A false theology out there says “God will never give you anything more than what you can handle.” Or “follow Jesus and life will be wonderful and marvelous- no problems or worries.” Rather, what His Word does say is “I will never leave you or forsake you.” Scripture also says in John 16:33 “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
We believe in these Words written in scripture that have guided us time and again in difficult seasons; and the season ahead will be no different.
In mid April, specialists decided it was time to do some more testing for rising PSA levels in Chuck. They had been monitoring those for 18 months and we agreed to the decision to dig a little further. For those of you clueless to what a PSA level is, it means prostate specific antigen and yup, just one of those things that most men start to deal with as they get older. Oh joy – we all male and female have our “stuff”!
A subsequent MRI and then biopsy was scheduled which revealed there was some “well behaving” cancer in the prostate; but to be certain a special PSMA pet scan was ordered and approved by insurance to confirm. During the scan they discovered a spot that “lit up” on his pancreas, but there was minimal concern. After all he had just a Gleason 6 prostate cancer. In fact the cancer board felt like it was just an anomaly. Two types of cancer? Really? Just to be sure another MRI was scheduled, and low and behold, a spot was confirmed; but again, they were hopeful it was just that – some sort of cyst.
Thanks to the connections we have in the medical world, an ERCP endoscopy was expediently performed this past Thursday where biopsies and pathology reports confirmed adenocarcinoma cancer in Chuck’s pancreas. Before you get all freaked out about the word pancreas cancer, please do read on. Because we see God’s hand all over this situation. Is it hard – yes. But is it also good – indeed it is.
We spent 3 hours this past Friday with Dr. Richard Deming at the Mercy Oncology Center. Dr. Deming had already met with us a few weeks ago as decisions were being made about how to work up all of this, and he has been nothing but magnificent. We believe he is an angel sent by the Lord to calm and guide us on the long cancer journey ahead. When we arrived Friday, he had already started assembling Chuck’s medical oncology team.
So first the good. Chuck’s tumor is called a resectable tumor which means it does not encompass any blood vessels. Most people who learn they have pancreas cancer are already in the stage of metastasis where it’s not resectable. Because this was uniquely and surprisingly discovered because of other tests, this is good. Early discovery. This means they are hopeful that Chuck could be one of the 15% who are cured of pancreas cancer. We’re hanging our hat on that statement and placing our faith in the Lord to let him be one cured.
Now the hard. Chuck will need a complex 7 hour surgery with a long and arduous recovery. Because of the aggressiveness of pancreas cancer and the fact that pancreas tumors don’t have well demarcated edges, they need to remove part of the pancreas, the gall bladder, and then “rewire” and move around and dissect other vital organs around the pancreas. He’ll need a feeding tube for 4-6 weeks; hospitalization for 10-14 days if no complications, and then recovery of about 3-4 months. Complications are common – we already are praying against that. Once he is on the road to recovery, he will start a six month course of chemotherapy to see if the cancer is receptive to chemo. They’ll start with the strongest chemo to see if he can tolerate it, again because of the aggressiveness of pancreas cancer.
So there you have it. However, and this a big however, we know that Chuck is a fighter and we also will have an army of people praying for him before, during and after surgery. So – in the words of our good friend Doug Applegate “let’s watch God do what God does.” Can I hear an Amen!
This coming week they will start scheduling more tests that will be needed in order to make sure he’s up to the difficult surgery, so we kind of anticipate this is going to be a bit of a part-time job for us both for a bit. Right now he feels great – other than the knot in his stomach thinking about the rotten surgery and recovery. We have some very close friends who have been down this road, and some who even had the exact same oncology team. Again we see God’s hand. I had planned to return to work, but we’re discerning both of our work schedules and grateful for the flexibility we both have. Wiemann Home Inspection is well staffed and I can’t say enough about our team here, plus those who have taken my responsibilities this summer at The Ridge while I’ve been on medical leave.
Ephesians 3:20 says “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” For sure, time and again, we’ve seen this in our own lives and in the lives of so many.
I will turn over the updates on Chuck’s journey to a blog on Caring Bridge at the nudging of our kids since so many people want to encourage Chuck and me along the way, but at the date of this writing CB is shut down for maintenance. Once it’s back up early next week we will use that for updates over the next many months.
