Heaven on Earth

When we were heading to the airport a couple weeks ago I opened the front door and Ally was behind me, then Sharaya, Chuck, we had our luggage... and I whispered, "Stop! Stop! Stop!" 

One of the baby birds was perched precariously on the edge of the nest! I put down my suitcase and tried to get my phone to take a picture but he flew away. The other birds were hunkered deep down in the nest and I knew by the time I got back from Pennsylvania they'd all be gone.

And I was right. The nest was on the ground and there were leftover twigs and sticks hanging from the wreath. The Junko family has moved out. It sure was fun watching them grow!

Sharaya and Ally came over for dinner on Saturday. After we ate we played Uno, and then went out back to sit and talk and play some more.

 

Sunday we celebrated Pentecost. We had food trucks out in the parking lot for people to have lunch after church which meant me and my crew arrived at 7:30am to cone off the parking lot and set up the round tables and chairs. It was a very early start but it is one of my favorite Sundays of the whole year! We have many Internationals at our church and they each carry a flag from the country they were born in. One by one they walk through the Sanctuary and then they go up on the platform and say, "Vietnam exalts the name of the Lord!" "Nigeria exalts the name of the Lord!" But they say it in their native tongue. Nation after nation after nation, there isn't a dry eye in the place by the time it's over!

Waiting in the foyer for their cue to start

A friend of mine took this picture

People wear their national dress. The church is filled with so many nations, tribes and tongues. It truly is heaven on earth.

An Update on Chuck

Chuck had his second infusion today. It started with a visit to the dermatologist first thing this morning and he counted 13 nodules (up from 8 last time we were there) and another tumor behind his ear.

Plus he found a spot that looks suspiciously like basal cell carcinoma so he did a biopsy. He said it's very mild, it won't spread and if it is cancerous they'll be able to get it all with surgery. He was very casual about it. We should get those results in about a week.

But... all of this is expected because the medication takes a few weeks to really begin to work. It's natural for the cancer to grow during that time.

 The view from the waiting room.

We left for a few hours (bought a new microwave and Chuck got a new Smart watch) then we stopped at Lake Washington for a few minutes before heading back for more appointments.

The nurse practitioner felt so bad that we had to come back and she told us that it's perfectly okay to ask the scheduler to try and get all the appointments around the same time. 

They did a blood draw and we found out that everything came back normal. Everything! That's a direct answer to prayer!

Next they put in the IV line, then we headed to the back for the infusion. He didn't get a lot of sleep last night so he dozed off during the procedure. (He worked until 1am.) We're thankful they got us in early. We actually left there before the time of our original appointment! So now we wait and watch for this cancer to shrink!

 

What We Know So Far

We had a Zoom meeting with the immunotherapy doctor last week and he showed us the MRI scan they did on May 15th. Looking down through the top of his head you can see the tumor very clearly on the right.

The white spot in the center is his spinal cord and the round spot on the right is the tumor
(The tumor is actually under his left ear, this picture might be flipped. I quickly snapped a photo when the doctor showed it to us during a Zoom meeting.)

* I went out and bought a 3-ring binder to keep all of our notes and doctor's contact information, lists of medications, appointments... our calendar has never been so full.

* I've printed out the photos and names of all the doctors so I know who we're talking to, who we're meeting with...

* Melanoma doesn't respond to chemotherapy. So we're not going that route. We're actually happy Chuck won't have to go through chemotherapy.

* Radiation will target only specific areas and Chuck has so many nodules plus the tumor, that radiation's not the best treatment.
 
* His cancer cells have mutated to BRAF G469R and they're not sensitive to pills, so pill therapy's not an option. (I've read about BRAF mutations but I still don't understand it.)

* With the doctor's recommendations we've decided on IV immunotherapy and he begins treatment this week. Each session is 45 minutes and he'll have one every 3 weeks. They'll monitor the meds closely to make sure the side effects don't become overwhelming.

* None of the doctors have said anything positive or encouraging. They just give us the facts. 

I was up until after 1:00 in the morning earlier this week reading about BRAF genes and melanoma and different medications... there was nothing positive. Everything I read about Chuck's cancer was negative and scary. 

You know how you click on this link and that link, well after a while I found myself on a list of testimonials - page after page of people who have this type of cancer who have survived! Some were from people who are still going through treatment but the rest had survived and were now cancer free! Those are the ones I read over and over.

I copied some of them to a Word document, included the website, and saved it to my docs. Then I printed them out and put them in our notebook. 

It gave me hope!

Our pastor spoke on David and Goliath this last weekend. A seemingly impossible fight. How Goliath was massive and scary... and Goliath thought he was preparing to fight the Israelites but he was actually facing their God. The Holy God of Israel. Guess who won?

That gave me hope!

God is on our side and He's so much greater than the enemy who only wants to steal, kill and destroy us.

Hope!

The enemy's strategy is intimidation and fear. Which is what I got when I was going through all those websites. But my God is a warrior. Zephaniah 3:17 - The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.

Hope. Encouraging hope!

Job Possibility

Beth's job coach called the other day with a possible job for Beth! Woohoo!

She was at McDonalds right around the corner from our house and the manager told C that they are looking for a Dining Room Attendant. Someone who would sweep floors, wipe tables, assist guests, "Excuse me, could I get more napkins?" 

It would be right up Beth's alley and it's just minutes from our house! That's the best part! No more 2 1/2 hour bus rides to and from work. And it would be 10 hours a week to start. Even more than she was working at Little Caesars.

Please pray with us that Beth finds favor with the District Manager and that she gets this job!