JOLLYBLOGGER

Health Update 5-31-09

The news continues to be good on the health front.  I had a CT scan last week and it shows that the largest tumor in my liver has shrunk by about 75%.  The other tumors they are monitoring continue to shrink - somewhere in the 50-60% smaller range.

On the negative side the chemo is really getting to me so your prayers would be appreciated.  I've got treatment on Monday, June 1.  The good news on this end though is that they are going to give me a "drug holiday" so I'll have some time off.  I'm still planning on being at General Assembly so hopefully I'll see some of you PCA folks there. 

Thanks again for all your prayers.

Health Update 5-18-09

It's been awhile since I've updated you on my health and blogged on much of anything.  So here's a recap of the last month or so.

Everything was going on as normal with the chemo with the normal ups and downs till about three weeks ago then the cumulative effects pretty well caught up with me and I was getting pretty miserable.  Nothing earth shattering or new, the fatigue was just much more intense and continuous.

I told the doc about this last week and he decided to put me on ritalin.  I sort of cracked up at the thought since you usually associate ritalin with unfocused kids and teenagers.  But he said this should help give me some energy back so it was worth a try.  I've been on it now for about 4 days and the difference is night and day - I feel almost normal.  Still tired, but almost normal.

One of my biggest struggles through this whole thing has been my fear of becoming drug dependent and so I still don't like it that I need the ritalin to get me up and going (I also need drugs to help me get to sleep) but this stuff does help me function and the medical folks tell me not to worry about it, so for now I'll stick with it.

I'd be curious if there are any folks out there from the nouthetic school of thought who have any opinions on me and my drug usage.  This stuff not only helps me physically but it definitely elevates my mood.

On the cancer front the news is still good - in fact today I got some very good news.  My CEA's are down.  CEA is a blood marker for colon cancer, it's a kind of protein that colon cancer throws off that offers one indication on how things are going.  I started off somewhere in the mid 50's, then it went down into the mid 40's and has stayed around 46 or 47 for probably the last 8-10 weeks.  My latest CEA reading is 37 so that's a pretty significant improvement.  This gives me great hope that I'll be able to go off the chemo soon because I'm getting pretty sick of it.

I do have a CT Scan next week so we'll find out if the tumors are still shrinking, I'm praying that is so.

And the good news is that regardless of how it's going, they are giving me a "drug holiday" in June so I can go to General Assembly.  And this won't affect my status in the clinical trial I'm in.  So I'll look forward to seeing all of my PCA buddies in Orlando in June.

Thanks again for your prayers.

I'm Scared Too . . .

Ecclesiastes 7:1-4:

1A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth.
2 It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting,
for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.

For more on Clayton go here.

HT - Justin Taylor

Larry Osborne Has a Blog

I haven't given up on blogging, it's just that the chemo is pretty much kicking my butt these days so it's rare that I feel like I have anything to say or the energy to say it.  So, your continued prayers would be appreciated.  The news is still good though - I am responding to the chemo and have high hopes of a return to something like normal in a few months, but the road to normal is going to be a little harder than I had anticipated.

In the meantime I wanted to share with you a new find in the blogosphere.  Larry Osborne, pastor of North Coast Community Church in Vista, CA and author of several books is now blogging, or maybe it's just that I have just found him.

I have been to one of his conferences read his books The Unity Factor, Sticky Church and Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God, now republished as Spirituality for the Rest of Us.  I would trade his thoughts on spirituality and ministry for 90% of the popular stuff out there today.  He is refreshingly contrarian, as the one title suggests, and my best description is that he offers us a vision of life and ministry full of biblical common sense and minus the hype and super-spirituality that characterizes so much of what we read. 

I will confess that I also have a great personal affection for him since he was one of the many who wrote a note of encouragement when I found out I had cancer, even though he doesn't know me.

That aside I highly commend Larry's books and now blog to you - Larry Osborne Live.