Week 5 Update

Week 5 Update

I have been pleasantly surprised with how my treatment has gone this week. Although, I have had some nausea and have been getting tired, I have found a way to get through.

On Wednesday morning I found the chapel here at mercy, and decided to check it out. I didn’t know if I was allowed to go in, but I decided that I would sneak in anyways. I pushed my little IV through the door before me and stepped in. It was a small chapel that would probably seat about 15 people. It had a small alter and a large stained glass Jesus. There was no one in else in the chapel but me, and you could hear the distant sound from the automatic piano in the lounge out front.
As I began to pray I was interrupted by a woman and a young man who had stepped into the chapel. I turned to acknowledge them and said hi. They looked at me with a surprised look on their face and said hello. I couldn’t tell if I was in trouble and they were coming to tell me I had to leave, or if they were just wondering what this guy with all of these tubes hooked up to him was doing in the chapel.

As I started to take my attention away from them and look upfront, the woman interrupted me and said “excuse me,” and I said “yes”, she then began to tell me, “We were here to visit a sick friend in the hospital and felt that God had told us we were supposed to come to the chapel.” At this time the young man who was with her told me that he had heard God distinctively tell him the words “tubes”, and “cancer”, as he pulled out a small folded up piece of paper to show me where he had wrote them down prior to coming into the chapel. I could tell that they were nervous, and excited at the same time. I was also excited. I explained to them that I had cancer, and that I had felt led to go to the chapel and pray. They then asked me in a very polite way if they could pray for me, and I said yes. As they prayed for me, they were speaking words over me that I had been hearing from many others since this season began. After they finished praying they were bold and told me that they sensed that the cancer was gone and was not coming back. I had heard this once before 3 months ago, and as it turned out, the cancer returned. However I have heard this same thing now from several people over the last several weeks, and I choose to believe.

Last week I had my BETA PH Blood counts/tumor markers taken for the first time since I started chemo. This is a pregnancy test that they give to men which indicates cancer cells. A normal range is 1-7, and 4 months ago when this all stared I was over 1200. After my orchiectomy my counts came down to an 8, and I thought I was out of the woods. 5 weeks ago my counts showed a 286 which was the first indicator that the cancer was still there, which is when my oncologist decided to start my chemo. I received a call from my doctor yesterday to give me the results, and was elated to hear that they had dropped from a 286 to a 4.4 in only three weeks, which was a completely within its normal range. PTL!

I don’t know if this means that they are going to stop the chemo, but I am so willing to endure 8 more weeks of this if it is what I am supposed to do. I keep meeting some amazing people here in the chemo unit and have absolutely loved hearing the hope, and kindness that comes out of the mouths of the people that I have been spending my days with.

The nurses here have assigned me a seat in the front of this small area where they give the chemo, due to the fact that I have the most visitors and there are extra chairs up here. I have been so blessed to have visitors every day and some days they spend hours with me.

Friends and family have brought Heather and me meals every night, and it has been such a blessing to not have to cook. I feel so rich in relationships that it makes me smile. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts.