Written by Jodee McCabe
Monday, 08 September 2008 19:00
It is a testimony to how many are praying earnestly for us, that many of you have called, emailed or asked us in person, what happened at the neurosurgeon's visit. I had not planned to send out another email b/c the end result was the same. But forgive me for not immediately sharing the additional good report with all of you.
The neurosurgeon was as happy...or even more happy with the results of the MRI than the oncologist. I guess I really did not fully grasp how the radiographic stereotactic surgery works but my analogy now is like a microwave. When you cook meat in a microwave, you often let it "sit" after the microwave finishes and the meat continues to cook. Well, I guess the radiation does a similar kind of thing in this treatment and long after the treatment is completed, the tumors keep on being affected.
The doc said that on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being no result and 10 being the fastest and most positive effect, Dan would be an 11!! That was good news. We had been somewhat concerned about the "remnant" of the one lesion, thinking perhaps they would want to "zap" that again. He explained that it may continue to decrease. PRAISE GOD!! No more anti-seizure medicine, at least for now.
So: Dan started his second round of oral chemo (he actually began last Monday and with the neurosurgeon's OK, continued) and we have made the return trip to NY safely.
While back in Cincinnati, we were able to see our children, grandchildren, our Cinci Bible Study group, a couple of close friends and our Cincinnati Church Family. We extended our stay there for a couple of days for two good reasons:
1) Dan was given two tickets to a Notre Dame football game. He and our son, Tom, drove up and had a great day together on Sat. While they were enjoying football, I had my oldest granddaughter spend the night Friday and on Sat., we did a lot of fun things together, including reading, playing with dolls, baking cookies and shopping. Now that she is a 4th grader and busy with sports, I don't get to see her as often as the little ones, so we took this chance to have some "together time".
2) Our Cincinnati church, Evangelical Community Church, had scheduled a picnic celebration to burn the mortgage. God has provided and allowed us to pay off our 15 yr. mortgage in 4 years. There was also a baptism of 6 teens (we have a pool on the property which is often used as a baptismal) which was an even more glorious event!! (4 of those teens are quadruplets and 1 was
their older brother!!) We did not want to miss that!
Dan has now been on the second round of chemo for a week. So far, his side effects remain mild and we are SO grateful! We continue to pray for maximum benefit with minimum side effects. Since the BEST result of the radiation and chemo only offers a short extension of life, we also are praying that by God's direction, his body's natural resources will "regroup" and find a way to fight off this disease on its own and that whatever got "messed up" in the cells that allowed cancer to take over, will be straightened out and the cancer will fail. We hope to be here (NY) for about 5 weeks. Since I don't anticipate any new medical events in that time, I'll plan on sending out one update in about 3 weeks just to let you know how we are doing. The next big "event" is a CT scan scheduled for Oct. 21 to see if the chemo is having any impact, so you will definitely hear about that!
Once again we send our love and our gratitude for all the prayer and love extended on our behalf. We both send to you what Paul wrote to the Philippians: "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
