I have good news and a broken bone (Cancer update 18 May)

I have good news and a broken bone. The two are not unrelated.

The good news, in fact great news, is that I had a PET scan yesterday with results delivered at 9 am this morning. The scan was to find out the latest with my various tumours, mainly the multiple metastases in the liver but not isolated to that organ. The report says in part:

There has been a dramatic response [to treatment] in the liver with near complete resolutions of most sites of disease. The previously evident large abnormality in segment 8 superiorly has almost completely resolved and there is mild persistence of activity at this site with SUVmax of 4.1 previously 10.3.

The report's conclusion reads in part:

 There has been a good response to treatment with resolution of almost all sites of disease.

Not bad, eh what? I don't think the language of 'miracle' is exactly fitting to this result, but Prof Clarke my oncologist was happy to agree with me that this result was right up the end of the bell curve. "The right end", he said, which is pretty hard to dispute really. Can we at least say that this is the work of God? I think so.

It is great news and, God willing, means I am well on the road to recovery. Or not; I don't think it's wise or prudent to make quick claims about what the future holds. Yet clearly it is an answer to the prayers of many. It is further evidence that our heavenly Father hears and answers such prayers and works according to his plans and purposes. I'm not yet healed, and treatment continues. But it is an extraordinary result and I hope that you will join me in continuing to pray and thanking God that he is daily at work in both good and evil circumstances.

OK, what about the broken bone, I hear you ask? The other day, actually six weeks ago I did a little jump whilst playing with some kids at church—so little (both the kids and the jump) that I don't think they noticed the jump or even that I was playing. But enough that there would be an 'ouch' moment that I wrote off as almost nothing. Six weeks later I thought hmm not getting better. So what went on?

Here is the answer, it's a part of what the PET scan revealed incidentally whilst the tumours were being checked out. The image below is not really the scan. It's a picture I found that looks similar to my scan, but in mirror image. The red bit in my scan, in mirror image, is the bit that was broken.

Yep, that old inferior pubic ramus up to its typical tricks. My small and scarcely noticeable jump resulted in a break, not unlike what happened to my friend years ago who broke his arm on the golf course executing a mildly average fairway drive. How does that even happen?

I can't speak for my friend's arm, except that there was some underlying weakness in the armbone that led to it snapping like a twig when he teed off. 

In my case, the likely cause of the break seems to have been an absence of cancer. Somehow, a tumour had begun to grow in this area, the right inferior pubic ramus, and eat away at the bone itself. Then, the cancer treatment had begun to do its thing, so destroying the cancer and leaving behind itself a weakened bone structure. Then when I jumped into the air (six weeks ago), that is the exact moment at which some might say 'That's one small step for a man...one giant leap for a man with a weakened inferior pubic ramus, leading to a break that will ultimately cure itself with a bit of care and rest.' Such a saying lacks poetry but it does get across the essential details of what is going on.

So that's where we're up to. Please join me in praising God for working in this way to this point. Please ask that healing would continue. And please be assured of the truth of those wonderful Bible verses, 1 Peter 5:6-7, which read 

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.  

In the meantime, here is a recent performance of another fabulous Ralph Vaughan Williams anthem, 'Come Down O Love Divine', all about the Holy Spirit's power in our lives. Pray it with me! And enjoy the other music, as led by Ross Cobb.

 

I preached on the Holy Spirit

 You can hear the sermon here from the 25 minute mark:

Three points: 

1. The Holy Spirit is our Helper.

2. The Holy Spirit is a teacher of Truth

3. The Holy Spirit gives us peace.

The passage is John 14:15-31.

Would you join a club that wanted you for a member? (Cancer update 12 May)

 In continued good news I am still putting on weight. Given the possibility of sudden weight loss I wouldn't mind getting a bit over my ideal. So long as it doesn't affect my sporting involvements.

