“Praise the Lord, for His mercy endures forever.” 2 Chron 21b
We received good news today with the results of my scan from yesterday. And I really felt all your prayers carrying me through yesterday and today. I truly felt the peace of God, the peace that “surpasses all understanding” (Phil 4:7). Thank you, my dear prayer warriors, you have helped us beyond measure.
The scan from yesterday looked good (chest and abdomen), revealed no new tumors, the existing areas of concern were smaller, the area of fluid was smaller although not gone as we had hoped, and the lung appeared to be somewhat more inflated. While all of these were positive developments, the fluid remains a problem. So where do we go from here?
Our options are basically down to two. One, continue on the chemo indefinitely in sort of a “maintenance” mode. This is somewhat complicated by the fact that at my last infusion I had an allergic reaction to 1 of the chemo drugs. Option two, a surgery to remove my entire lung, the left part of my diaphragm, the lining of the lung and the lining of the heart. This surgery is extensive and would require a 2 week hospital stay. It is possible that the surgery would remove any remaining cancer and “cure” the cancer for good. There is always a possibility that the cancer could recur in another area and we would then go on chemo again. The surgeon is confident he can perform the surgery but does not know if it is the best route for me. He has performed this surgery only 5 other times, but with success. Given that my situation is very unique and not textbook, they cannot say for sure that the surgery would work. Praise the Lord that He is the God of “uncharted waters”!
We were advised to think about this for a few weeks. So in the meantime, I will have another chemo round on Monday and will begin more in-depth scans of my brain, body, and also a lung and heart function test. They want to make sure that I am a good candidate for the surgery and that there is no cancer in any other area of my body before they proceed. They believe that if the surgery is successful my quality of life would be very good, even with just 1 lung. A target date for the surgery would be sometime during the week after Christmas.
So, while we are encouraged with the results from the scan, clearly we want to make a good decision regarding the surgery. Whew!
We covet your continued prayers as we go forward. God has always been faithful to provide us with the direction we need. Obviously we are going to rely on His direction as we make our decision. Please pray that He would make His will known to us and close any door that leads in the wrong direction.
Thank you again for all your prayers. You know it and we feel it – those prayers make all the difference! We’ll keep you posted.
Love,
Kay and family
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