For the past several months, James has anxiously been awaiting an opportunity to return home to see his family and to assure them that though he is not cured nor finished with treatment, he truly is okay. We have had tremendous compassion for his family, who we can only assume have been feeling hopeless in the face of James's diagnosis, grieving the imminent doom of their brother, and saddened by their inability to do anything to help from such a great distance.
This month, James finally got the go-ahead from his radiologist, oncologist, pulmonologist, and surgeon that he would be fine to return home for the holidays. (The holidays? Oh yes, the biggest celebration in the world is coming...Chinese New Year.)
Here's an excerpt from an email I received from him tonight, which brought me tremendous joy. I know that many of you have been praying specifically for James's family, that God would be at work in their lives through James's cancer. Be encouraged, and please keep praying for them.
So I made it home yesterday, and I am definitely glad I'm here. All my family are so anxious to see me, it reminded me of the first time you came to the village. When they saw me, my eldest brother immediately ran to me and hugged me and lifted me up. Third brother was stunned to see me doing so well, and he goes "Nobody would think you are an ill person at all, I have been wasting all my emotions." He just could not believe what he saw. Third sister-in-law said, "When we saw you on screen you always looked pail and puffy, we were just worrying about you." And everybody goes on and on. I have never seen them getting so excited. [Kristen's interjection - if you know Chinese people at all, I can assure you that James is not exaggerating.]
By the evening time the whole house was crowded with relatives and family friends. In front of 40-50 people I was able to share with them about how the Lord led me through this journey, they attentively listened for about an hour, many of them were weeping.
I am just so glad to be here.
James
Continue to pray - James needs sleep & he mentioned that his cough is worse than when he was here just a few days ago. Could be a mix of lack of sleep, an arid environment, dust, smoking...cancer. (wink.) I am sure that James will have many, many opportunities to speak with family and friends. Pray that he would be strengthened and would take advantage of the opportunities given him. Thanks, all - you're fabulous!
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
The Pulmonologist, A Major Problem, Next Steps, and a Flight
James made it to the pulmonologist last week, which turned out to be excellent, if not without a little drama. This pulmonologist is an internal medicine doctor who has worked in critical care for decades...and is definitely not okay with James coughing like he's been doing.
"I heard you from the other room [examining another patient]. You don't exactly have a subtle cough going on there."
He spent a good 30 minutes with us, trying to get read into the total picture of James's health history which we certainly appreciate - not all doctors have that kind of time - but we know that helps with diagnosis.
Some of our conversation was somewhat amusing.
Dr P: Have you been checked for histoplasmosis?
James: No.
Me: Oh, well, see, that's one of the things we initially thought this was since, you know, 30-something non-smokers don't get lung cancer. [Grin.]
Dr. P: [Chuckling] Riiiiight. [Writes up lab order to get that checked.]
Then later on, Dr. P is explaining to us that lungs don't have pain receptors but rather, they have cough reflexes. Thus, when there is something irritating the lung tissue, we don't feel pain. We just cough. So perhaps there is something [else] in James's lungs that is causing the cough.
Dr. P: When you did your bronchoscopy, did the doctors mention anything about blockage?
James: Well, there was the tumor that was blocking my lung that made it collapse.
Me: I think once the doctors saw cancer, they just went with that.
Dr. P: Ooookay.
And then, a less amusing portion...
Dr. P: Did the doctors share your CT results with you?
James: Yes.
Dr. P: Did they tell you that you have a blood clot in your chest?
Us: [Eyes wide, mouths agape] Nooooo.
Dr. P: Well, I'd encourage you to get that checked out [with the surgeon who placed the port].
So that was kind of how our week went last week.
Actually, our week went really well. Other than thinking through the possibility that my husband could die from an anuerysm or a stroke rather than cancer (the location of the clot was in his port, so if one of those things did happen, it would be death via the cure). Strangely, James and I were not worried at all. We did think about how it might mess up our plans for the next few weeks, but otherwise were kind of like, "Whatever. Let's go find out what's next."
