Slaying the Beast - April 27 Update

Hi folks,

Each morning I walk by our “card table” at the front entry, where we have left the hundreds of cards that we have received over the last months.  We thank you so much for your faithfulness during this difficult chapter in our lives.  Each time I walk by the pile, I am reminded of the beautiful community that God has blessed us with.  One card usually catches my attention because it is so reflective of our experiences over the last months.

"May there always be an angel by your side"

What a wonderful hope and prayer for each day ... and we have experienced many angels.  Mainly in human form!

April has been a real challenge for our family, with 4 of 8 family members being accountants, which means lots of hours and pressure until the end of the month.  Loretta has been working about 70 - 80 hours per week for a good part of the month. Work-induced fatigue combined with my ongoing treatment and the uncertainty about the effectiveness of the treatment has left us both quite vulnerable emotionally and  spiritually.  During an especially difficult stretch for Loretta, an angel arrived to share words of healing that really spoke deeply to Loretta’s hurt and anxiety.  We share, with her permission, the words of Sara Douma, who was our family babysitter for many years and has remained a close family friend years later.  We have always joked that we put Sara through her 4-year degree at Dordt College ... a fact she doesn't deny.  Seems like Loretta was a party animal back then too!

From Sara to Loretta:

And Happy Easter! Been thinking of you guys a lot and praying that Doug's last round of chemo went okay. If I recall correctly, this should be a block of "recovery" days. Hoping and praying that the headaches and nausea are less than they were as well. We will continue to pray for good results at the upcoming MRI.

Was thinking about Easter and was reminded of a blog post of mine from a number of years back when our family was experiencing a fair amount of trauma and uncertainty. With it comes the assurance of the resurrection and the promise that no matter where we find ourselves, our God is faithful, and He has won the victory over all the brokenness in this world - our health included. Anyway, thought I would share it, and through it give thanks with you for our faithful God - even when we feel broken, uncertain, and exceptionally vulnerable. May the peace of Christ and the hope of the Resurrection be yours, this Easter especially.

Love

Sara

The Resurrection...

We read the resurrection story from Matthew on Sunday,

and I was struck by how the angel comes to roll away the stone

and then, it says, he sits on it.

The ground is quaking,

the guards shake and fall to the ground like dead men,

the women are afraid,

and the angel sits.

He is not surprised or afraid.

He knows what God has done and will continue to do.

There doesn't appear to be any part of him

that feels rattled by the situation,

rather there is a peace and relaxed strength about him.

He sits as if to say,

"My God keeps His promises.

I'm here as a messenger,

but I am at peace and confident that God is the victor

and I have nothing to fear."

He sits.

He knows and trusts in God's faithfulness

and in the promise of the resurrection.

He sits.

He sits.  We sit.  Sitting is hard, especially after nearly 6 months of treatment and still no word about the effectiveness of it.  What do we learn by sitting?  Are we attuned to what God is calling us to learn and understand?  I pray every day that my heart will be open to what it is that God is needing me and our family to learn.  We sit, but not as confidently as the angel who knows how the story has ended before taking the place on the rock.  We sit...but we know that God has got this!

Not much new on the treatment front.  I completed round three of chemo a couple of weeks ago and the recovery has been much slower this round.  I have an MRI scheduled for Friday at 1:30 that will help to determine the success of the treatment to date.  We then have the follow-up MRI consulting on May 11.  We sit, again!

We are planning to head to the cabin for about five days of post tax season relaxation.  I hope to reassert my superiority at the ping pong table but chemo will be an easily played card, if needed.  Photo from our last match.  Loretta is in yellow!

A few quick items

• An update on the driving - I think that I may have got a photo radar last week.  Shit!  There goes the golf budget!
• The positive side of tax season is that grandson Kase has been hanging around my house a day or two each week as both his parents are accountants.  He is certainly another angel!  Interesting side note -  when I started treatment Kase was just beginning to crawl and now he is a full fledged walker/jogger!  It has been a blessing to watch this transition!  I think he has my sprinter’s speed!

• I can’t quite keep up to the super-active 1-year-old so my mom often tag teams with me on those days. She is another angel!  A 56-year-old cancer patient and a 70-plus-year-old great-grandma seem to be able to handle him - barely!  
• April has been a real challenge for me professionally as well.  A Christian school growth program that I was very involved in developing has been growing quickly, with strong movement in the US, Australia and Japan.  It has been very difficult to see how God is blessing the program so greatly without feeling really left out.  I did “dibs” Australia as my continent nearly two years ago!  To quote an Australian friend, “Doesn’t seem you’re getting a fair suck of the sav.”  Be sure to look it up!
• Another angel - an appointment with a specialist with a waiting list of about two months is happening on Friday because a former student recognized my name on the referral and told the doctor that I was priority one!  Glad I gave her a good mark!
• Do angels ride bikes? Some family and friends have decided to join the Ride to Conquer Cancer bike tour.  Wouldn’t it be a treat to see me in biker’s shorts?  Sneak preview, if you dare!

