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December 27, 2007
After christmas Activities
Boxing Day isn’t celebrated in the US, though it seems most Americans are moving boxes or bags that day in shopping malls, either exchanging gifts received or shopping for after-Christmas bargains. We succumbed and joined the throng, getting Dave the first new suit he has had since I’ve known him! He isn’t much into wearing suits, but I think it looks great. Wil spent a gift card he had been given on a wrap-around nose and mouth cover to keep him warm between goggles and neck while snowboarding.. He says the wind can be pretty fearsome on Mt. Hood. And I got a stainless steel cooking pot to go with the set I got for Christmas. Then we headed for Kaiser Interstate for my appointment with Dr. P. He gave me my Muga scan results and there is no sign of any problem with my heart. He is sure the pain I’ve been experiencing is in my esophagus and beyond, and prescribed Pepcid to try to deal with that. I think it is helping already. On the chemo side, his recommendation is that I take 500 mg of Xeloda in the morning and 300 in the evening. When I started on Xeloda before, I was taking 1 gram am and pm, so this is less than half as much. I’ll take it for seven days, then be off for eight days, then back on for seven. If I can tolerate that amount for two months, we’ll do another scan to see whether it is working to shrink or at least control the tumor growth. I feel OK so far.
Dr. P was in good spirits, but his color wasn’t at all good. The medicines he was on were suppressing his immune system and lowering his red cell count drastically, so his hemoglobin was about 7 (the low end of the normal range is 12). He was planning to get a transfusion today and that should help considerably. His family had a quiet Christmas and will celebrate more on Jan. 6, watching the services from the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow via satellite TV!
After we left the clinic yesterday, we went to visit a 91 year old friend in the hospital. She had a stroke last Thursday and we couldn’t rouse her when we stopped in on Friday. But yesterday she was sitting up, smiling, and able to communicate. Her son said that she talked more with us than she had with anyone for several days. You could see that she understood what was said to her, but she couldn’t always say what she wanted to in response. She is a precious, godly woman, loved by everyone who knows her.
Patty had a good Christmas. Haven’t heard yet how her next round of chemo went yesterday.
For me again this year the highlight of Christmas was listening to the Lessons and Carols from Kings College Chapel in Cambridge, England. I love that service, with such a clear focus in the readings on the Bible’s message of salvation. Hearing words from carols written centuries ago that proclaim the true meaning of Christmas thrills my heart, especially when most television programs think the true meaning is the story of Santa Claus! St. Nicolas must look down from heaven in horror at how his acts of kindness have been twisted into something so far removed from a focus on Emmanuel -- God with us – the son of God setting aside His deity and being born as a tiny human baby in order to identify with us. We had a lovely candlelight service at church on Christmas eve and then enjoyed having a number of friends join us on Christmas Day. Only one Christmas in the past twenty years were we near family, so it has been our practice to share the day with friends who might otherwise be alone. I enjoyed preparing the meal, and Wil was a great help with clearing up. Later in the evening we joined other friends to play some challenging games. And this evening friends will join us to play games and remember that today is Ben’s birthday. Right now Wil is playing indoor soccer. Tomorrow is the start of the Campus Crusade Winter Conference here in Portland. We will be representing OMF at this event that runs through New Years Eve. Guess that brings you up to date, probably with far more detailed news than you wanted to hear.
Posted by David at 11:45 PM
December 21, 2007
Latest CT Scan Results and other news
We have been slow to write, partly because we thought we might be sharing bad news and wanted to be sure before we said anything. I have been having pain in my chest and abdominal area for about three weeks and was afraid it meant that the cancer in the liver was getting a lot worse. But today I got the results of the CT scan done on Wednesday. Dr. P phoned this morning with the results, just before we left to go in for the Muga scan. There are tumors that are larger, but not hugely so, and Dr. P doesn’t think that is the cause of the pain. It could be a reaction to the medication I’ve been on. I will probably need to start taking Xeloda again next week, but a lower dose than before, which hopefully my body will be able to tolerate with lesser side effects. The level of discomfort at present is bearable, and when it does slow me down, I can use the time to do more reading.
