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December 30, 2005
Feeling good for Christmas
I’ll start with the medical first, then tell you about our Christmas. I did see Dr. Panutich, my oncologist, yesterday (28th) but I wasn’t able to have the Navelbine (chemo) because my neutrophil counts were too low. That’s not good and I need to ask you to pray that my body will be able to make more neutrophils (a part of the white blood cells that makes our immune system work). I did have Herceptin and will go back next Wednesday, Jan. 4 to have another round of Herceptin, and Navelbine, if the counts are high enough by then. That’s the bad news. The good is that I’ve learned that all of the negative side effects were from the Navelbine, and without it I feel good! In fact I’ve felt myself again ever since Christmas Eve day and have been eating enough to almost put back the weight I lost during the two weeks when I could hardly eat!
I still felt a bit of nausea on Christmas Day, but when I tasted the stuffed pork chops we had at noon it tasted WONDERFUL!! Nothing had tasted that good to me since before I started chemo! So God answered prayer very specifically. I haven’t taken pain medication for over a week, and my system is working without laxatives and stool softeners, and the pain in my left arm has been bearable. The other good news is that I have an appointment on Jan. 3 with a nurse practitioner in the orthopedic department. If she agrees that I need a cortisone shot, she can administer it then. I understand that for some people cortisone can provide almost instant relief. For others it is a painful injection which doesn’t seem to do any good at all. A lot has to do with the skill of the person doing the injection. I will be seeing Amanda Clark. Please pray the Lord will give her wisdom in knowing whether this is the right way forward for me, and if it is, skill in giving the injection. After six months of pain I am so ready to have relief!!
The ‘up’ side of not having chemo this week is that we were able to see Dave’s sister JoAnn and her husband Pat over for dinner last night and tonight our niece Sarah Lampinen and her friend Darren are coming! These things wouldn’t have been possible so soon after chemo. And in addition I went for a walk this morning and shopping this afternoon! God is good.
We had two very special mornings on Dec. 24 and 25. At 7 am our time it was 3pm Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and we listened to a live broadcast of the Nine Lessons and Carols from Kings College Chapel in Cambridge, England. It was superb!! I started crying during the opening prayer and sobbed for an hour and a half … with joy! We followed the words to the hymns and carols (Dave found them on the internet) so the service was even more meaningful. It does something to me to realize that people in the 13th and 15th centuries understood the significance of the birth of Jesus, and to listen to the words they wrote. Then on the 25th, after singing Happy Birthday to Jesus, we read some advent readings together and had a time of prayer and worship as a family. THEN we opened stockings, and later other gifts. The Lord was so central to this Christmas and it was a very, very special one. Thank you for praying!!
Dave and I spent time praying together the morning of the 27th, remembering Ben on his birthday and praying for people whose life his had touched. We had chocolate pudding pie with a homemade Graham cracker crust for dessert as that was his favorite, and it was such a treat to share the day with Bonnie and Alan Boerner, visiting from British Columbia, who had been with us in Manila ten years ago on Ben’s third birthday! I’ve also been able to talk to friends in England and Ireland and Germany as well as various parts of the US in the past week. I’ve never before been so grateful for telephones or so aware of how rich we are in friends.
Posted by David at 10:50 AM
December 23, 2005
Lavish Love
I wish all of you in the midst of frenetic activity had the special gift God has given me this year of time to be still. I wish I had the energy to bake cookies and interact with neighbors, but I don’t, so we’ve had a very quiet week. I started making a list of things God has done to show me His lavish love. There are a number of things on the list but I’ll mention just two: our Christmas tree is the most beautiful we’ve ever had. It’s about 7 feet tall, not too wide so fits in the space we had available for it, beautifully proportioned, and looks just lovely with tiny white lights and our assortment of decorations going back to my years as a single in the Philippines, and including things the boys have made over the years. Of course many of the decorations are from the Philippines, including the parol at the top. As I look at each it reminds me of precious memories of people and places that have been significant in my life.
Another is an electric throw or fleece I was given by two of the ladies in my Bible study. I didn’t know such a thing existed! It’s cozy and warm and I can plug it in wherever I am sitting and feel warm. I was extra grateful for it today as I sat at a window in Kaiser’s oncology unit receiving my injection of Herceptin. I’m sure glad I didn’t wait until Christmas to open this gift! I didn’t have the chemo (Navelbine) this week, so may not get as many flu symptoms as the first two weeks. It’s still a struggle to get and keep food down, and to get it through my system. An enema last night helped some. Please pray the Lord will give me enough energy to be able to enjoy Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We plan to spend time with two different families on Christmas Day. Wil invited friends over for this evening, but while our calendar is very open, other people’s are full and we haven’t been able to connect. But he had basketball practice today and yesterday afternoon we went to a one-man show of “This Wonderful Life.” It was an amazing performance, but not quite as good as the movie. Still, it was good to get out and see the downtown lights (not nearly as spectacular as in Manila!) and watch everyone else rushing around. On the 27th, Ben’s birthday, our friends Bonnie and Alan will be with us. We’re glad that they can come down from Canada to spend a bit of time with us, then on the 28th I see Dr. Panutich and have the next round of chemo.
Posted by David at 12:58 PM
December 17, 2005
Out of the pit
It’s not long since I last wrote, but I want to thank you for your prayers and let you know that God has lifted me out of the pit*. That’s where I felt I was last week. I’ve never known so much pain and weakness. Everything seemed out of control and I had no idea where to go for help. I’ve come to appreciate the monitoring and adjusting of drugs, etc. that was done for Ben as an in-patient. On my own at home was scary. But yesterday, while waiting for the second round of chemo, I was able to talk to a Kaiser pharmacist who knew more about the drugs and side effects. She thinks I actually had the flu on top of chemo side effects, and that’s why I felt so miserable. I felt like I had the flu, but never having had chemo, couldn’t tell what was a ‘normal’ response from my body. So the chills, burning throat, low grade fever and aching bones may all have been a result of the flu! I’m now on a different anti-nausea medicine which seems to be helping some and not making me as sleepy. I’ve kept more food down and not had another round of diarrhea (though the effect of chemo and the pain medicine is constipation, so keeping my system moving is one of the battles).
Even though I had someone lined up to lead the Bible study in my place, I was able to do it this morning and to get to Wil’s basketball game this afternoon. He again got a basket and played well for the time he was in the game. We’re proud of him! To say that I feel well would be an exaggeration, but I’m a lot better than the day after chemo last week and it really helps being able to use the port for blood draws and receiving IV medicines. Food doesn’t taste good and I can’t handle more than a few bites at once, so my specific prayer requests are that I’ll be able to take in adequate nutrition to stay healthy and that my bowel system will work. Not very glamorous requests, but where things stand at present.
*Psalm 103:4
Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all His benefits.
Who forgives all my sins,
Who heals all my diseases,
Who redeems my life from the pit,
And crowns me with love and compassion.
Posted by David at 1:30 PM
December 15, 2005
Side Effects
I feel a bit as though I’m watching dominoes topple one after the other as side effects from one thing cause something else unpleasant. Initially the tendonitis in my left arm was caused because I overused it when the right arm was healing after surgery (removal of lymph glands). This past week, I became very constipated because my body reacted to the Vicodin I was taking for pain (so much so that I needed to make a trip to the emergency room and see a doctor yesterday morning). An enema (one of my least favorite things) led to relief on that front. The chemo makes me nauseated, so I haven’t kept much down for the past few days, and that means I’m really hungry right now, but can’t eat or drink because I scheduled for surgery (insertion of the portacath) this afternoon. My left arm feels like a pin cushion because all of the blood draws and things that have gone into my system so far have had to go through those veins. Because the lymph nodes have been removed from my right arm, it isn’t safe to use the right arm for any of this, though the veins there are in better shape. And so it goes. Can’t say it’s been an easy week, though there have been some bright moments. I’ve enjoyed several good morning prayer walks with my friend Nancy and have had visits from other good friends which have been a real encouragement to me. And there was a sunrise one morning that was absolutely spectacular; it seemed God was saying, “The heavens proclaim my handiwork and I want you to celebrate my goodness.”
This is Wil’s last week of school before the Christmas break. He has a class Christmas party on Friday and two basketball games this weekend as well. Pray that we will be able arrange for him to spend time with his friends during the holidays and that we will be able to have some good times together as a family.
