Hello Everyone,
I hope this post finds you in good spirits and feeling God's love for you. I love the spring time with all of the plants coming back to life after the cold winter. I love the blossoms and the smell of pollen in the air. I love the bird chirping and the feel of sunshine on my back. I love our yard. We have different types of bulbs that come up early and others that follow into the summer. We always have a bit a color somewhere in the yard. I love the colors that Heavenly Father and Jesus put into our world and for our eyes that have the ability to view them. I so thankful for this mortal experience. As great as the great times are, I know that our eternal dwelling will be more amazing than we can even comprehend. Thanks be to Heavenly Father and Jesus for the beautify in this earth.
Well, in my last post I mentioned a scan in March that would determine if we would be able to continue in the study. Just because I like to spice things up a bit, I decided to throw in a trip to the ER (ha ha ). I was having some chest pain, bad enough that it woke me up in the middle of the night. I was going to take some Tylenol, but Angela convinced me to go to the ER. I had never had this intense of chest pain before. It was like someone was pressing on my chest. We went in and did all the tests. The only thing that was unusual was a high white blood cell count, a high heart beat, and a questionable spot in the right lung. Nothing was wrong with the heart. The doctors decided to treat it as pneumonia. The anti-biotic did make me feel better and I was able to go home after a few days. This was the same week that we were going to fly into New York for the next chemo cycle. We bumped the cycle back a week so I could recover more fully. We had the doctor's at MSKCC looked at the scan from the ER visit and they determined that the tumors looked good enough that they would give me two more cycles and then do another scan. This was a great blessing.
We did the two cycles and had a scan in April. We prayed hard to know God's will for us - to know what to pray for. We let Heavenly Father know that we would prefer scans that showed stability, but we would accept His will. When we were talking to the doctor about the scan results, it was decided that they were "Good Enough" to allow me to continue the study. This means that there was some disease progression, some disease regression, and some stability. The disease progression was mild enough that it did not qualify as a trial ending event. We were so relieved and so thankful that I could stay on the study. We will take "Good Enough" and be very grateful for it. We started a cycle and finished it here in Utah.
So now we have two more cycles and then another scan. This will take us to the middle of June. By then Jonathan will have graduated from High School and started working at least one job. Daniel will have finished lacrosse for the Spring season and hopefully started working somewhere. It is really hard to find a company that will hire a 14 year old. Hopefully the yard will have hundreds of less weeds also. Annie will have started summer swim team at the Orem Recreation Center. Matthew is loving his time in Cameroon and love sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with anyone who will listen. He will be home in February 2023. Angela continues to be my stalwart defender and care taker. She is always making sure I have whatever I need to feel well. She is truly my Angel.
Thank you for all of your prayers and faith, love and support. You have made this cancer journey so much easier than it could have been. Knowing that there are so many people rooting for me and my family and supporting us in so many ways, allows me to face every challenge with hope and determination. You are my inspiration.
I love you all,
-Doug-
