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September 29, 2007
October Prayer Bulletin
Dear Team,
Yesterday as we drove to various doctors’ appointments, the sun was shining through the rain. That meant seeing lots of rainbows and seeing grass and trees and flowers looking brighter and cleaner than they have in months. Good news in difficult times is rather like sun shining through the rain. And the best good news I could have had was seeing my oncologist looking so much better than he did four weeks ago. He is back on chemo, has gained seven pounds (he lost 35!), has had his hemoglobin go from 7 to over 10, and looks at least 100% healthier than when I last saw him. What a tremendous answer to prayer. Thank you for being a part of that process. He still needs a walker to get around and cannot straighten the leg with the large skin graft, so please continue to pray for ongoing healing. I’ve lent him a book on spiritual formation. He is responsible for our physical bodies, and I’m encouraging him to keep growing spiritually.
He and I compared the palms of our hands (last time mine were dry, rough, and scaling and his were bluish white. Now his are pinky red and so are mine. Dr. P wants me to continue to take just the Tykerb for another month, and then have another CAT scan. I learned from the pharmacist that I’m the only person in Kaiser Northwest region taking just the Tykerb (without Xeloda) and no studies have been done to see whether the one drug is effective without the other. I’d love to be the guinea pig that can show the effectiveness of Tykerb without all the difficult side effects of Xeloda. I’ve had a really good month, feeling well, able to keep up with produce in the garden, enjoy leading the Bible studies, and have a fun and relaxing weekend at the coast with women from our church. God is giving more and more of us a deep hunger for truth and desire to live out that truth in our daily lives.
Dave and I are looking forward to being part of the missions conference at Shan Creek Bible Church in southern Oregon from Oct. 4-7. I’m speaking at a women’s luncheon, we’re taking a children’s Sunday School class, and have several other long and short presentations. Pray God will guide us in our final preparations for this and that what we share will impact the church. We are also encouraged by another answer to prayer. A new OMF prayer group is holding its first meeting on Oct. 20th near Banks (west of Portland) with Mary Haag, an OMFer soon returning to Cambodia as the guest speaker. Others in the group have a special interest in Cambodia and we hope they will strengthen Mary’s prayer team. Please pray too for Grace, a Korean American wanting to apply to OMF. Her elderly father has just had heart surgery and she is feeling the weight of responsibility in caring for him.
Another dear friend who needs prayer is Patty Merritt. Patty was diagnosed with breast cancer last month. The tumor is growing rapidly and problems with their medical service mean that she still hasn’t had surgery or started chemo. Pray for peace of mind and heart for Patty and husband Denny who were our OMF teammates in Tanauan, Batangas, and now live in California.
Wil is in the midst of a 30 hour fast to raise funds for children supported by World Vision. At the beginning, he had a soccer practice, and right now is at behind-the-wheel practice with his driving instructor. He says he’s doing OK without food so far. God is working in his life.
Rejoicing in the sun and the Son even through the rain,
Dave and Karen
Posted by David at 5:48 PM
September 27, 2007
Vegetables and Nutrition
Apologies to those of you who used to get email notifications when we had done a website update. Somehow the system broke down and that feature stopped working. If you get an email this time, we’ll know the system is repaired. And this would be a good time to add a thank you to Ed Darnell, a special friend at church, who sorts out all of these problems for us. I’ll just do a quick update now since I see the doctor tomorrow and we’ll be doing a monthly prayer letter in just a few days.
I have a few aches and pains, but all in all am feeling really well. No nausea, vomiting, painful hands and feet (in fact the damaged skin is peeling off and what’s underneath looks fine). But I haven’t been taking Xeloda for the past month and don’t know whether my oncologist will suggest starting that again. I’m reading a book I was lent more than a year ago called “Beating Cancer with Nutrition” and finding it really helpful. I skimmed it before, but am reading carefully this time and realize I need to make a lot more changes to my diet as well as adding vitamin and mineral supplements.
Rain is predicted for tonight and tomorrow, but we’ve had glorious autumn days for the past week or two with clear skies, warm sun, and cool nights. Even though our squash didn’t do well this year, I’m ready for fall vegetables and our turnips and rutabaga are big enough to eat already.
Posted by David at 10:13 AM
September 13, 2007
Back to the books
This is the first full week of school for Wil, and the start of the fall program for us. The second week of the month is the heaviest for me since three monthly events take place during that week. MOMS is a group for mothers with pre-school children (I’m a ‘Table Mom’ which means I get to know a group of women during the year and lead discussion of topics our speakers have introduced). The Damascus Christian School Commission is like a school board at Wil’s school. The third event which usually takes place during the second week is our OMF prayer meeting, but this month that has been postponed until week three so that we can hear from a couple currently in Portland who work in Cambodia.