I've been accepted in an Australian based bowel cancer support group on Facebook, a private group where people share their experiences and advice. To be honest I have mixed feelings about it. While my treatment is going well and my weight gain and stamina are improving (I'm having an experiment half day today at the CMS office—just avoiding peak hour public transport and making sure I stay within my energy limitations) I tend not to think too much about anything except the usual day-to-day obigations, family, work deadlines, preaching and congregational relationships.

But logging onto this cancer support group reminds me of some of the uncertainty of the situation I'm in. Just a couple of random quotes (it's a private group, so no names):

My cancer is back in my Liver, I had surgery last August on my liver and February this year on my bowel. We thought we had got it all, but it’s back.

or again

Hi All. I have asked my sister to post this on my behalf.

It is with great sadness to advise you I have passed. I have been taken way too soon and the dreaded disease has done this. However I can say I fought, I’m unique to many in the medical world and defied all expected odds to have a beautiful extra months/years with the man I love, much loved family and friends.   

Mark I love you …

Mum and Dad thank you for been the parents you were and are. I was lucky to have had you

Thank you to everyone who shared a special place in my world.. till we meet again

So sad. Some have good news, some don't. Some have surprising news of success, others don't. Discussions of reincarnation come up, effectiveness of particular treatments, side effects, the personalities of oncologists, messages of hope and despair. Perhaps at some stage I'll move beyond lurks and likes as I read these posts, at the moment it's just coming to terms with what the future may or may not look like.

Here are a couple of Bible verses that I carry with me most days (in my mind), and that help as I consider what lies ahead. Jesus said:

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." (Matthew 6:34)

and

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)

Those latter verses from James are good because they tell me that the bad things I might be going through, alongside my family (who are going through it just as much as I am, only in a different way) are nevertheless under God meant to be counted 'as joy'. What the word 'counted' suggests to me is a deliberate battle to reckon something as joy that really wouldn't normally be. But it can be counted as joy for a reason; that though it is experienced as suffering, yet under God it has a direct purpose and that is for our steadfastness until the day of perfection and completeness in Christ. Like labour pains, then, it won't feel happy or joyful but the end result will be both joy and happiness.

Speaking of Bible, I am preaching this Sunday at St Barnabas East Roseville. I'm preaching on the second half of John 14, which includes these marvellous verses:

18"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. (John 14:18-19)

You can watch a livestream of the sermon at 11.00 this Sunday, here:

https://www.stbarneys.org.au/this-sunday-live-stream/

Or, if you are not committed at another church, come along at 9, 11 or 4.15 to the corner of William and Macquarie St, East Roseville—and make sure you say hello!

The passage is a great passage which reminds us that the Lord Jesus will never abandon us, no matter how great our extremity.

Meanwhile, Ralph Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending.

I’m putting on weight! That’s good news. (Cancer update 4 May)

 You work out what’s news by looking at the headlines. ‘Dog bites man’ is not news, ‘Man bites dog’ is. Actually when you think about it that’s wrong, but nevertheless…

So the headline is, ‘Cancer patient puts on weight’. Canadian comic Norm McDonald, who died of bowel cancer, talks with lack of enthusiasm about the book title ‘Lose weight without dieting or exercise!’ As he said, "doesn’t that just leave disease?"

Well yes and I got down to 71k, having lost 4k in the week leading up to that measurement. Now I’m piling the weight back on and I’m up to 76.9 as of today, about six weeks on. How’s that? My ambition is to get as big as those guys who are confined to bed and can’t even get out of their room until the guys with the chainsaws arrive to come through the external wall and broaden the exit path out of the house and into the special crane-equipped ambulance. Let’s see how we go.

So the doctor’s happy, I’m happy, and I will soon book in a PET/CAT head to toe scan to see if my fingernails or any other body parts are starting to grow their own tumours, but the vibe is that it’s all good so far.

Meanwhile, has it occurred to you that the antidote to despondency, over time, is thankfulness to God? Not an immediate cure, that's true, but today I am thanking God for putting on weight. Here is a song about feeling happy in such times.

Here's a particularly good version of the same: