Treatment #7 is now coursing its way through my unhappy body, and the resulting revolt presently taking place will probably make this post short. But in the middle of my treatment today, the doctor stepped in with the report from the CT scan—”How are you, Mr. Tough Man?” I smiled— “Not so tough today.” We both laughed.
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I know, I’m due for an update. I’m sorry. The past few weeks have been a real roller coaster ride and there hasn’t been a lot of energy for updating.There’s a lot to report, some negative, some positive—so here goes:
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Well, just a quick update to those of you who are wondering. Treatment five was merciful until yesterday. I actually had a pretty good week—including getting to attend the teen retreat and moderately participate. When I got back into town yesterday, I wasn’t feeling too good but decided to try to work for a couple of hours. Things went down hill fast when I got home at about 4pm. It was suddenly like somebody pressed “activate” on the chemo controls.
Chemo is a strange experience—and add to that the neupogen side effects, and it just renders you incapacitated. For the last 24 hours I’ve just been in bed enduring the ride. I hated missing church today. I think this is about the worst I’ve been hit so far. People have told me that one treatment to the next, you never really know what to expect. That’s proven true today.
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It’s been a while since I’ve written a serious update. I’m amazed at how God grants blessings amidst burdens. That’s how our lives are right now—lots of blessings and lots of burdens, but the blessings always outweigh the burdens. I guess it boils down to living in the blessings while enduring the burdens with patience and grace. Either way, God sure is good.
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For the past few Januarys, Dana and I have tried to take some vacation days just to get away as a couple. Today is the day we leave, and wow are we excited! Never before in our 21 years of marriage has a getaway meant so much and been so needed. We are heading over the the coast, and other than perhaps posting a few pictures of the beautiful California coastline over the coming five days, this blog will probably be pretty quiet.
As far as health and treatments, last week was better than previous treatments (slightly) but still up and down. Saturday was the worst day, but bearable. The greatest blessing was that God gave me strength enough to work early in the week and lead our College and Career Retreat later in the week—including teaching two sessions. It was a great time.
This has been quite a four months. These past two weeks I’ve been doing a lot of looking back over the unfolding events and writing about what God has taught us. It’s been an emotional look back at times, but encouraging as well. Hopefully the coming several days will provide a wonderful pause for us to catch our breath before heading into treatments #5-12 in the coming four months.
Thank you for your prayers and encouragement!

I’m two days into this treatment and wanted to give a quick update. Yesterday I was about 80% normal, and today about 70%. The nurse warned me that it’s pretty common for these treatments to have their worst impact about the third and fourth day after, so I’m praying that I can stay ahead of the curve the next couple days.
Nausea is under control via meds, but I’m weak and sort of nasty feeling on and off. We have a very important College and Career retreat starting tomorrow night. I’m schedule to speak twice and conduct the retreat, so pray that I will have the strength to do so.
Over all, my body is weak but my heart and attitude are good. Trusting the Lord through all of this! Thanks for your prayers and encouragement.