A number of friends I have mentioned over past months need your prayers as well. Dr. P. was looking like a skin-covered skeleton when I saw him on Wednesday. He wasn’t able to tolerate the high dose of Dexamethasone that he was on, and was finding it extremely difficult to eat. Today he looked about 70% better, but he is still very weak and struggling to keep going. My prayer is that this will be a very meaningful and memory-building Christmas for his family.
Just before my friend Linda and her husband left for Hawaii they learned that there is evidence in her blood that the multiple myeloma is no longer in remission. That was hard news to receive. Pray that the Lord will help them to process it while they are away, and guide her oncologist in what treatment to recommend for her after they return. Their wedding anniversary and Ben’s birthday are December 27th.
Lastly my friend Patty has had a rough time with her third round of chemo. Her white counts drop so drastically that she becomes feverish and eating becomes a struggle. Her next treatment is Dec. 26th.
Thank you for your prayers for Dave. He has recovered, I’ve not caught his cold, and he is busy preparing materials for all of the conferences coming up. He also took time to make prune tarts and Russian tea cakes, special Christmas treats in his family that we all enjoy. Wil helped make a second batch of the tea cakes. The first disappeared quickly!
Wil enjoyed his school winter banquet and was snowboarding three days in a row last week! He’s going again tomorrow, and will go up as often as he can during the school break. With a season pass, he can go as often as he can find a ride.
As Dave and I were praying this morning, we were reminded of how rich we are in relationships. Knowing Jesus, God with us, and each of you is a tremendous blessing. Thank you for caring and being part of our lives.
Posted by David at 10:40 PM
December 5, 2007
Blessings in Abundance
5 December 2007
Dear Team,
In looking forward to Christmas and a new year we find ourselves looking back to all the wonderful gifts that we have received from family, friends and from the Lord. There have been gifts and blessings, not just at Christmastime but all through this past year. When we returned to the States two years ago, we wondered (and worried about) how our increased financial needs would be met, as living expenses are so much higher here than in the Philippines. But, we have seen God provide in abundance through faithful churches and individual supporters so that we can rejoice in sharing with you that God has supplied all of our needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus, to quote the Apostle Paul. One of the greatest provisions has been the health insurance coverage that OMF had arranged for us that has covered the enormous cost of Karen’s cancer treatment. Yes, we have co-pay charges, but they are miniscule compared to the cost of consultations, tests, and medication.
Visits from friends from around the world have been another extra special gift. Not many friends were able to visit us in the Philippines; consequently much of our face to face contact with them was as a guest in their home and country. Now we’ve had the joy of welcoming many to our home. This weekend’s weather wasn’t very welcoming--Oregon has been hit with high winds and a deluge of rain and we wondered whether Dave would be able to make it to the airport Monday morning through flooded streets to get our friend Gordon to his flight on time—but we’ve loved having opportunities to reconnect with friends and to see how as we grow closer to the Lord, fellowship with one another becomes richer.
In our next letter we will try to fill you in more on how God is continuing to provide for churches in the Philippines that have played a significant role in our lives, but for now we’d ask you to pray for the OMF Philippines team as they meet in Davao for a field conference between Christmas and New Year's Eve. We would have loved to be there, but instead will be representing OMF at a mini-Urbana style student conference here in Portland at the same time (Dec. 27-31). One specific request for the Philippines field is a resolution to a problem with the access road to our mission home in Manila. The street outside the mission home is now the widest in Metro Manila, and with the last widening, the already-steep access road became unusable. Negotiations with the neighbors have ground to a halt and for months now access has only been possible by foot and through a round-about path through a squatter area—hardly an incentive to people to make their way there.
Karen has both a Muga scan and CT scan later this month which will tell how her heart and liver are doing. But blood tests remain in the normal range and her energy level is good. She is actually feeling considerably better right now than at this stage either one or two years ago. God is good and we don’t want to take His provision of health for granted. Actually Dave is the one in need of prayer at the moment. His hernia has started bothering him and he’s had a cold for more than two weeks, with an uncomfortable cold sore as well, indications that his immune system is weak. The miracle is that Karen has not caught the cold.
Have a blessed Christmas and a New Year full of hope and joy in the Lord,
Dave & Karen
Posted by David at 11:55 AM