Maybe getting diagnosed witha highly fatal the deadliest form of cancer does that to you. You can get news of a potentially fatal blood clot and think, "Oh, something else that could kill me but probably won't. Won't it be interesting to find out what they do to fix this?!"
To make a long story short - we went to the surgeon's office and made an appointment for the following day. (Which actually freaked out some people we told: IF A SURGEON GOT YOU IN TOMORROW, I THINK THIS IS A MAJOR PROBLEM.) I remained convinced that it was either something that could be easily resolved or just nothing.
As it turned out, we are happy to report that it turned out to be nothing. James does not have a blood clot in his chest, inches from his heart, brain, and lungs. Yeah!
And we had a really great conversation with the surgeon. ("You look good, James. Do you feel good?") And then an awkward moment when we had to tell him why we were visiting (despite already telling his nurse that upon arrival). Needless to say, the surgeon nearly ran out of the exam room to re-check James's CT.
The blessing of getting to see the surgeon, though, (other than the no-clot diagnosis) was that he was able to lay out his perspective on next steps. His hope is that James will qualify for surgery at the end of March and that at that time he will surgically remove James's right middle lobe, the site of the initial tumor. If James has that removed, chance of recurrence is reduced by 20%. Sounds good for someone in their 30's. (Of course, less than 2% of people in their 30's getting lung cancer sounds pretty good and we all know how that turned out!)
We do not know yet what next steps will be.
But it's nice knowing a potential next step.
Other highlights...
*James does not have histoplasmosis.
*James is back on prednisone & will remain on it until his end-of-March PET scan. (The pulmonologist really wants to see what happens & looks forward to comparing his scans.)
*James is now using an inhaler. This, together with the prednisone appear to be helping.
*James is now back home with his family in China! He left on Sunday and arrived yesterday. I'll post more (from him) soon.
Geesh this is a long post. How do we pray?
*Thank God for the pulmonologist and his desire to get to the bottom of James's coughing.
*Thank God that whether or not the pulmonologist really did see a clot, twenty-four hours later, James did not have one. (We really don't know what happened - was the first doctor confused or did James get healed? Either way, we figure that God does not get enough credit on a daily basis for keeping us alive. Give Him glory & praise.)
*Thank God that James is healthy enough to return home & that he went with the blessing of all of his doctors.
*Ask that these meds would work, and that James would be restored to full and complete health.
Thanks! More to come...
"I heard you from the other room [examining another patient]. You don't exactly have a subtle cough going on there."
He spent a good 30 minutes with us, trying to get read into the total picture of James's health history which we certainly appreciate - not all doctors have that kind of time - but we know that helps with diagnosis.
Some of our conversation was somewhat amusing.
Dr P: Have you been checked for histoplasmosis?
James: No.
Me: Oh, well, see, that's one of the things we initially thought this was since, you know, 30-something non-smokers don't get lung cancer. [Grin.]
Dr. P: [Chuckling] Riiiiight. [Writes up lab order to get that checked.]
Then later on, Dr. P is explaining to us that lungs don't have pain receptors but rather, they have cough reflexes. Thus, when there is something irritating the lung tissue, we don't feel pain. We just cough. So perhaps there is something [else] in James's lungs that is causing the cough.
Dr. P: When you did your bronchoscopy, did the doctors mention anything about blockage?
James: Well, there was the tumor that was blocking my lung that made it collapse.
Me: I think once the doctors saw cancer, they just went with that.
Dr. P: Ooookay.
And then, a less amusing portion...
Dr. P: Did the doctors share your CT results with you?
James: Yes.
Dr. P: Did they tell you that you have a blood clot in your chest?
Us: [Eyes wide, mouths agape] Nooooo.
Dr. P: Well, I'd encourage you to get that checked out [with the surgeon who placed the port].
So that was kind of how our week went last week.
Actually, our week went really well. Other than thinking through the possibility that my husband could die from an anuerysm or a stroke rather than cancer (the location of the clot was in his port, so if one of those things did happen, it would be death via the cure). Strangely, James and I were not worried at all. We did think about how it might mess up our plans for the next few weeks, but otherwise were kind of like, "Whatever. Let's go find out what's next."
