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March 28, 2008
Snowy Lampinen Update
It’s more than ten days since my last update and some of you will be wondering how I’m doing on the new chemo. Dr. Bigler thought it best to wait a bit longer after finishing radiation, so I didn’t start on Doxil until yesterday. The list of things I’m not to do the day before or for 3-5 days after is a mile long and suggests I could do with a few slaves to wait on me! Vacuuming, chopping vegetables, gardening, even typing are frowned on so I’m cheating right now. Instead of Decadron (dexamethasone), I was given Zofran as an anti nausea drug and told to continue taking it for two more days. I haven’t had a big appetite but have continued eating. The main side effect I am experiencing is constipation so I’ll ask Dave to make some of his marvelous prune tarts. Wil gets home in the morning and I’ll do an April prayer bulletin in the next few days, but thought maybe I should fill you in a bit before that. If you like bizarre weather, I wish you were here. We’ve had snow falling for several hours yesterday morning and again today, sunny patches, hail, hard rain, and what Dave called snow berries (like hail, but not as hard). Apart from my morning walks in the snow, I’ve been glad to stay indoors.
Posted by David at 2:04 PM
March 19, 2008
End of radiation update
The team at the radiation clinic sang a ‘graduation’ song and handed me a certificate as I walked out after my final treatment today. I am getting tired, and the roots of my hair hurt (the way it feels if your hair is really dirty and you try to comb it a different way, except quite a bit worse) and hair is falling out a lot more now, but I haven’t had bad headaches and have hardly taken any Tylenol over the past week. God clearly answered prayer after that first treatment.
I phoned Dr. P on Monday and he sounds good. He finished the IV chemo yesterday, is resting today and will receive his brother’s stem cells on Thursday. Keep praying!
Wil is almost packed, and I think he’s getting excited about the trip to Mexico. The money needed came in (thank you, Lord) and all his paperwork is turned in. Only problem is that we have to be at the airport at 4:45 am on Thursday!! I see an oncologist on Friday and will probably start on another chemo drug then. We’ve decided not to travel as far as Canada during the break, not knowing how I will react to a new drug. There is plenty to do in the garden if I have the energy to pull weeds! Wil helped us plant two new trees on Tuesday and Dave and I planted two lilac bushes earlier in the day. No need to water in this weather!
We are remembering being in England for Easter last year, and the wonderful service at Albert Hall on Easter Saturday. We’ve probably watched the DVD at least a dozen times, and plan to show it to more friends here in the coming days. We serve a Risen Savior who fills us with hope and joy and peace day by day. Hallelujah!
Posted by David at 2:51 PM
March 9, 2008
A touch from the Lord
On Thursday morning I had the first of ten radiation treatments. As the day went on my headache became worse and worse. By 6 pm I was too nauseated to eat and was freezing cold. Dave and I had been planning to go to a church that has people pray for healing on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and we went even though I was feeling awful. When we arrived we learned that there wouldn’t be a prayer time that evening, so we got back in the car. I prayed, telling God that I knew it didn’t take special people in a special place for Him to answer prayers for healing, and asking Him to please do something to help me. Well, He did! Never before have I had an experience like it. First, the top of my head started to feel hot. Then I stopped shivering, and the pressure in my head began to ease. By the time we got home I felt fine and ate some supper! Isn’t God marvelous?! I felt well all evening, and the next day went through the second round of radiation. I could feel a burning sensation as the rays hit my scalp, but had only a very mild headache afterwards which never got worse. It is now Sunday evening and I’m still feeling well. Yesterday I went to an extremely helpful conference on Breast Cancer Issues and today have been to church, had a friend over for lunch, then worked in the garden and went for a walk with another friend. At the conference both regular exercise and gardening were recommended as good therapy so I’m happily doing things I enjoy!
Before my radiation on Friday, Dave and I visited Dr. P and met his mother. Even though we couldn’t communicate without him as interpreter, it was a joy to meet her and have time to visit with him before he goes into hospital for a stem cell transplant this Wednesday. First he will have an even heavier dose of chemotherapy, destroying his own immune system, then be given his brother’s stem cells. He will be very susceptible to infection until those stem cells find their way into his bone marrow and start producing new cells. Please pray for him especially during that two week period.
My friend Patty came through her surgery last week and is at home now. And Aimee and her mother were able to spend a night at home as well, though they are now back in the hospital for ongoing therapy. Aimee’s recovery has been a series of miracles too.
Posted by David at 10:03 PM
March 4, 2008
March Medical Update
Dear Team,
Last month we talked about the world urgent. This month let’s look at the world indolent. It is from two Latin words meaning not and to be in pain. The first definition is disliking work, lazy, or idol, so almost an opposite to living with urgency. But the medical definition is closer to the Latin roots and means progressing slowly; causing little or no pain. That is the way Dr. Johnson, a radiation oncologist, described my cancer today. It is spreading and scans of my brain, lungs, and liver all show progression, but still I’m not in pain and he commented on how healthy I look.
Dave and I saw the MRI images and counted about a dozen tiny tumors in the brain. So on Thursday I will start ten days of radiation to the brain. This shouldn’t be painful, but may result in hair loss (good bye curls!) and headaches. If I can tolerate the headaches, I won’t have to take a steroid like dexamethasone which plays havoc with my sleep. So please pray I can handle the radiation, and that I won’t experience all the possible side effects, a list too long to enumerate. Dr. Johnson was also able to show us the results of yesterday’s CAT scan, indicating that the chemo I’ve been on has shrunk the larger tumors in the liver, but the cancer has gotten smart and found a way to continue to grow, so new little ones are showing up in both liver and lungs.
This morning in my Believing God Bible Study, Beth Moore’s video was on ‘Believing God when Victory Demands your All.’ That feels like where we are just now: aware that God will be victorious in my life, but not sure exactly how or when, with healing on earth or in heaven. I praise Him that the cancer is indolent; so far the only pain I’ve experienced has been from the treatment, not from the cancer. And it is a miracle that I’m alive and feeling well three years into a diagnosis that should have been fatal at least a year ago! God, not the doctors, knows the number of my days. We’re all handling this news better than we might have thought possible, not because we’re in denial but because God is pouring peace into each of our hearts. May He do the same for you as we know that you love us and will find this news hard to handle.
Dave and I thoroughly enjoyed the missions conference at Multnomah Bible College here in Portland. Excellent worship, teaching, seminars, and most of all, the caliber of students we spent time with talking and praying. We hope to see a prayer group for East Asia started on or near campus as a result of these conversations. And we also are praying that a new prayer group will start in the Vancouver, Washington area, just across the river from Portland. We have a venue and speakers for a kick off meeting, so just need to choose the right date and send out invitations. Please pray the Lord will guide clearly in this.
Wil leaves on March 20th for ten days in Mexico with his youth group. They have raised enough money for the plane fare, but not yet enough to cover living expenses and work materials they will need while in Mexico. Pray for safety in travel for the group, but even more that God will speak to each of them and give them a real opportunity to serve.
Depending on how I’m feeling after radiation, Dave and I would like to make a trip up to the state of Washington and British Columbia while Wil is away. Pray we’ll plan wisely.
Yours rejoicing in our Risen Savior,
Dave and Karen
Posted by David at 10:02 PM