Dear Friends,
I'll be honest with you; this week has been an up and down proposition. On Monday, I received advanced notice that my Friday CT scan did not look promising. In fact, several doctor friends of mine were suggesting that I abandon the program for according to the radiologist report, the cancer was growing again. However, on Wednesday morning, I met with my oncologist, Anna, and she had a different reading of the scan, explaining that much of what the radiologist interpreted as tissue, to her appeared to be fluid. Indeed, she confirmed that we have not experienced the shrinkage that we had hoped for; however, that by her read, the cancerous growth was insignificant. Therefore, Tracey and I decided to stay with the trial alittle longer.
However, as a result of this incident, it caused us to begin to fast track our deliberations and actions toward a "Plan B". One of which has been to investigate Dr. Thomas Vogl's treatment in Frankfurt, Germany. As a result of both phone conversations and emails, I received word that I meet his protocols and would be welcomed into his trial program. I later emailed him with the question as to whether any of those in the trial possessed the rarer mesothelioma sarcomitiod (which is what I have) to which he answered that four of his patients were and that they had experienced good results. This represents a revelation in that even the effective programs generally don't enjoy success with sarcommitiod like mine.
Kirk, my brother, summed it up this way, "It sounds like it now more a matter of "when" than "if" I will visit Frankfurt. I believe that's a fair statement.
Prayers points:
1) By remaining in the exisiting trial, I'm buying time because the cancer is being held in check and I'm keeping Anna, my oncologist, on side with me and it allows us time to manage the necessary planning for a 6 week stay in Germany.
2) I've initiated another gathering of my advisory group composed of special friends and medical advisors to assist me and Tracey in our deliberations for the future as well as batheing these important decisions in prayers. I refuse to rush into any decision; I want to spend ample time seeking God's face in all matters.
3) With the poor news at the start of week, it's knocked us around a bit but we thank God that just when we needed an infusion of hope, Dr. Vogl's reply came to us Tuesday night. This is a praise point: Thank Lord that you didn't forget me.
4) On Wednesday, I had my third chemo infusion and it always takes its toll; but I'm happy to say that so far so good. Pray that I can make to the weekend in good nick.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your prayers. The way God is working is no accident and I credit God's grace and the prayers of His people in sustaining me day by day.
If you want, go to the Subi Church website and listen to Tracey's presentation as she addressed the services at Subi on the weekend and was brilliant. We agreed that God is using this time in a special way; it's a hard time, but a good time as well.
Praise the Lord for that.
All my love to you,
Yours in Christ,
Graham
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