Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in Him. For He shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between His shoulders." (Deut. 33:12)
Dear Friends, We are so thankful for all the support by prayers, cards, e-mails, blog responses and calls, in addition to little treats that neighbors can’t resist baking for us. Everyone wants to know how they can help us but as we say, prayer is key. Our youngest, Michelle, was here solo from London last week for 9 days and got us organized with multiple runs to the grocery store so we are well stocked. She is very organized and giving so she comes up with new ideas, Besides the regular time of day watch on the left wrist, Paul now has an interval timer watch on the right wrist which chimes every 11 hours – the average duration of pain relief with a long acting morphine pill. Thank you Michelle.
Drew is so handy and fixed our DSL when internet server went out the other weekend! Today Drew’s family came and brought us lunch; fixed another household item; and took off to get back to their home place to feed their cattle, which they are now doing twice daily!. We so enjoyed seeing them and are very thankful for their encouragement too.
This coming Wednesday. The 31st of Oct., we are going to UC San Francisco Cancer Center at Mt.Zion Hospital for a second opinion consultation with the pancreatic specialist. Please pray for the doctor’s wisdom as to Paul’s next steps for treatment. Although the abdominal pain and weight loss are distressing, not all the news is bad: the tumor markers indicate the cancer is being diminished and the radiation oncologist does not interpret the CT scans as showing progression at the primary site. However the radiologists don’t join in this interpretation of the follow-up CT – another reason for having additional consultations.
We are thankful that Paul’s sister, Joye, is flying in Friday from Kansas for several days. We pray for her finding good flights and travel mercies for her.
Meanwhile, life moves along for us and we have a few prayer requests;
I am on jury duty call this week so pray for wisdom regarding rescheduling to fit it into the complex schedule of medical appointments.
We’re seeking a disposition for Jackson, Paul’s remaining horse. At the moment, we’re thinking of a lease arrangement where a responsible person would care for and use Jackson for at least a few months. Drew has my horse, Foxy, for which we also are thankful.
We had decided recently that we would not renovate our old swimming pool, but remove it instead. Last week the main pump went out. So pray for just the right contractor to handle this pool removal job efficiently.
And of course also please pray for improved pain management and for gain of weight as Paul is down to 150 pounds. While our desire is that God would heal the health issues and restore wellness, it’s clear that has not yet happened. However we have known God’s presence with us through some tough times – and we know that He will continue to be at our side as we walk in His presence and His peace.
All our love, Bonnie and for Turk
Paul the apostle puts it well in 2 Timothy 1:9: “I know whom I have believed and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.”
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Unexplained adverse effects
Shortly after my last entry, the adverse effects of treatment took a turn for the worse. It became clear that the pain was prevailing, despite ‘round the clock Tylenol and Percocet. With that my appetite just about went to zero and I have not been able to eat much. The blood transfusions (2) last Thursday didn’t really improve my energy status, so I have spent lots of time sleeping. And a new bothersome symptom is recurrent chills and fever, five times now over the last 2 weeks. All of this is annoying and disheartening, and even puzzling, as there does not seem to be an apparent cause.
So this Monday Bonnie and I met with my doctors and began a series of tests to get some understanding of causes – the pain, fevers, and even the anemia are not typical for this particular kind of chemo. And I also have switched over to a more potent and longer acting pain medication.
I’ve also let the Albania team know that I will not be going with them next Friday – just seeing how exhausted and useless I have felt the last week was enough to convince me that I would not chance feeling that way far from home.
My prayer request list is long. Always I am thankful for a competent and caring medical team. Pray that they will be able to identify the underlying cause of all the misery. And please pray for effective pain relief, without more undue side effects. Finally that I will be able to resume a measure of normal nutrition – presently I am down 15# below my normal baseline weight, and I know that I’ll feel better when I am able to restore my appetite.
A short verse from Lamentations 3:22,23 “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
So this Monday Bonnie and I met with my doctors and began a series of tests to get some understanding of causes – the pain, fevers, and even the anemia are not typical for this particular kind of chemo. And I also have switched over to a more potent and longer acting pain medication.
I’ve also let the Albania team know that I will not be going with them next Friday – just seeing how exhausted and useless I have felt the last week was enough to convince me that I would not chance feeling that way far from home.
My prayer request list is long. Always I am thankful for a competent and caring medical team. Pray that they will be able to identify the underlying cause of all the misery. And please pray for effective pain relief, without more undue side effects. Finally that I will be able to resume a measure of normal nutrition – presently I am down 15# below my normal baseline weight, and I know that I’ll feel better when I am able to restore my appetite.
A short verse from Lamentations 3:22,23 “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Hope for tomorrow...
