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Praise & Prayers

Hi everyone, I hope your summer has been enjoyable so far! I recently received some test results back for cancer monitoring, and they are all reasons to praise the Lord Jesus Christ: my CEA marker has remained within the normal range, and my in depth Signatera blood test came back negative for any trace of cancer!  I still need to complete a CT scan to further confirm these results, but this is a solid start.  Please join me in thanking and praising God for His grace over me!  I know there are many who do not receive this type of news, including my friend Sarah's father who has been undergoing chemo and radiation for many months.  I deserve hell for my sins, and yet in Christ I am blessed with so much good news.  The gospel itself is good news.  I'd like to thank my precious Maria for reminding me that the gospel is all the good news I need in this life: that Jesus came, lived a life of perfect obedience to God, resulting in His death on the cross to pay for the sins of humanit

Anyone Down to Pray a Little More?

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  Just when you thought you were done praying for this woman, she goes and throws herself off a bike to make sure she is on the top of your prayer list. I can hear you saying, "What in the world happened?" after seeing this picture. So, I'll tell you. Sometimes Laura and I go on bike rides during our lunch breaks. We were on our way home on Friday when Laura lost control of her bike, causing her to crash into me and we both hit the pavement! Sadly, Laura got crushed under her bike, my bike, and me... (ouch). When I got up, it was quickly apparent that her arm was broken and we needed to get her to the hospital. Thankfully, a man named Jason Wakefield (a local electrician) stopped right after our accident and helped us get to the ER. He was kind enough to put our bikes in the back of his truck and drive us to St. Jude. During our ER visit, we found out that her right forearm is broken in two places and her left elbow has a fracture. We will be going to the orthopedic surge

Hey Remember us?

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It has been almost four months to the day that Laura entered the hospital. Enough time has gone by that Laura's scars have started to fade a little, which I'm sure she understandably likes, but I don't.  To me, the scars are an Ebenezer or reminder of the faithfulness of our King. That moment in our life is something that I don't want to forget. Yes, it was scary but I am so thankful the way God was glorified during those handful of weeks. Seeing how the church rallied around Laura and dedicated themselves to intercessory prayer was humbling to see. We got to witness God's sovereign hand at work by having us at the right place at the right time and had us in front of the right people at the right time.  The scars remind me of when I had never felt more love for my wife than I had ever felt before. The Lord used that time to show me how valuable she is. He showed me how much he loves her and how important it is to be faithful to the commands he has given every husban

My Birthday is Tomorrow.

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                  We had out second oncology appointment this week. We were hoping to get results back from genetic testing, but we will have to wait until the next appointment. However, we did get one major blood test result back. It was a test to show the MTM/mL (mean tumor levels) levels in her blood.  It came back showing there were no molecules of cancer in her blood stream. Obviously this is a tremendous praise report and relief. This is one of the tests we were waiting on to figure out her post treatment and the need for chemo.  Unless the Oncologist finds more abnormalities in her blood or future Imaging, prayerfully she will not have to go through that process. A silver lining that we were told though is that if she does have to go on chemo it wont be an aggressive round of it.   She also had her first appointment with her PCP. We were blessed to see how much she was on top of things. I would hope that this is standard practice, but we were so glad to see how much time her doc

When I am weak..

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    .. He is strong. This morning I took a shower while sitting, got cleaned up (also while seated), dressed, made myself some breakfast, & then started feeling dizzy & faint.  I've been laying down & am experiencing some shortness of breath.  I think if it weren't for this anemia I'd be feeling a thousand times better.   I want to feel strong again.  Another opportunity to learn & practice patience. This sudden illness has been a wake up call for me.  It showed me that I have no control from one day to the next, only God has ultimate control, & life is potentially very short if God does not intervene.  He determines the length of our days.  You can go from feeling totally normal & strong to incredibly weak & in pain.  Realizations like these prompt some personal questions: What kind of life am I living?  How am I using the time God has allotted for me?  Am I living right?  Am I living well?  Is there anyone I need to forgive?  Is there any

It’s been awhile

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Hello dear friends. I have not updated for a long time. To me though, no news has been good news.  However, we have gotten some great news recently from the oncologist. We had asked you all to pray for Laura’s CEA numbers. As a reminder, a CEA number represents tumor markers which are substances that are made by cancer cells, or the cells response to cancer. A normal number is 2.5 and when Laura was tested before her surgery she was at a 65. After surgery she dropped to 51. Not to long ago, at Laura’s first oncology appointment we were told that her number had dropped to 8! This is a huge answer to prayer as it shows a trend in her body for these markers to normalize.  We are waiting to hear back from her genetic testing. This will have a large impact on her future care. Depending on the results of this test will decide on whether or not she will go through chemotherapy. We are obviously praying that she will not have to go through that. But we will trust in the Lord no matter the dire

Oncology Consult 12/26

Good evening friends & fam! Thank you all for your constant love, support, and prayers.  I am so grateful to have each and every one of you.  What a precious gift from God that you all are to me. My consultation with the oncologist went well today.  By God’s grace the cancer did not spread to any of my 28 lymph nodes.  My doctor explained that the inflammation surrounded the cancer in my colon in such a way that it couldn’t spread anywhere.  I’ve never heard of that before, so either it’s a God ordained miracle, or it’s the way God created our bodies to protect us.  I am grateful for this and amazed by it.  God was already taking care of me before I was even aware of the existence of any cancer in my body. My oncologist will determine whether or not I need chemo or other treatment based on several tests: they are running a couple tests on the cancer they removed, which will take a couple weeks; they did blood work this afternoon to run a couple specialized tests on my blood; once I