Posted by David at 3:05 AM
December 9, 2005
Results of First Round of Chemo
I know many of you were praying for my first round of chemo yesterday. The Lord heard and answered your prayers! The lab had trouble drawing blood for tests, and had to repeat the procedure since the first draw of blood clotted. That delayed starting the chemo for about an hour, but the nurse (Debbie) who put in the needle for the chemo was a pro, took her time and did an excellent job. It took about two and a half hours to get everything into my system, but I was lying in a hospital bed and reading a book during the process. When we saw that all was going well, I encouraged Dave to go out for a walk and do some shopping. I took anti-nausea medicine as soon as we got home and that made me really sleepy. But we’d been able to have dinner (cooked by Wil!) and put our Christmas tree in a stand before Wil left for youth group. I’m so grateful that Wil had gone before I started experiencing the negative side effects. Basically I felt as though a steam roller had run over me! I had severe diarrhea for a few hours and fever and chills, but once I fell asleep was OK until morning. I’m feeling pretty good today, just not quite sure how much energy I should expect to have. Thanks again for praying.
Posted by David at 6:17 AM
December 4, 2005
December Prayer Bulletin
Dear Team,
We don’t always send a prayer letter the month that we do a newsletter, but we aren’t sure that all of you who get this are receiving our newsletter (if you aren’t and would like to, could you please let us know? Thanks.) A lot has happened in the last month. The CAT scan on the 10th went well with the nurse succeeding in getting a line into my vein on the first try. The previous scan had been pretty gruesome, so I was relieved when that went well. But when we saw the oncologist, we learned that the scan showed the tumors in my liver had increased in size and number, indicating that hormone treatment alone wasn’t working. He suggested I start chemo the week after Thanksgiving. We had heavy hearts as we headed off to Florida for a wonderful reunion with very special friends from my church in England. We were still coming to terms with the implications of my needing chemo, and very grateful to have time to pray with such supportive friends. In fact the highlight of our time there for Dave and me was the time spent each morning reading Scripture and praying together. I think the highlight for Wil was receiving so much attention (it was like being with four sets of doting grandparents all at once!) and having a warm pool to swim in every day. We all enjoyed the pool, and I think it helped my arms, though I’m still experiencing a good bit of pain, especially in the one with tendonitis.
Unfortunately not everything moves as quickly here as in Singapore, and only on Dec. 2 was I able to see a surgeon (and that was due to a very helpful lady named Laura who called early that morning to say there was a cancellation and she could get me in…the earliest appointment with the surgeon I’ve seen before was Dec. 23!!). The earliest that Dr. Ludeman can insert the portacath is Dec. 14, but Dr. Panutich doesn’t want me to wait that long to start treatment, so I’ll have the first round of chemo and Herceptin on Dec. 7 using a Picc line, then get the port the following week and be able to use that for succeeding treatments. Not knowing how my body will react to the chemo makes it hard to plan, especially for Christmas. But God’s timing is always best and I’ll have finished the Precepts study on the life of David and only have one in the Believing God series after treatment begins and before we break for the holidays. Back in June we felt unable to make plans more than a few days ahead. It’s a bit like that again now, but I’m trying to go ahead and make plans, knowing they may need to be changed. I can’t explain how God sustains us, and I don’t mean to suggest that we don’t go through some confused and tearful moments, but He repeatedly gets our focus off of ourselves and back on Him. His peace really and truly does pass all understanding and our prayer is that the Prince of Peace will be very near and very real to each of you at this season when we celebrate His birth.
After writing last month, we had interviews with Wil’s teachers and were very encouraged to see how well he is doing in most of his subjects. Many of his teachers mentioned that they enjoyed having him in class. His world now revolved around basketball. Their Junior Varsity team had it’s first gamMonday night. It wasn’t one of their league games and they were playing a team from a much larger school, so they weren’t expecting to win. But their teamwork was good and Wil played a lot better than the last time we’d seen him play (which was more than two years ago!) Practices will continue during the two weeks that the kids are off school for Christmas.
Dave is at a men’s conference today and Wil at his high school winter retreat enjoying the snow, so I’m on my own. The Lord is with me, and with you also. Enjoy Him!
My love in Jesus for all three of us, Karen
Posted by David at 4:03 AM