That Circumstances Would Change

For those of you that had a chance to listen to our favorite Christian song by Katy Nichole that I posted in Killing Cancer 2 you’ll recognize this blog title in the full lyric “I pray for your healing that circumstances would change.”

In case you missed it:: https://youtu.be/YqHjjZz1Syg 

Well, circumstances are changing and things are moving fast!  Last blog I asked for prayers that we might be able to stop chemotherapy after 3 sessions and reevaluate if it would be right to move straight to the HIPEC surgery.  Well, Monday those prayers were answered.  Our oncologist Dr. Kalmadi set up a meeting with Dr. Wasif at Mayo here in Phoenix  He is very likely the most experienced HIPEC surgeon in the Southwest.  We absolutely loved him and have made the decision that he’s our guy.  

At the end of the meeting he gave us a plan.  We are finishing this third chemo session.  He will conduct another laparoscopic surgery this Friday, then we are going to do another MRI later today, both procedures so he can plan his surgery.  He and Dr. Kalmadi are very well acquainted and they will make the final decision on whether or not we need additional chemotherapy.  We are feeling very positive that I’ll be ready.

Our only other option was to shop around the country for another qualified surgeon in some strange city and then make arrangements to move there for roughly a month with housing costs, car rentals, and general inconveniences.  So this development makes us very happy.  Diane can sleep in her bed, Rachel can be here, Melissa can be here, and most importantly Willie is only :20 from Mayo!

And, here’s the bonus: Dr. Wasif said he wants me to have 4-6 weeks with no treatment to give the chemo a chance to be eliminated.  He advised me to use the time to get rest, gain some weight back and begin to exercise.  He said, “you might want to start slowly with short evening walks.”  I smiled and said, “Doc, I played 2 hours of pickleball this morning!”

Killing Cancer 3:

Here’s the latest on my health.  Yesterday was chemo session #3 and I had the best day yet.  Both the other sessions I just sort of nodded and didn’t bother any of the other patients.  Yesterday, I met new friends! I have two people to thank for that. Mom has a dear friend, Robin C who is so faithful at meeting Mom every week or so for lunch. And Robin is an amazing seamstress.  Remember the Port Pillow that Willie made for me to keep the seatbelt strap from irritating the port?  Robin made a bagful of at least 15 pillows for me to hand out at Chemotherapy!  It’s easy to meet people when you have cool gifts.  We love you Robin!

So, if you’ve been following along you know that the previous two chemo sessions I was pretty macho and decided not to take the nausea meds until I felt nauseous.  As such, the night of the chemo session was usually pretty restless with a lot going on in my belly.  This time I started the meds the day before the chemo and on the way home from chemo I tried another capsule of RSO (the marijuana med).  Last night I slept like a baby!

I’ve still got some side affects going on but I feel pretty blessed that they seem minor.  One of those side affects is commonly known as “Chemo Fog”  I noticed a little of it the first two sessions, but it seems more prevalent yesterday and today.  I find my self telling Diane things like, “You know I think this new Major League Pickleball league is going to be successful because……I’ll finish this story later…”

It’s getting so hot here, we are really looking forward to a trip to Alaska which is looking very likely during the 4-6 weeks waiting for the surgery with no more chemotherapy to hold us here, fingers crossed.  The doctor told me to do all my normal activities during that time.

To beat the heat in the meantime, our friends John and Leeann who spend the summers at their lake house on Lake Michigan have offered us the use of their pool.  We feel like we have our own private resort pool, minus the cabana boys to bring us drinks with umbrellas!  Thanks again you two!

To those of you following this blog, your support means so much to us.  We love the comments and prayers.  I understand its been a little hard to navigate so I made some changes and I have some recommendations.  One thing that helps if you don’t see a certain post is to click on the Home button right below the rafting picture and the intro to the blog.  Also, the three small dots in the upper right hand corner will give you access to all the posts.  Plus, I changed the opening page to show 15 posts instead of 10.  I hope that helps everyone navigate easier.