and prayers. We will keep you posted and let you know how the Lord guides us in planning for this coming year.
Posted by David at 3:44 PM
April 1, 2005
URGENT PRAYER NEEDED
Karen flew to Singapore on Monday morning and had an appointment with a surgeon (Dr. Chua) there that same afternoon. He scheduled her for surgery to remove the lump in her right breast the following (Tuesday) morning. On Thursday Dr. Chua phoned Stroma Beattie (OMF Medical Advisor) to say that the lump was malignant and I would need further surgery.
(Here is her account)
I saw him Thursday afternoon, had a chest x-ray and liver CT scan, and now am to report at 11 am today (Friday) for surgery at 1 pm. I will be in the hospital for 2-3 days, then need to recover from this surgery where a section of the breast tissue will be removed, before having radiotherapy. Some information from pathology reports will only be available next week, so long term planning on treatment can't be worked out until then. The lump is only 1 cm in diameter, so has been caught very early. God was good to show me of its existence and give me a strong enough niggling concern to do something about it. quickly. I feel fine and am not as surprised by the news as I think Dave and Wil may be. The area where the mammotome (a procedure where the lump itself was removed) is still tender, but hasn't stopped me from being able to play the flute at morning prayers here at OMF. After today's surgery I may not feel up to playing for a while.
Please pray especially for Dave and Wil as they have had to process this information without me there. Pray too that God will guide us in knowing where we each need to be when in coming weeks. I could possibly return to the Philippines for a week or so before returning here for the five weeks of radiotherapy. It's good to have so much clear information so quickly, and to know that in another week we will know even more. The speed with which things are handled here in Singapore, and the level of expertise, are truly amazing.
One special gift from the Lord is Sau Kit. We met through a mutual friend in England (they had been in nurses training together) when I was here on the Orientation Course in 1977, and have kept in touch since then. Kit has already taken me out for dinner twice, collected me from the hospital after my first surgery, and just been a tremendous support. I'm also extremely grateful for the support of staff here at OMF HQ. They were wonderful when we were here with Ben, and are just as loving and caring now. So I'm in good hands (whose hands could be better than the Lord's) and feel the support of those around me. If possible I feel the Lord has given an even greater measure of His perfect peace than He did when Ben was ill. I've been able to read, meet interesting people, enjoy the Lord's presence and not worry! He gets all the credit for that. If you want to contact me via email, you can write to ihq-guest@omf.net and put my name in the subject line.
By next week I will probably also be able to get emails here on lampinenkaren@omf.net .
Posted by David at 2:50 PM