11-30-2014 Sunday

Hello everyone,

I know it has been a long time between posts but, as many of us tend to think, I am one who figures that "no news is good news". In the case anyway, that has been pretty much true since my last post... until August rolled around that is.
 
As some of you may know, in early August 2014, my neurologist noted that my brain tumor/lesion was beginning to increase in size. He sent me to University of Iowa Hospitals for possible treatment with “gamma knife” radiation (it pinpoints specific spots in the brain using the X Y Z axis’ of the lesion). The University of Iowa doctor noted additional lesions and recommended that instead I be treated with whole brain radiation. I said that I could have that done at the Cancer Treatment Center in Waterloo and he agreed.

I discussed it with my oncologist and we agreed to first try a new drug that has shown some success in clinical trials at treating this type of brain lesion. I began that change early September and since then I have had two additional MRIs done so we can see if the new drug is shrinking the lesions. Unfortunately, it is not treating the lesions as we had hoped and two additional small lesions have been noted.

So, in a nutshell, beginning tomorrow, Monday, 12-1-2014, I will begin whole brain radiation treatments. I get a total of 10 treatments (one per day) each of which, I'm told, is only a few moments long. Initially, I will likely loose my hair again and will have sunburned (radiation burned actually) scalp. For several weeks after I will likely have increased aches, dizziness, & fatigue.

The long term affect of concern to me is that patients apparently have a loss of short term memory (though different studies say different things). From the research that I’ve done, it seems to affect older patients’ more than younger patients (btw… in this case, I am still considered young!). To address that issue, I will be given the same drugs given to Alzheimer patients to battle their memory loss issues.

 

It would be easy to look at this development as a set back but I choose to see it as just another obstacle in the "adventure" that I have lived over these last 4 years (I was diagnosed in January 2011).

I believe that my only hope is to put my life in God's hands and to savor each and every day. I believe that He has sustained me thus far because he has a purpose for me to remain here and work to further His kingdom. Whenever He decides that I the time has come for me to join Him in glory, I know that I will have a place in His Kingdom because my Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ has paid the price for my sins and I am justified through Him.

I will try to keep you up to date with how the treatments worked and how any side effects may be impacting my life and the lives of my family, friends, and my church family. I would like to add a word of advice in the form of a request to those of you who may not have a church home and family. My advice is... choose a church home, worship regularly (i.e. don't just 'attend'), study God's word, welcome that church family into your life, and lastly, savor each day of your life most of all the love of God. Nothing is more precious.

God Bless you all,
Jace

 

04-19-2014 Saturday

Hello everyone,

I'm guessing that most of you lost interest because of my EXTREME tardiness in posting or thought that I had lost my cancer battle and was in Jesus' arms now. Well, I haven't lost the battle and I keep up the fight daily and I apologize for my not keeping those of you who care and follow my life adventure better informed.

As i said, my battle with cancer continues and probably will until the day I die. The chemo pill that I take, Xalkori, continues to do it's job and is keeping the cancer under control. I 've done a little reading about the it lately and found out that cancer in many patients taking that drug mutates and begins growing again because the drug can no longer perform it's task on the mutated cells. Thankfully, that has not happened to me yet and, God willing, it won't happen. If it does, i will probably have to back ro regular chemo treatments.

On my brain tumor front, I last saw the neurologist in January and he looked over my MRI and my brain tumor seems to be pretty much gone. What was once an area just over an inch in diameter now looks much like a sliver of a cresent moon on the right side of the original area. Dr. Ryken said that even what remains could be left over tissue or scar tissue. Because of that great news, I only need to see him every six months!  Woo hoo!

Physically, I still deal with the battle wounds of my fight thus far. I've gained weight because of my inactivity during the regular chemo, I am short of breath and have problems with edema because of the weight gain and as a side effect of the meds, my feet are partially numb because of the chemo, and I struggle with dizziness because of the drugs that I take. But even with all of that, I am thankful because God has allowed me to spend time with my family and friends and to use the talents he has given me to try and further his kingdom! Glory be to God!!

My family is all doing well. Catherine was having trouble swallowing for quite a while and lost alot of weight because of she wasn't eating hardly anything! We finally talked her into going to the University of Iowa Hospitals where she had her esophogeal sphincter muscle (the one that allows food to go into her stomach) stretched. She is eating normally again, has gained back some of the weight she lost, and is feeling much better and more energetic. Grant and Jody just bought a new house in Elk Run Heights (about 2 miles from their old house) and are still moving the last of their belongings in and getting situated. Melissa is just a few weeks away from gettin her BA in Accounting from UNI! She has worked really hard and we are SOOO proud of her! Lastly, our little Eli is now 3 years old, fully potty trained, talking ALLL the time, enjoying his new house, and LOVES Thomas the Train, playing outside, finding good sticks, and digging in the dirt. He's all boy and then some!!

And now... Bible trivia. The question from the last post was: On the ark that Moses built, how many decks were there? The answer is: None! Because Moses didn't build the ark, Noah did! Ha! Trick question! Now for for this entries question... How big was the ark (in feet) that Noah built?

In closing, once again I would like to apologize for not keeping up with this blog the way that I had inended and once again I would like to thank all of you for your prayers and support. Sometimes, I hear people blame God for their illness or problems I just shake my head in disbelief. We live in a sinful world and we are sinners and we deserve far worse than we get! Don't blame God for YOUR SINS! Instead, thank him for helping you through the troubled times and for the joy tht we will someday experience in His kingdom! 

God Bless you one and all!!
Jace