First treatment

One week and a day after his chemotherapy treatment, John is finally starting to feel better. Due to the diarrhea, nausea, and loss of appetite caused by the chemo, he has lost 23 lbs. this week. The doctor sent him to the ER Thursday night to get rehydrated with some IV fluids. He was able to come home the same night and is gradually starting to eat more and actually keep it down.

Here are some specific requests as you continue to pray for us:

  • that John would be able to eat and regain his strength
  • that we would find the right balance of medications and nutrition to alleviate his side effects (diarrhea, nausea, loss of appetite, fatigue)
  • that the cancer cells in his body would continue to be destroyed

It’s been an exhausting week for me too, so thank you to everyone who has sent messages of encouragement, hymns and prayers. I haven’t had time to respond to all of you but listening to some of the songs you’ve shared has been keeping me grounded. Something our pastor, Gary McNitt, said last Sunday has stuck with me too: “A soul that is stabilized by God can overcome anything.”

John’s next chemo day is September 24. Hopefully this week he can get back to working at his desk and playing Mario Kart with the kids. (It might sound silly but that’s what they’ve been missing the most!) And hopefully the next treatment won’t be quite so brutal.

Life is short

Life is short. I am constantly reminding myself of this fact. For a Christian, this life is also a temporary one, a tiny speck of eternity.

Recently my mother has been diagnosed with stage 3 cancer. She has been told that her cancer is curable, but still, she is finding it a bit overwhelming to be in the patient’s chair this time instead of the caregiver’s. Please pray for her as she goes through several more months of chemotherapy.

As for myself, I am just finishing a 2-month break from chemotherapy. My ostomy wound has once again completely healed and hopefully my fistula has healed as well. I will be starting back on chemo this Friday, Sept. 10.

Before my break, my CEA test revealed that the last batch of chemotherapy is still working which, according to my mother’s oncologist is “amazing.” I get the sense that it is not common for the same chemotherapy drugs to remain effective for this long and that she (the oncologist) was a little surprised that I am still alive. I am thinking that prayer may have had something a lot to do with it.

I had another CT scan last month which, unsurprisingly, showed the cancer was growing again in my lungs and liver. I also had a CEA test which showed levels in the 50s again, confirming this growth. My oncologist thought it would be best to resume treatment very soon.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my break. It was so wonderful to be “off the toilet” for awhile. We were able to get away for a few weeks this summer camping in our little tent trailer. I went canoing for the first time and only crashed a few times.

We also rented a bouncy castle for the girls’ birthdays and hosted a neighbourhood kids’ club in our backyard, run by our church. Both events were a lot of fun for our kids.

Poppy is now 6 months old and getting nice and pudgy. She is working on sitting up on her own and enjoying real food. She is a pretty happy baby as long as no one ever leaves her alone which is not usually a problem now in our household. 

We are year-round homeschoolers, taking breaks whenever we need them, so right now when many children are going back to school, we are just picking up where we left off before our last camping trip. Magnolia is 4, Daisy is 6, and Harry will be 9 in November. They would be entering JK, grade 1 and grade 4 respectively.

In their homeschool lessons this week, the kids learned that God has a plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11) and “will put beautiful crowns on their heads in place of ashes” and “give them a spirit of praise in place of a spirit of sadness” (Isaiah 61:3 NIRV). With that in mind, we praise Him for all the beautiful things he has allowed us to experience this year, like Poppy’s birth and our summer outdoor adventures.

Pray that God will continue to do amazing things in my life and that my chemotherapy will continue to work. I know one day it will inevitably stop working, but I am at peace with that because I know I will spend eternity with Him. Until then, I’ll continue to enjoy the life He’s given me and do my best to honour Him with it.