« January 2007 | Main | March 2007 »
February 21, 2007
Shrinking Tumors Update
I had chemo and Herceptin today after seeing Dr. Panutich! I went in on Wednesday instead of Thursday because he was working today. He is looking good, and smiling, but still has a lot of pain in his leg, probably caused by the radiation. So walking is painful, and bending his leg is even more painful, but he’s persevering. And he had good news for me: the two largest tumors in the liver have shrunk about 25-30%. The largest went from 4.2 x 3.3 cm to 3.0 x 2.4 cm now; the next largest from 2.3 x 1.5 to 1.8 x 1.1 cm. None of the others have grown and no new lesions have appeared. So the Taxol is working!
We’ve arranged the treatment schedule to accommodate our time in England, and he doesn’t think with the good response so far, that it will hurt to be off Taxol for a couple of weeks. I’ll have enough Herceptin before I leave to cover me for the time away.
Also, Susan did an excellent job of getting the IV line into my arm last week on the first try, and all went smoothly with the CAT scan. In fact, I was walking out of the clinic by the time I was scheduled to have the scan! Thank you SO much for praying. Whenever I’m waiting for results, I’m aware that the news could be bad and my time limited, so I get back to work on my book! I’ve done a draft of the chapter on Ben, mostly editing the website updates. It’s 48 pages! I need to get more writing done before gardening starts in earnest.
Dave is making arrangements to two high school Bible classes on teaching the Bible in culturally relevant ways. Also we’ll be speaking at a retreat for International Students. Wil is fighting a cold and cough, but so far hasn’t missed any school. Play rehearsals have started.
Posted by David at 9:30 PM
February 14, 2007
Happy Valentine's Day!
We enjoyed meeting with Multnomah students last Wednesday and discovered that many, like Dave, had come to study there after spending time in the military. It was a joy to hear their stories and be able to pray with them for the Lord’s guidance for their futures. We also enjoyed the Couples Retreat last weekend, with twenty other couples from our church. The weather was good and we were able to enjoy a long walk on our free afternoon, play a number of fun, crazy games, eat well, get to know new people, and benefit from the video series on “Love and Respect.” This morning at the MOMS group we were again looking at marriage, an appropriate theme for Valentine’s Day!
Tomorrow I have another CAT scan. Please pray for the nurse to be able to get a needle into one of my veins for the contrast dye. The last time I had this scan, my vein collapsed and dye went into my arm. That was quite painful. I’ll get the results of the scan the following week and know whether the Taxol is killing fast-growing cells causing the tumors in the liver. It certainly has killed the fast-growing hair cells in my body. Dr. Panutich is not having another stem cell transplant and has been working one day a week in the clinic. He is hoping to increase that to two days a week, and I’m hoping I’ll be back under his care soon.
We mentioned in our last update that Wil is going to the Philippines for his spring break and we’re going to the UK at the same time. We now have our flight booked, leaving here on March 22nd and arriving at Heathrow early the next morning, and returning April 9th in time to meet Wil’s flight the following morning.. We’ve also booked a flight to Belfast from March 26th to 29th to see a number of former OMF Philippines colleagues, including the maid of honor and best man at our wedding! We’ll stay with Sam and Dorothy Ryans at their bed and breakfast, along with Eilish Agnew and Ruth Platt. Apart from a birthday party on the 25th and the trip to Ireland, we will be at Gold Hill. We aren’t going to go racing around the country on this visit, but hopefully will see friends who are able to visit us there.
Posted by David at 5:30 PM
February 2, 2007
Anniversaries and Plans
Dear Team,
February has three special anniversaries for us. The first is today, the third anniversary of Ben’s promotion to heaven. Twenty years ago, Dave arrived in Singapore, and thirty years ago I was there starting life as an OMF missionary. A friend of Dave’s gave him a cake commemorating the 20th anniversary of his commissioning here at Damascus Community Church. It’s good to remember, and thankfully, it’s the good memories that last the longest.
Thank you for praying us through January. We enjoyed the Missions Connexion 2006 and learned a great deal during our two days of meetings at the US HQ of OMF in Littleton, CO. What a fantastic team we have the privilege of being a part of. We have a lot to learn, and are doing a lot of reading at the moment so that as we represent OMF, we will have accurate, up to date information on what is happening through the mission in different parts of Asia. On the 7th we’ll be at Multnomah Bible College talking to students about their journeys and interest in missions. Feb. 9-11 is a Church Couples Retreat, and we may have visitors later in the month. Our friend Bonnie Boerner was here from Jan. 26-30 and our jaws got tired from talking, laughing, and praying together. I have another CAT scan on Feb. 15 and will get the results on the 22nd.
The big news is that we’ve booked a flight for Wil to visit the Philippines from March 21-April 10. This is during his spring break and on through Easter. He can be there about 18 days and only miss 6 days of school. He has a place to stay, and permission to be at Faith Academy, attending some classes with friends. We’ve renewed his passport, and it should be here in time for the trip. Pray that he will be able to handle traveling alone, especially getting through the airport arriving and leaving Manila. Pray too that this visit will provide good closure for him. When he left, it was with the hope of returning, at least for his senior year, but the longer he is here, the less likely that seems.
As well as making up work he will be missing, he will need to work on his part for the Spring play at school. He will be Aslan in “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.”
And while Wil is in the Philippines, we are planning to be in England! The invitation to a birthday part started us thinking about a visit now, and the more we thought, the better the timing looked. So far, the worst side effect of chemo has been hair loss and some trouble sleeping. It’s likely that other things will hit me later, so it seems better to try to make a trip soon, while I still have the strength and energy to travel. We haven’t booked our flights yet, but will leave March 21 or 22 and return April 9, in time to meet Wil.
In closing, I’d like to share one more amazing answer to prayer. Our support figure for 2007 was about 50% higher than 2006 because of living in the US, and the Lord provided all of that increase and more. We received 101% of our support figure! God is good.
Partnering with your for the furtherance of the Gospel,
Dave and Karen
Posted by David at 10:18 PM