Tag: chemotherapy

Updates:

• We are now in a mold-free apartment!
• I continue my chemo treatments with mild side effects. However, I am nauseous most evenings.
• This past week was my physical therapy evaluation. I’ve made substantial progress!

Prayer Requests and Praises:

• We are very thankful to be in a mold-free place. Two mold companies had pity on us and conducted two different mold tests for free. It’s a real blessing to be together as a family now.
• When I started physical therapy, I didn’t think I could walk for six minutes using a walker. Now, I’m able to walk on a treadmill for ten minutes. I received a good report on my reassessment, but my therapists want me to continue training through the month of July.
• I still haven’t experienced a significant allergic reaction to my new chemo. I’m very grateful for this — please pray that it continues!

What I’m Learning

While receiving treatment, I decided to journal some simple observations. I’ve collected 25 reflections based on what I’ve noticed at the cancer center. Below are 15 of them.

Consider these thoughts written in the spirit of the book of Proverbs. Some are generally meaningful; others are more niche. They’re listed in no particular order — just as they came to me:

1. There is always someone worse off than you.
2. The amount of sacrifice Jenny has given is untold — and cannot be properly retold.
3. When people tell me I am “strong,” they misunderstand the situation.
4. Not all stem cell transplants are created equal.
5. “Where you go first matters.” – M.D. Anderson
6. Facing an unknown future will either increase faith or cause it to buckle.
7. One hallway in a cancer center may be filled with rejoicing, another with weeping.
8. Bedside manner boosts confidence in medicine, just as “sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness.”
9. These are the moments why I married Jenny: not for her beauty, but for her evergreen and ever-serving love.
10. Suffering should lead its students to depend continually on the Lord.
11. All my allergic reactions remind me of my frailty — and God’s faithfulness.
12. A well-timed — and love-motivated — question can open a relationship and change a life. (Theo of Golden)
13. I visited three cancer centers to try to save my life. The most aesthetically pleasing campus nearly cost me it. The ugliest one may have the greatest chance at saving it. A center’s attractive appearance only matters if it works.
14. The storms of life are meant to remove the dead branches of self-reliance so we can depend more fully on Christ. (Spurgeon)
15. “People everywhere love fountains.” (Theo of Golden)

What Has Been Encouraging

• This week back home was “Glow Camp” at First Baptist. Our kids are big fans every year, and we were disappointed to miss it. But even though we’re in Houston, some kind and clever folks at FBC made sure to include our children.
• Our kids were able to FaceTime into many of the assemblies and teaching sessions. We even had two of the main stage pirate characters visit our house and leave a secret message on our security doorbell! The kids felt so included, they asked to make a poster on poster day. What a blessing!

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Updates:

• My PET scan shows I am in remission! It’s hard to express just how incredible this news is. So many people have been praying for this moment, and from a human perspective, I should not be in complete remission.
• Even though there are no traceable signs of cancer on my PET scan, it is still imperative that I proceed with the transplant. This is because a PET scan cannot detect cancerous cells below a certain threshold. My cancer is very aggressive, and I likely still have microscopic cancer cells that will return unless they are eradicated.
• The transplant process is essential for a cure. I will receive a full week of high-intensity chemo that kills cancer cells at the base level. This chemo is so strong it will destroy my bone marrow. That’s why I need the transplant—it doesn’t kill the cancer itself but is necessary to save my life after the chemo does its work.
• I’ve begun the stem cell production process! Things are moving quickly because any remaining cancer cells that escaped detection on the PET scan can grow fast, and we don’t want to give them the chance. For four days, I’ll receive medication to stimulate the production of stem cells for collection. Today, I had surgery to insert a device necessary for the transplant.
• I’m still experiencing mild reactions to the drugs in my body and must remain on the hospital campus for monitoring, in case of a severe flare-up.

Prayer Requests and Praises:

• Thank God for a clear PET scan. I still can hardly believe it. This was crucial to the next steps, and we are amazed at God’s kindness to us.
• I’m having mild allergic reactions daily. I’m on several medications to reduce their severity, but please pray they stop altogether.
• Stem cell collection starts next week! Due to my allergic reactions, they’re using an alternative drug to stimulate my cells. This drug can take longer to produce enough white blood cells for collection. Please pray that it works efficiently and my body produces enough cells quickly—so I can begin the high-intensity chemo as soon as possible and prevent any new cancer growth in the meantime.