Maybe getting diagnosed with
To make a long story short - we went to the surgeon's office and made an appointment for the following day. (Which actually freaked out some people we told: IF A SURGEON GOT YOU IN TOMORROW, I THINK THIS IS A MAJOR PROBLEM.) I remained convinced that it was either something that could be easily resolved or just nothing.
As it turned out, we are happy to report that it turned out to be nothing. James does not have a blood clot in his chest, inches from his heart, brain, and lungs. Yeah!
And we had a really great conversation with the surgeon. ("You look good, James. Do you feel good?") And then an awkward moment when we had to tell him why we were visiting (despite already telling his nurse that upon arrival). Needless to say, the surgeon nearly ran out of the exam room to re-check James's CT.
The blessing of getting to see the surgeon, though, (other than the no-clot diagnosis) was that he was able to lay out his perspective on next steps. His hope is that James will qualify for surgery at the end of March and that at that time he will surgically remove James's right middle lobe, the site of the initial tumor. If James has that removed, chance of recurrence is reduced by 20%. Sounds good for someone in their 30's. (Of course, less than 2% of people in their 30's getting lung cancer sounds pretty good and we all know how that turned out!)
We do not know yet what next steps will be.
But it's nice knowing a potential next step.
Other highlights...
*James does not have histoplasmosis.
*James is back on prednisone & will remain on it until his end-of-March PET scan. (The pulmonologist really wants to see what happens & looks forward to comparing his scans.)
*James is now using an inhaler. This, together with the prednisone appear to be helping.
*James is now back home with his family in China! He left on Sunday and arrived yesterday. I'll post more (from him) soon.
Geesh this is a long post. How do we pray?
*Thank God for the pulmonologist and his desire to get to the bottom of James's coughing.
*Thank God that whether or not the pulmonologist really did see a clot, twenty-four hours later, James did not have one. (We really don't know what happened - was the first doctor confused or did James get healed? Either way, we figure that God does not get enough credit on a daily basis for keeping us alive. Give Him glory & praise.)
*Thank God that James is healthy enough to return home & that he went with the blessing of all of his doctors.
*Ask that these meds would work, and that James would be restored to full and complete health.
Thanks! More to come...
Friday, February 6, 2015
Back to Square One. Sort Of.
There's been a longish silence over here...mostly because there is not much to report, because for the most part, James's situation has not changed.
He's still coughing.
A year is a long time to cough. Even if you have cancer. Or maybe especially if you have cancer. (I mean, people who smoke cough for years and years and apparently it's not that bad.)
So we've gone back to James's doctors to see what can be done. Perhaps a lot. Or perhaps nothing. We are descending into prescribing allergy medicine (just in case there's any post-nasal drip?) and antacids (just in case there's some sort of acid reflux that James is not feeling?) This feels a bit like a descent into quackery, since both doctors believe quite strongly that James's cough is caused by radiation. But at the same time "we" don't want to stay on the one thing that has shown itself effective - prednisone - because of potential long term adverse affects.
As one of them said yesterday, "We're good at what we're good at. We can keep trying stuff, but I'm not sure we'll fix it, and you're just going to get annoyed." (Now that sounds like an appropriate diagnosis! Ha!)
The good news is two-fold. (You were starting to think there wasn't going to be any, weren't you?)
First, if you take the long view, James's cough is definitely better. Better than when he first started treatment (no comparison) and even better than before he started this last, most recent round of prednisone. The overall trajectory is heading towards health and wellness. Awesome.
Second, James has been referred to a pulmonogist. We started this whole journey with a pulmonogist, so maybe this is a good sign, like when you return to start you win the game?! We can only hope.
The appointment is next Tuesday, so please be in prayer for the doctor, that he would have wisdom in dealing with James's lungs. What James is experiencing is all within the realm of normal, but some relief in the form of healing would be a wonderful, longed for blessing.
Thank you all for your continued prayers for James and for us. Your concern and kindness are such a great source of encouragement to us! We are being given grace and faith in this time of waiting, and we are thankful. Let's all keep on, in hopeful, expectant faith that the God who has done great things will do many more, and will bring this to completion.
Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!
Psalm 31:24
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