My least favorite topic to write about is my health, but several have asked what is going on, so I guess it is good to share every now and then. This also gives me a chance to sneak in some prayer requests, knowing the prayers of the righteous make a big difference. At Thanksgiving I revolted and escaped the doctor’s office without receiving chemotherapy. The nurse told me I couldn’t do such a thing, but I thought I was a little faster than she was, so I bolted. I’ve never scored a touchdown in a Super Bowl, but there couldn’t be much better a feeling than sprinting untouched through the doctor’s office, across the parking lot, and into my 1984 Nissan Maxima… drug-free. (Actually, I didn’t sprint… I just walked briskly… there are a lot of frail people in a cancer center.)
When I had to meet with my doctor again, I felt a bit like a kid in the principal’s office. In a gentle way, he said, “We’ve been battling this disease over seven years now, so you know you can be honest with me and I know I can be honest with you.” I told him I had been on the same chemo sixteen straight months just to keep the cancer stable. I told him my body was feeling it and that Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday and I just wanted to be chemo-free. I was hoping he would expel me from Suburban Hematology, but he said he understood. (Compassionate doctors can be annoying sometimes…) He suggested we take some time off and let my body recover a bit. During the first month the bad protein only rose from 1.7 to 1.9. (At my diagnosis in 2000, this protein count was the highest at 6.3… a healthy person’s count is zero.) This past month, the number rose from 1.9 to 2.6 (a big increase). I also started feeling the familiar pain creep back into my bones. Believe it or not, this pain can make a man beg for chemo in hope of some relief. I wasn’t quite begging yet, but I knew my time of running from the doctors was over. (I heard this week that Roy Scheider, of ‘Jaws’ fame, just died of multiple myeloma, reminding me that this cancer is not very friendly.)
Last Friday I started a new chemotherapy. It is one I have not yet had and I guess it is the last ‘big gun’ the doctors know about. It always takes me a while to figure out the side effects, so if you don’t mind, please pray they are minimal. Please also pray the 21-day treatment is effective (I won’t find out results for a month). I’m already picking up a cold, I’m afraid, so please pray I can avoid these sicknesses while my white blood counts are low. Susan and I and eighteen others have airline tickets for a mission trip to Namibia at the end of March, so please also pray that I am able to go to Africa. (I promise not to run away and hide in the desert…) Our family knows the importance of prayer in the journey. We’re all sojourners in need of people praying for us along the way. Thanks for receiving these requests.
Love,
Dana
“I call on you, O God, for you will answer me; give ear to me and hear my prayer. Show the wonder of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings…” Psalm 17:6-8