Recent history of pancreas mass

Hello friends and family,

Blogging is new to me, so bear with me on this…

Many of you are up to date on my health issues, but some are not, so today I’ll try to give a brief summary and then follow with news as it develops. A blog seems impersonal, but with the hundreds of praying friends both near and around the world, as much as I love to hear from you, I simply can’t keep up with individual responses.

So here goes:

Since February I’ve been experiencing some recurrent pains. At first I thought it as a mid back strain from some shovel and wheelbarrow work, but it was atypical and sometimes more upper abdominal. After seeing my doctor a couple of times, getting some lab tests – all normal – and trying acid inhibitors for a couple of weeks, I got a CT scan April 18th that showed a 2.5 x 4.5 cm mass in the pancreas. A few days later the tumor marker, CA 19-9 was also reported elevated to 4724, normal being up to 37. Although these are the best predictors, neither of these is 100% accurate in diagnosing carcinoma, but naturally that’s the primary concern. I anticipate the next step is to get a biopsy for diagnosis and then to resect the mass if possible. On this Friday, May 4, I’ll be seeing Jeff Norton, the oncology surgeon at the Stanford Cancer Center and rely on his expertise and advice as to the strategy for diagnosis and treatment. My prayer is that he can quickly schedule me for biopsy and surgery if feasible. In reality it may take 2-3 weeks to get scheduled in the OR.

So Bonnie and I are learning about patience and endurance. Some of you have asked if we are not overwhelmed with worry. We are not. The morning after my CT, I got new inspiration from reading Psalm 23, which of course helps us focus on The Good Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ. Daily readings from the Bible and devotional books we buoyed us up with God’s promises.

I have regular meetings with a number of Faith groups at our church and in the community and so they have been praying with me about this from the beginning. And the network of praying friends is global – within 24 hours of asking prayer by the Elders at Menlo Park Pres, we got email from the Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia with love and prayer from the staff where I visited in February! The result is that we have been loved and prayed for by hundreds of caring friends and our family and we have been uplifted emotionally and spiritually. Not only that, but after an intense day of meetings and prayer with laying on of hands last Tuesday, I have been free of the pain that was keeping me awake at times!

Worry has not been part of this in the last two weeks. I know that my days and my work are in God’s hands and my worry is not going to add anything to either my days or my productivity! Long ago I surrendered my life to Him and this would not be a good time to take it back. This morning I read a good passage in the Message, paraphrase of II Peter 1:5-9 which reminded me of what I need to be about these days:
“So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, continue complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, with each dimension fitting into and developing the others, With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus.

We will try to update this blog when we have further information on Friday, May 4th. Thank you for continuing prayer for accurate diagnosis and treatment, the right time for biopsy/surgery, that the mass will be benign, for His perfect healing, and in all, God will be glorified.