My two Bible studies meet weekly, one on Believing God on Tuesday mornings and one on Daniel on Friday mornings. We’ve run out of books for the first one and the second will meet tomorrow. Both are Beth Moore studies with teaching videos, so my preparation is just as a facilitator. During the summer a group of ladies at church were reading through the Bible together and that continues this fall. I’d like to keep reading along with that group as well, but need to be very disciplined with my time to keep up with three studies.
Our visitors from New Zealand left on Monday. It was good to catch up with them face to face after a number of years of only email contact. We spent one long day at the Oregon Coast and visited mutual friends in Salem on route to Wil’s first soccer game of the season, but apart from that I’m afraid they had to fit in with our routine. They’re now on their way back to spring in the southern hemisphere and our temperatures have dropped considerably. So far I’ve only canned four quarts of tomato juice (more like a V-8 juice with nine different vegetables) and seven pints of tomato sauce (for spaghetti) but it looks like we’ll have enough ripe tomatoes for at least one more batch. The green and wax beans are starting to bear more again and lettuce is coming along as well as parsnips. Rain is predicted in a few days, so Dave wants to get the path from our back deck to the gate resurfaced before that happens. We’re trying to decide on the most economical and long-lasting way to do this. Dave starts teaching the gospel of Mark on Sunday mornings in the Heritage Community Group at church.
I’m feeling pretty well and very grateful for the strength, energy, and joy the Lord gives day after day. Keep praying that the chemo will do what it is supposed to do and keep shrinking the tumors in my liver. Keep praying as well for Dr. P.
Posted by David at 10:54 AM
September 12, 2007
Prayer Bulletin that should have been posted Sept. 3
This letter was sent out on Sept. 3, but we slipped up and didn't post it on the website. I'm really sorry that many of you haven't heard from us since August because of that mistake. I'm posting this now and will do an update on the past 10 days soon after. Sorry to keep you in the dark. Karen
Dear Team,
Today is Labor Day, a public holiday in the US marking the end of summer vacation for most students, and the last long weekend families can get away before school starts. We didn’t plan ahead and so got up this morning without anything arranged. We suggested three different outings to Wil, but none of them interested him if he didn’t have a friend along to share the experience. Those of you who have had teenage sons will probably be able to identify with us as we’ve reached the stage where outings with just Mom and Dad are considered deadly boring. But Wil is now at an amusement park with friends and we have time to catch up on correspondence and prepare for a very busy week ahead.
Rereading our last letter, we hadn’t given you many prayer requests for August, but I know many of you were praying for my handling the new chemo. I really struggled a lot with the Xeloda and finally was advised to stop taking it. I was off both medicines for about a week and that let my body get back to ‘normal.’ For the next month I’m just on Tykerb (five tablets each morning) and a number of herbal supplements to help with digestion, opening blood vessels, and generally helping my body to cope with the side effects of the chemo. The results of the CT scan showed that in the six weeks I was on the new chemo the two largest tumors in my liver had shrunk by about 33%. That was very encouraging news. The Muga scan showed that my heart wasn’t doing quite as well as on previous scans, but was still registering in the normal range. I’ve had some pain in my chest which I now think is more related to acid reflux, caused by the chemo, than to heart trouble.
Despite my good results, my heart is heavy because my oncologist isn’t doing very well. He has been getting into the office two days a week for the past two weeks, but his blood tests last week showed that the level of M protein in his blood shot up while he was having surgery on his leg. That means his multiple myeloma is no longer in remission, his brain is getting the signal that he doesn’t need protein (but the protein in the blood is not strengthening his body), and he is very weak. He is getting around with a walker, but looking at his face as he walks shows how much pain and effort is involved. He needs to be back on chemo himself in order to lower the protein level. Please pray for the Lord’s healing of this brother in Christ.
Friends from New Zealand who were colleagues in Manila arrive on the 5th, Wednesday, and will be with us until the10th. We have a missions committee retreat on Friday, a soccer tournament on Saturday, and a full day of meetings at church including a Ministry Fair on Sunday. Pray that we can make needed preparations for all of this before they arrive and that we’ll be able to make contact with more potential volunteers and missionary candidates now that life settles into more of a routine for them as well as us.
I’m leading two ladies Bible studies this fall and Dave continues teaching the Heritage class at church and we’ve both involved with the missions activities in church. Wil enjoyed his driver’s ed. class and soccer practice, but wishes school wasn’t starting on Wednesday!
Laboring on in service of the King of Kings,
Dave and Karen
Posted by David at 3:47 PM