Avastin Starts Today

Thanks everyone for your prayers over the last couple weeks.  I feel myself needing them more each day.  The last week was a bit rougher for me.  My back has been hurting more, and the stiffness and pain has moved to my lower back and upper legs.  There were a couple days where I was pretty discouraged, but this weekend seems to have revived me somewhat.  Just pray that I can keep a good attitude as I feel my body slowly declining in ability.  Leann was playing the piano Sunday after church and it just made me cry.  Something about the hymns just seems to do so much good for my spirit.

In a few hours I go for my first Avastin treatment.  It will be by IV, supposed to take about an hour.  I had an MRI scheduled Friday but a little bit into it the machine broke, so now I have to go both Tuesday and Thursday.  It takes 4 different scans to do my whole brain and spine, and they can only do two of them in a single day.  So, this will be a busy week as far as medical appts go.

On the home front, we are getting anxious for our little baby to arrive.  July 20th is the due date.  Leann had an appt Friday and found out the baby is breach, so we are praying that we can turn the baby soon.

More than once I’ve been asked, “What have you learned by going through this battle with cancer?” So I decided to try and capture for my own thinking what my conclusions were.  As I started typing, I originally used the title “What I Learned from Cancer”. As we moved back home and I tried to get back into the swing of life, I realized that it is present tense, not past, so now it is titled “What I Am Learning from Cancer”.  Why I say that is I found that I thought I had learned a few things, and then the normal pressures of life started pulling at me again, and I found that I maybe had not fully learned my lesson.  For example, I will still find myself worrying about the distant future and have to remind myself to take one day at a time.  So some of these lessons I have not learned 100% yet myself.    Please don’t misunderstand me here.  I am not trying to be overly preachy.  It just seems that God has brought me through experiences which bring life into a different focus, and give me a different credibility upon which to speak.  I don’t want to abuse or waste it.  So when you read my thoughts, if you feel God’s Spirit pricking you, then listen.  If you feel Derek just rambling, then ignore it.  There are approximately a dozen “things” I am learning, and my plan is just to share one a week with you over time so it’s not so much to read.  They will come in no particular order, as I really haven’t been able to put them in order of importance.

   
      Love,
      Derek & Leann