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January 29, 2006
Please pray for Cousin Jody
I’ve mentioned Dave’s cousin Jody in the past and would ask you to pray for her and her family right now. We’ve been to see her today to say goodbye until we meet in heaven. She was diagnosed with liver cancer in early October. We last saw her a month ago, when neither she nor I were feeling very well, but she has lost ground quickly over recent weeks and her liver isn’t functioning at all now. Her spirit is strong, but her body very weak. Her husband Dave is outwardly calm and it’s tremendous to see how his family (parents, sisters and their families) as well as Jody’s parents and brother and many cousins are there to support them. Friends and neighbors have been wonderful too. Jody is ready for heaven, but the loss for Dave and their four children (the oldest is 13 and Jody was home schooling them) will be huge. God is pouring out His peace. Pray especially for Jody’s mother and brother Duane who haven’t a close relationship to Jesus and are very needy people.
Wil still has a cough, but by Thursday was able to return to school and play in basketball games on Thursday and Friday. The Lord answered your prayers for him and for us in that we didn’t catch his germs. I’ll find out Monday morning whether my neutrophils are high enough to have chemo. Thank you supporting us and those we love.
Posted by David at 1:52 PM
January 25, 2006
Pray on for neutrophils
My neutrophils were high enough to have chemo yesterday, but I need to ask you to keep praying for them to go up. It’s the chemo that causes them to drop so quickly, and they were only at 2.14 yesterday, so only prayer is going to cause them to bounce back fast enough to have more chemo next Monday. My hemoglobin is gradually dropping too and may account for some tiredness. But having said that, we’ve had a good and busy weekend with Missions Fest Northwest, and welcome visitors. Many young people attended Missions Fest and on Sat. evening those under 25 were asked to stand. Those sitting near them prayed for each young person to know God’s direction for their lives. We were blessed to have Steve Saint as keynote speaker and to meet Mincaye, now a radiant believer, but one of the men who killed Steve’s father and the other missionaries in Ecuador 50 years ago this month. The movie “End of the Spear” tells of those events and opened this weekend. Be sure to see it!
Wil came home with fever and chills Saturday evening after an outing on Mt. Hood with his youth group. He has been home since and still has quite a bad cough. It has been hard to care for him and stay away from him at the same time! Because my immune system is weak I could easily catch his flu/cold and not be able to shake it, so I’ve tried to keep a distance from him while still looking after him! Not easy. Please pray for his recovery and that neither Dave nor I will catch what he has. He had to miss a basketball game last night and a soccer game tonight, as well as school of course.
I haven’t let you know the results of the cortisone shot I had at the beginning of the month. I think it helped a bit and after seeing the physical therapist and taking Naproxen, an anti-inflammatory medicine regularly, I’m able to keep going with exercises. But progress is very, very slow and I’d like to see faster results.
On Monday evening Dave attended the monthly prayer fellowship of Filipino pastors here in the Portland area. It was a good time of interaction and prayer with Dave being able to share about the missions seminar we have done in Manila and want to offer to these Filipino congregations here as well. Pray for a positive response and openings to conduct the seminar here and have other ministry opportunities as well.
Posted by David at 3:07 PM
January 13, 2006
Health update and lots of praise
I was back at Kaiser Interstate yesterday for another chemo treatment. I didn’t see the blood counts, but they were OK for me to have Navelbine plus Herceptin and again I came out feeling OK, just taking the anti nausea as a precaution. I had an early night (the anti nausea medicine makes me sleepy) and feel pretty good this morning. In sorting through paperwork I discovered that the original dose of Navelbine was 52 mg, not 45 as I wrote in the last update. So the drop was from 52 to 40 mg., slightly more than 20% and that seems to be the medical explanation for the greatly reduced side effects. I’m losing a lot more hair each week than I would normally, but since God gave me a very thick head of hair to start with, there is still a good amount left. The bottom line is I still have a great deal to be thankful for, but would ask you continue praying for increased strength and mobility in my arms. I have a physical therapy appointment on Monday and see my oncologist again on Jan. 18th. At that point he will probably schedule the next CAT scan so that we know whether/ how much this treatment is helping.
