Ready for chemo...

Ready for Chemo

Bonnie and I have loved the outpouring of prayers, cards, notes, calls, blog responses, and especially some extra time with our family during the last couple of weeks. We have been on the receiving end of hugs and good wishes which have kept us on a high plain emotionally and spiritually despite mostly bad news from my cancer work-up. In response to “How are we doing?”, one friend reminded me yesterday of the story which I have copied below…”I can sleep…”. This story was given to us when Heather died a couple of years by a friend, and it just reminds us once again that all of us need to be prepared for the “bumps in the night”.

At the conclusion of my staging, I do have some glimmer of good news: the PET scan confirms the CT and clinical impression that there is no evidence of spread of the pancreatic carcinoma beyond the central egg sized mass. Of course with this disease there is always the assumption that it will spread and so chemo is a mainstay of treatment from the get go. The plan then is to have chemo for several weeks and I expect to make the schedule today for weekly infusions of Gemzar. This will be followed by some form of radiation to the mass. My first choice for radiation for several reasons would be a stereo-taxic focused form called Trilogy – but that also is dependent on yet another authorization by my insurance company and provider (yet another something to pray for).

Meanwhile I am feeling pretty well much of the time and take Tylenol pretty regularly in order to function and sleep without pain. PET scans are a special form of torture where the subject has hold still on your back for 30 minutes with your arms above your head – an interval that seems like hours, during which you can debate whether the back pain or the shoulder pain is number one! Oh, did I mention that there is a follow-up scan to evaluate the response to treatment? The prep is 8 hours of nothing by mouth, so I begin to yearn for injectable Tylenol. And being a good guinea pig, I signed up for a research trial that involves doing two PET scans each time… all for the good of science. The big reward of my PET scan was that the tumor marker only showed up on the primary tumor.

Our daughter Michelle and her two toddlers along with Kristie the nanny are off to Kansas today to see our family and friends of Heather for a few days. Please pray for safe and convenient travel – and good reunion times for all.


I can sleep when the wind blows

Years ago, a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly
advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms
along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the
Atlantic wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed
applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals.

Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. "Are you a
good farmhand?" the farmer asked him. "Well I can sleep when the wind
blows," answered the little man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate
for help, hired the man. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from
dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work. Then one
night, the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer
grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand's sleeping quarters. He
shook the little man and yelled, "Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!!"

The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, "No sir. I told
you, I can sleep when the wind blows." Enraged by the response, the farmer
was tempted to fire the man on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare
for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had
been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were
in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured.
Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood
what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.

MORAL: When you're prepared spiritually, mentally, and physically,
you have nothing to fear. Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life?

The hired hand in the story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm
against the storm. We as believers in Christ secure ourselves against the storms
of life by grounding ourselves in the Word of God. We don't need to understand. We just need to hold His hand to have peace in the midst of the storms.

I hope you sleep well!!

May you always have LOVE to share, HEALTH to spare and FRIENDS that
care

(A gift from a friend to Bonnie & Paul Hensleigh 6-20-05)