I imagined I would return to writing this blog in order to share with you what we learned about faith and prayer during our cancer journey. But, we have experienced an unexpected “wrinkle”. Three weeks ago Mike injured his neck doing some yard work. The pain increasingly go worse and started causing headaches. The family doctor did an x-ray, which revealed degenerative disc disease. The oncologist did an MRI on Tuesday which revealed 3 small tumors in Mike’s brain.
Our oncologist is amazing and got Mike in to see a neurosurgeon and radiologist today. From the MRI, the neurosurgeon call tell that one of the tumors is benign and they are assuming the other two are cancerous. The plan is to do a procedure called Gamma Knife on Tuesday. Gamma Knife is a one dose targeted radiation therapy. It will take up to 6 months to know the result because of the swelling the radiation causes.
The biggest juggle will be with the immunotherapy treatments Mike just started and the steroids he will need to take to manage the swelling. If the need for the steroids becomes too great, immunotherapy will need to be stopped.
Two years ago, when we got the initial diagnosis, I was angry and full of questions. This time, I had some initial shock and a level of disappointment. But, I didn’t stay there for long. I am learning that while fear may be an instant reaction, we do not have to entertain it and allow it to develop into worry. So much of the battle is in our minds. We choose what thoughts we dwell on and allow to take root. Today I am choosing Psalm 112:7, “They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them.” And Philippians 4:7, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for all He has done.”
Please join us in prayer that God will continue His work and will continue to bless Mike with zero side effects and zero cancer cells.
Perhaps the neck injury was the painful blessing of God to reveal what would otherwise have grown unseen. Continuing to pray with you!
That’s exactly what we believe. If the neck pain didn’t happen, we would not know that the tumors were there because they weren’t causing any issues.