During my long absence from the blog, we have had lots of activity but not much has changed with my treatment or response. That’s not all bad: this week I had a recheck on the tumor marker (CA19-9) and it was less than half the level three weeks before! It’s a real answer to prayer that I am able to continue Gemzar chemo after 16 weeks and that my bone marrow function has not dropped to the point where we would have to stop treatment.
The part of my bone marrow that has been suppressed most is that which makes red blood cells, so I’m now on various treatments for anemia and may be having a transfusion this week. No doubt the anemia contributes to my low energy and excessive sleep. But on the white cell (neutrophil) side of bone marrow function, where suppression would interrupt chemo, I’m doing fine.
Pain management is an ongoing challenge. The pain I was having with eating has thankfully resolved – seemingly when I took some NSAIDs (naproxyn) after getting a back spasm. My doctors are a little puzzled about the pain - even more so the cure – but it seemed to respond to naproxyn twice and has not come back! The other “pancreatic” kind of visceral pain still requires pain pills 4 or 5 times a day, but it is controllable. There is no reason to think that this is due to new cancer growth, as the marker continues to fall. The consensus is that it represents healing, inflammation, scarring…..as the cancer mass is responding to treatment. I keep thinking that this too will pass – and a couple of times recently I’ve awakened with no pain even beyond 6 hours of the last pills. This gives me hope that I can get off the pain medicine soon.
Some of you have been asking about Jackson and his foot infection – he has healed and yesterday I actually hired my farrier friend, Thomas, to reset his shoes. I kept thinking that my energy would return and I could do the honors, but that has not happened yet.
And we had another good visit with Michelle and her family from London. It always livens things up to have a 2 and 3 1/2 year old about the house and they are at a fun stage for grandparents.
Saturday was the last of a series of training seminars sponsored by our church for Bay Area ethnic churches. Co-chairing this project is one of my last remaining responsibilities as Missions Elder - as this two year effort comes to a conclusion with a day spent highlighting the kinds of community services being sponsored by the many faith based agencies in our region.
I am ticketed to fly to Tirana, Albania in 2 weeks for the annual mission trip of the Albanian Health Fund. So far it seems that I will be able to manage the travel and work there, but please pray for continued progress with pain control and energy resurgence. The plan with my oncologist is to be off Gemzar for a week, so my travel dates are October 19th to the 31st. This also allows me a 3 day stop over in London on the return trip for rest and relaxation with Michelle and family.
As I live from pill to pill, I’m again reminded of the favorite scripture of our late friend, Joe, Romans 5:3-5:
“Let us rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but let us also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured our His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
The part of my bone marrow that has been suppressed most is that which makes red blood cells, so I’m now on various treatments for anemia and may be having a transfusion this week. No doubt the anemia contributes to my low energy and excessive sleep. But on the white cell (neutrophil) side of bone marrow function, where suppression would interrupt chemo, I’m doing fine.
Pain management is an ongoing challenge. The pain I was having with eating has thankfully resolved – seemingly when I took some NSAIDs (naproxyn) after getting a back spasm. My doctors are a little puzzled about the pain - even more so the cure – but it seemed to respond to naproxyn twice and has not come back! The other “pancreatic” kind of visceral pain still requires pain pills 4 or 5 times a day, but it is controllable. There is no reason to think that this is due to new cancer growth, as the marker continues to fall. The consensus is that it represents healing, inflammation, scarring…..as the cancer mass is responding to treatment. I keep thinking that this too will pass – and a couple of times recently I’ve awakened with no pain even beyond 6 hours of the last pills. This gives me hope that I can get off the pain medicine soon.
Some of you have been asking about Jackson and his foot infection – he has healed and yesterday I actually hired my farrier friend, Thomas, to reset his shoes. I kept thinking that my energy would return and I could do the honors, but that has not happened yet.
And we had another good visit with Michelle and her family from London. It always livens things up to have a 2 and 3 1/2 year old about the house and they are at a fun stage for grandparents.
Saturday was the last of a series of training seminars sponsored by our church for Bay Area ethnic churches. Co-chairing this project is one of my last remaining responsibilities as Missions Elder - as this two year effort comes to a conclusion with a day spent highlighting the kinds of community services being sponsored by the many faith based agencies in our region.
I am ticketed to fly to Tirana, Albania in 2 weeks for the annual mission trip of the Albanian Health Fund. So far it seems that I will be able to manage the travel and work there, but please pray for continued progress with pain control and energy resurgence. The plan with my oncologist is to be off Gemzar for a week, so my travel dates are October 19th to the 31st. This also allows me a 3 day stop over in London on the return trip for rest and relaxation with Michelle and family.
As I live from pill to pill, I’m again reminded of the favorite scripture of our late friend, Joe, Romans 5:3-5:
“Let us rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but let us also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured our His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
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