What sweet times I’ve had with the Lord this past week as I’ve been up walking before sunrise. There’s just something about early summer mornings when all is quiet, the birds are singing their little hearts out and the sun is starting to rise. This week I was intentional about going out “unplugged” so that I could talk to and hear from the Lord. And three mornings in a row He whispered to my spirit “I will never leave you or forsake you. Chuck is mine.” What a beautiful promise (Hebrews 13:5) and reminder that no matter what He is faithful and good.
Hours later on Thursday, I was reminded again of His words as we arrived at the hospital and were given red carpet treatment at IMMC due to the connections and care of our friends Greg & Jen Ellis, as well as my niece Rachael who was able to get us into the GI doctor of our choice quickly. Chuck was told he was a VIP patient and he was to be treated well. Indeed he was! Yet again the Spirit whispered to me these words “I will never leave you or forsake you” as we received confirmation of a cancerous tumor in Chuck’s pancreas via an ERCP endoscopy. This was the final test to discern the mass that had been unexpectedly discovered during a PET scan for a recent prostate cancer diagnosis. Thankfully that cancer in his prostate is a very slow growing cancer and something that can just be watched. This new pancreas cancer called primary adenocarcinoma is totally unrelated to that.
No one wants to hear that word cancer. And yet, it’s becoming more and more common. Numerous friends are going through cancer treatment of some sort right now. We’ve lost family members and friends to this disease; and we’ve also celebrated with many who are survivors. Of course, our hope and prayer is that because this cancer was found early (unexpectedly in a test for his prostate), we too will be among those who celebrate. Just as I experienced Jesus’ healing from my recent season of chronic hives, we pray He would do this for Chuck as well. Lord Your will be done!
Our next step is to meet with Dr. Deming at the Mercy oncology center on Friday. He will lay out treatment options and pull together Chuck’s team. Due to the new diagnosis of this cancer, all treatment for his prostate will be put on hold. Our prayers are 1) for a great team that Chuck and I feel good about; 2) for the tumor to be responsive to treatment; 3) that the issues in his prostate will remain minimally symptomatic; 4) for answers in regards to treating the lymph nodes that also lit up minimally on the recent PET scan (treatment of these is also being put on hold for now).
Several months ago as we started going through this challenging season, I put together a Fight Song playlist on Spotify. Funny how much you can listen and sing to praise and worship music and at times not give much thought to the words. For the past several months every single song on that playlist hits hard and is especially meaningful. Yesterday this lyric especially stood out to me from the song “I Know Where My Help Comes From” by Josh Baldwin:
SO GOOD! Certainly we’ve planted our feet as warriors in the health challenges we’ve both had recently. And we have so many friends and family joining us in the army of pray-ers. For that we are beyond grateful. It’s easy to feel sorry for yourself and wonder “why God why?” We trust and we pray as we face what’s ahead. The devil would try to steal our joy and confidence but our God is bigger.
As I’m writing this I remember sitting in a small room with family when my niece Stacie was diagnosed with an inoperable, incurable brain tumor. She was told “you have weeks, maybe months”. Many years later that tumor lies dormant in her brain and we give God all the glory. I look forward to seeing what’s ahead for Chuck as well.
