Slaying the Beast - Another Update

Hi folks,

My apologies for the slow posting but a birthday party and a family weekend at the lake distracted me.  The 4-day weekend at the cabin was a blessing, as it also gave Loretta a mini-break before heading back into the intensity of tax season.

I did have a scheduled appointment with the Cross last week Tuesday to review the next round of chemotherapy, which we will begin this week.  The doctor allowed me to delay the start until after my birthday on the 2nd, which we celebrated with about 40 family members and friends on Friday night.  Thanks to all who made the drive out to Wabamun to join in the celebration.

Not much new to report as it takes between 2-3 months after radiation treatment before they can do an accurate MRI, so we will continue to pray for patience, and persist in the treatments.  We will likely go through another two rounds of chemo prior to the MRI.

This round of chemo is double the dose of round one, as there is no radiation this time.  I am feeling a bit nervous with the double dose but trust that I will tolerate it as I did quite well the first round.  I will take the chemo pills for 5 days and then have a 23-day recovery period.  The plan is to repeat this cycle between 6 and 12 times, pending the results of future MRI tests.

Thanks again for your regular encouragement and support - your thoughts and wisdom are so appreciated.  This week Kathy Nieuwenhuis, a teacher-colleague from Rimbey Christian School, blessed me with an email that was very timely for me, and hopefully for you!

“One of the things I wanted to share with you (according to my journal in December) has to do with God's faithfulness.  I'm much more aware now of how people use the terms faithfulness and blessings.  For instance, when we get a good doctor's report, we say we are blessed, or we see evidence of God's faithfulness when good things happen or something isn't as serious as we were afraid it might have been.  Although I don't disagree that we can be thankful for those things, I have been grappling with the thoughts of "Does that mean that God isn't faithful when we don't get good reports?, when news isn't good, when we aren't healed, when we live in pain?"  I am learning that God is faithful.  ALL the time.  Good reports and bad reports.  Our circumstances don't determine how much he loves us or how he takes care of us. A friend or relative may get great news and be so thankful that "God is good".  It takes confidence in God's love to declare his faithfulness and goodness when we don't see the results we would like.  We are blessed people (whether or not we get good gifts)."

Please continue to storm the gates with prayers that the beast will be slain!!!

- Doug

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