This is Spirit Week at Damascus Christian School and Wil gets into dressing up and fooling around in a big way. He’s far more concerned with the crazy outfits he’s come up with than his school work this week, so we’re hoping it won’t knock his grades this close to the end of the semester. He’s enjoying school, basketball, parties, time with friends and as far as we can tell, is continuing to trust the Lord.
The weekend with our Filipino friend Nilo was absolutely fantastic. Everyone who met him loved him and was caught up in the vision he shared of seeing multiple lights (witnessing Christian families) in the very dark area in which they are living. Only God can break through the veil of deceit which holds this people group in bondage. Nilo’s father-in-law in Vancouver, BC had a stroke in October and has been in bed since, now not eating and getting weaker. Nilo and Julie are in Vancouver now, but leave next week to return to their work . Pray especially for Julie and her family as they face some very painful farewells.
We weren’t able to get any of the Filipino pastors we’ve met to come to hear Nilo speak. Please pray with us that some will come to MissionsFest Northwest Jan. 20-21, a large city-wide conference, where they can get a big taste of what God is doing around the world, and see how God can use Filipino believers to spread the light of life.
Posted by David at 6:57 AM
January 6, 2006
January Prayer Bulletin
Dear Team, January 5, 2006
We’ve waded through a lot of dark valleys and had some mountain top experiences in the last month. The first two weeks of chemo turned out to be a far more grueling, painful experience that I had anticipated, with multiple side effects. At the time I felt I was in a downward spiral and would never come up again. Chemotherapy really is a process of pouring poison into your system and make every single cell fight for survival, so I guess it’s not surprising that I felt as though I had a bad case of flu, etc. It seemed like most systems in my body were out of whack.
That’s the valley part. The highlights followed. My neutrophils ( a part of the white blood cells) were so low that I couldn’t have my third dose of Navelbine last week Wednesday. That meant a two week break from chemo and enough time for my body to recover and feel normal again. On the morning of the 24th Dave and I listened to the Lessons and Carols from Kings College Chapel in Cambridge and thoroughly enjoyed the broadcast. Christmas morning we had our own Bible readings as a family, sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, and spent time worshiping Him together with Wil. That was so much more special than the presents (at least for Dave and me!). I was able to keep food down and even enjoy it from Christmas Day onwards and think I’ve regained all the weight I lost during the two weeks when nausea and vomiting plagued me. I was also well enough to entertain some of Dave’s relatives and go to two New Year’s Eve parties! One of the benefits of the bad weeks is that now I’m grateful for the strength to cook, go shopping, go walking…all very ordinary things that I couldn’t do for a while.
On Jan. 3rd I saw Amanda Clark, a physician’s assistant, who gave me a shot of Cortisone for my left arm. Her diagnosis of what I’ve called tendonitis is ‘adhesive capsulitis’ or in lay terms ‘frozen shoulder.’ There was pain medication in with the Cortisone to cover the pain of the injection for the first 6-8 hours, so I was well enough to go to Wil’s basketball game that night. I didn’t wake in pain during the night and think it has helped some, though I’ve got to get back to doing all of the physiotherapy exercises to regain range of motion. Then yesterday on the 4th I went back to Kaiser for blood work and chemo. I mentioned that the week before my neutrophils had been too low for chemo. They were 0.94 on Dec. 28th (normal range is 1.8-8.3) and yesterday they were 9.4!! Higher than normal!! I hadn’t been having shots or taking anything during that week to boost production, so I can only account for the increase as an answer to prayer!! And answers to prayer are continuing right now thick and fast. I haven’t had the nausea, diarrhea, or flu symptoms again and had enough energy to get out for a walk today! And I’ve kept eating! The doctor decided he might have been giving me too strong a dose of Navelbine initially, so some of the improvement this time might be because the dosage has dropped from 45 to 40 mg. But whatever the reason, Iim grateful, especially as we have a special visitor coming.
Nilo Endoso is from Tanauan Bible Church where Dave and I ministered when we were first married 18 years ago. He and his family are now leading a team living in a country in the Middle East and working among a people group our church here has adopted. We are thrilled that he can be with us from the 6th to the 9th and have time to share with the church. Later this month is Missionsfest Northwest, another opportunity to get Damascus and area Filipino churches more involved in missions. Dave is busy promoting this.
Thank you for standing with us in prayer, Dave & Karen
Posted by David at 11:08 AM