What I’m Learning:

• This has been a big week for our family. Receiving the surprising news about the PET scan is such a gift from God and has set the course of our lives for the coming weeks. It hasn’t gone unnoticed that this all took place during Holy Week—a time when we remember the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for sinners. It was the most important week in all of human history, and Jesus alone has sustained us through this trial.
• If I could share one thing with you this Easter, it would be this five minute video:

What Has Been Encouraging:

• As I reflect on this week, I’m thankful for many things—but two stand out in particular. First, my wife Jenny. She has been constantly caring for me, pouring out her love daily as I face various needs during this illness. In sickness and in health, her love remains steady and vibrant. I’m so grateful to be on this journey with her.

• Second, the people of First Baptist Church. The Sunday before we flew out to Texas, our church held a prayer service for me and my family. I couldn’t attend because I was in the hospital, but I was able to watch part of the service online. I am confident that God heard their prayers that night and removed the cancer from my chest because of the faithful prayers of the saints. I am so thankful.

“You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!”

(Psalm 30:11–12)

Updates: 

• I am grateful to have gotten my third treatment of chemo this week before Hurricane Milton arrived. Additionally, it is good to hear the rain while you are in bed recovering! Thankfully, we did not sustain any damage and are praying for those who have been impacted.
• Each week I receive a chemo drug that has been nick named “The Red Devil.” This is a strong drug that must be administered by hand instead of through the normal IV machine. I have done well with the drug, but this time, it was more difficult. I was quite nauseous, and I anticipate I’m going to have to “gird up my loins” for the next round. The metal taste it produces is memorable!

Prayer Requests and Praises:

• I am thankful that my treatments have not been delayed. Someone told me they were praying my treatments would “be on time, every time” for all twelve of them. This is a great prayer. 
• Since June, I have had a swollen lymph node on my neck. It has been noticeable to medical staff, but since my chemo treatments began, it has nearly vanished! In fact, the physician assistant who examined me this past time said she could not find it. This is a good sign the chemo is working. Please pray this happens to all the lymph nodes throughout my body and where the cancer has progressed into stage four. 

What I am Learning: 

• I have learned the greatest threat to my life is not cancer. There is something worse than cancer: sin. The worst thing cancer can do is shrivel up my body until it physically dies. Sin is far worse. Sin shrivels up the soul unto an eternal death. 

“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:20–23

• Jesus Christ died for me and has forgiven me of my sin. However, Christians should never downplay sin or treat it lightly. The real Satan (not the red devil) is seeking to devour all of us (1 Peter 5:8). The Scriptures repeatedly tell us to flee sin and pray for deliverance from temptation.

“Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” 1 Corinthians 10:12 

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.” Hebrews 3:12–14

• I have made a list of areas of spiritual growth that I need the Lord to sanctify me in during my remaining treatments. That growth is more important than the growth of my cancer cells. Have you considered where you are being tempted lately? What areas of your spiritual life need to be addressed directly in these upcoming days and weeks? Don’t delay. Make a list, confess where you have fallen short, ask God’s forgiveness, believe Christ will change you through his death and resurrection, and read the Bible attentively.

What Has Been Encouraging: 

• Sometimes a sentence lingers and leaves an impact. I have received encouraging text messages with memorable quotes. Here are three of them:

“The Lord permits us to feel our weakness, that we may be sensible of it; for though we are ready in words to confess that we are weak, we do not so properly know it, till that secret, though unallowed, dependence we have upon some strength in ourselves is brought to the trial, and fails us. To be humble, and, like a little child, afraid of taking a step alone, and so conscious of snares and dangers around us, as to cry to him continually to hold us up that we may be safe, is the sure, the infallible, the only secret of walking closely with him.” (John Newton)

“There is never a crook God makes in our lot, but it is in effect heaven’s offer of a blest exchange to us…God first puts out his hand, and takes away some earthly thing from us; and it is expected we put out our hand next, and take some heavenly thing from him in the stead of it, and particularly, his Christ.” (Thomas Boston, The Crook In The Lot, 48)

“Trust is not a passive state of mind, but a vigorous act of the soul, by which we choose to lay hold of the promises of God and cling to them despite the adversity that at times seeks to overwhelm us.” (Jerry Bridges, Trusting God, 216)