  

• Here's the link with more information about the ride: http://ab17.conquercancer.ca/site/PageServer?pagename=ab17_home
• And here’s the link for our team: http://www.conquercancer.ca/site/TR/Ride/Alberta2017?team_id=79482&pg=team&fr_id=1592
• And here's the link if you want to join the ride and get $50 off the registration fee (come join Doug's Storm!):          
• http://ab17.conquercancer.ca/site/TRR?pg=tfind&fr_id=1592&fr_tm_opt=none&s_subsrc=4180498

We will update the blog again in mid-May, after our “next steps” consultation.  Please pray that the MRI will show that we are winning the battle against the beast and that the “beast” of doubt will remain quiet until then as well. Thanks to all of you angels who have been prayer warriors and faithful friends over the last 6 months.  We thank God for your many timely words, prayers and visits.  Time to sit on that stone and get praying!  

Slay the Beast - Round 3 Update

Hi folks,

Blessed Easter to all.  I have been reminded of the importance and beauty of the significant seasonal celebrations in the church calendar as I have not been in church during this season of Lent.  Ongoing treatments and a compromised immune system have kept me away, and I have missed it.  I’m sitting here writing the blog with Easter music playing in the background, all bringing back fond memories of communal singing in church.  Is there any stronger confessional music than that of Lent?  I think not!

My Lent weekend celebration has focused on a daily reading of one of my most prized books, “HE WAS ONE OF US” by Artist Rien Poortvliet.  I bought two copies of this book about 25 years ago, one for me and one that I cut up and used to create a Lent bulletin board on my classroom door.  I am in awe of how Poortvliet captures the raw emotions of all the events of Christ’s life.  I have read it for 4 consecutive days and am so pleased that God prompted me to dig it off of the bookshelf last week!  If you aren’t familiar with this book, it’s high time you sought it out!  Here are my two favourite Easter morning paintings.

Text: "She lives in another world.  Dead is dead.  Everything ends!"

Text: "the way he called her by name.  It’s Jesus, he’s alive!  She is afire with joy.
The flames burst out of her! She starts living, at last."

Not much new on the treatment front.  I completed round three of chemo this past Monday and it has been quite mean to me!  If I was a judge, tasked with scoring the Doug versus treatment battle as a boxing match - sticking with the round theme - I would give the round one victory to the combo of radiation/chemo.  Valiant effort by Doug but it beat me up pretty good.  Doug bounced back and won the round two battle, as side effects were handled quite nicely, and energy returned to allow me to walk and complete significant tasks.  Some mental acuity returned as well!  Round three, while still in progress until the end of the month, has been the most challenging thus far, with an increased intolerance for screens and even print materials from time to time!  Stomach is knotted and nauseous for most of the day and food is less appealing.  I am still able to get out and walk and bike daily, which is the only relief that I have from the nausea.  Pray that I make a strong comeback in this round!

One positive of round three is that I have officially been approved to be road-worthy again.  I had voluntarily given up driving since the operation, wanting to ensure that once I started driving again that I would pose no harm to others.  A few friends mocked me about this stated desire because they suggested that my daily driving has always been a threat to others.  The test involved two parts, the first being a computer based test that tests the brain’s ability to interact with the quadrants and other things like reflexes and spatial awareness and decision making.  I passed part one, which allowed me to take an official on-the-road driving test.  

Back to driver's tests at age 56!  After a 5 month layoff! Nervous!  The 45 minute walk to the test was stressful, as I imagined myself having totally forgotten how to drive and wondering if I could still parallel park.  What if the evaluator was one of those super sticky driving drill sergeant types who would treat me like a brand new 16 year old driver and expect me to follow all those technical rules about distances and lane changes and...

God had a cool plan in place as the evaluator was “Motorcycle Mike”, with the looks and feel of a motorcycle gang alumnus, complete with tattoos, bushy beard, and earrings!  He assured me that he knew that I was a competent driver so wouldn't go through a “first license” type test; he would only grade me on driving competency and safety.  Forty-five minutes later, I was good to go.  Having my license back is huge at this time of year as Loretta is working crazy hours to complete tax season. My ability to run errands and grab supplies helps.

I will begin the next round of chemo in the first week of May, pending a positive blood test result.  I will take the chemo pills for 5 days and then have a 23-day recovery period.   

I do have an MRI scheduled for late April that will provide, we hope and pray, a positive update on the success of the treatments to-date.  We will continue to pray for patience, and persist in the treatments.  

We will soon hit the five month anniversary of the first onset of the cancer journey. It is so hard to believe that the past five months have included the initial diagnosis, major brain surgery, and three rounds of treatment.  Through it all, a list of some blessings!

• On the prayer list at a Hebrew congregation
• Africa friends
• Daily prayers
• Notes of encouragement
• Thanks that in the constant uncertainty hope abounds

It’s a blue sky day in Edmonton today, with fresh snow!  Time to go  throw some snowballs at neighbourhood kids!

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