October,
2006
Tuesday,
October 31st. Over the past week we have had an interesting situation
develop. Many of you will remember that we have been concerned about the
nerve pain and swelling in Christie's arm as a result of her surgery last year.
Amazingly, there were a couple of weeks when wrapping her arm each day and a
better position for her radiation treatments allowed her to experience a great
reduction in the pain early in October. We were very encouraged. We
knew that God had answered prayer, again!
Then last
Monday she started having a different sort of pain. It grew gradually more
intense as the week wore on and by Thursday night she was very uncomfortable.
Actually, she was incredibly uncomfortable. After much coaxing from her husband
(the author) she called the doctor Friday morning and went to Wenatchee.
First, she saw an ultrasound technician who performed a vascular doppler on her
arm to rule out the possibility that she had a blood clot. There was,
apparently, no such thing. Immediately after that appointment she met with
Tamara our uber-physical therapist, who, as it happens, served my wife (and
therefore the whole Turnbull clan) as would a great hero of yore over the
remainder of the day. First, she tried to relieve the pain by positioning
her arm variously. When it became evident that there was no position that
eliminated the intense pain, she made a secret call to Oncology headquarters and
then marched with her over to Dr. Smith's office where, after a short
conference, they informed my wife that they had scheduled an MRI for her for
that evening! I know that people had to stay late because of that MRI, but
Tamara made it happen. (Thanks, Mrs. Wells!)
It turned out
that this MRI was the Magnetic Resonance Image of Ultimate Perpetuity. It
lasted for over one hour and twenty minutes. Her husband prayed nearly
without intermission for her as he waited in the hallway. (My keen spider
sense allowed me to realize that she could be very nervous shut up in a metal
cylinder for over an hour.) Remarkably, she was not even the slightest bit
bothered by her close surroundings. Her arm hurt quite a bit, but God
provided grace for her to endure it with great patience. Everything
happened rather quickly and it was only as the MRI began that I learned the
reason for conducting the test. Dr. Smith and Tamara were trying to
determine whether or not the cancer had recurred in the bone of her arm.
This was, naturally, disconcerting. Because the MRI happened later in the
evening, we spent the weekend waiting to hear the results of the test.
Last night, at
5:30 p.m. Dr. Smith called to say that the MRI looked good, but that there was
an area in the bone of her upper arm that deserves a closer look. So, this
Friday, in addition to her Herceptin treatment, Christie is scheduled for a bone
scan on her left arm. Please pray for us. We have been experiencing
great peace as we are waiting to determine if this situation is caused by cancer
or just some kind of new nerve pain. Thanks for your concern and prayers.
Sunday,
October 15. The long-awaited Monday finally arrived this past week.
What a great day! The nurses at radiation presented Christie with a
diploma and made her a present of the custom-made pillow that was part of her
daily treatments. I wanted to have a ceremonial burning of the
pillow when we got home, but we decided that it was probably made of some kind
of space-age, form-fitting plastic that released carcinogenic fumes when
ignited.
I had great
plans for her final day of radiation. However, the process of getting our
whole family ready for Wenatchee and in the car without mom's logistical
wizardry is always greatly more time consuming than I ever expect.
Here's what happened on Monday. Christie's good friend Bettina drove to
Wenatchee with Chris for her final treatment, while we (all of her kids and her
husband) were set to surprise her by secretly traveling down to take her out to
dinner. Since I started the loading process much later than my wife would
have (had she been here), we were a full half-hour later in departing than the
secret itinerary indicated. Therefore, after my wife finished her
final battle with the Great White Machine, and walked down the hall to the
waiting room to get Bettina, she naturally expected to get in the car to head
home. Thankfully, Bettina did the work of a professional spy when,
contrary to my plan, we were very obviously not there at the crucial moment.
It was as though the lantern bearer in the old North Church had forgotten his
matches. That was the moment when we were to have arrived with flowers.
In actual fact, we were still a full 15 miles away. Without blinking
Bettina told Christie that they couldn't leave just yet. "Let's talk here
for a while" was approximately what she said. I imagine there was an awkward
moment as my wife tried to discern from her friend's expression what exactly was
happening. Fortunately, though she suspected something might be afoot, my
wife complied without any question and they had a nice chat in the radiology
waiting room. (Thank you, Bettina. And thanks to all of you who spent time
with my wife during these weeks on her trips to radiation. That was one of
the really good things that happened during this last phase; Christie got to
spend some great time talking with friends on her journeys.) Then, twenty
minutes later her family trooped in and presented her with the bouquet and some
hugs. After a tour of the radiation chamber we took mom out to dinner and
came home.
It has been a
great week. We are all so relieved to have daily trips to Wenatchee over
with. We are also amazed at God's mercy in providing for Christie to have
not yet experienced the
much-dreaded radiation fatigue. We are also simply enjoying the idea that
all of the harsh treatments are (hopefully forever) over. God is great and
kind and merciful!
However, there
are many ways in which life is anything but normal. We are by no means
through fighting with cancer. Chris is right in the middle of coping with
a p
lethora
of long-lasting and noisome side effects from the Taxol. She still
receives Herceptin infusions at three week intervals and will do so
until the end of May. We learned just this week that the Herceptin is
likely the cause of her insomnia and could even be the culprit in the new level
of tingling she is feeling in her hands and feet. (However, we are
grateful that Christie can be treated with Herceptin as it has shown to reduce
the risk of recurrence by almost 50% in women who have Her2neu cancer cells like
she does.)
The next two
years are pivotal. Though we do not trust in statistics or prognoses, we
take them seriously. Christie has just about a 17% risk of having the
cancer return. If it does return, God would have to miraculously heal her.
Otherwise a person with recurrent breast cancer has between six months and two
years (or sometimes a bit longer) to live. Knowing this has and is
changing our thinking. Please continue to pray for Christie and for her
treatments and her battle with side-effects. THANK YOU for praying.
We cannot thank you enough. We appreciate it so much and will continue to
keep this page updated with news.
Finally, here
is a picture of the infant
wonder, Isabella Vivian, with a sampling of her sisters. She is a
continual sign of God's mercy and faithfulness to us.
Friday,
October 6. But the Lord abides forever; He has established His
throne for judgment, and He will judge the world in righteousness; He will
execute judgment for the peoples with equity. The Lord also will be a
stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble, and those who
know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, O Lord, have not forsaken
those who seek You. Psalm 9:7-10
Believe it or
not, there remains but one more radiation treatment next Monday and Christie
will be done! Thank you, God! Thanks to the Lord for His grace and
steadfast faithfulness through these last five weeks (and these past 11 months).
We can't quite believe it.
One of the
greatest things God has done is to give my wife physical strength. We knew
that at week five of the radiation cycle most patients experience significant
fatigue. So far, Christie has not had suffered that. She is actually
dead tired since she has some trouble sleeping, but it is not the crushing
fatigue that was predicted. Praise the Lord. Of course, it is entirely
probable that she will become very fatigued over the next month or so, but it is
a cause for wonder that in the course of five trips a week to Wenatchee (and
homeschooling her kids and taking superb care of the house) she has had energy.
Another great mercy of God over this period has been the fairly mild case of
radiation burn that Christie has had, compared with the severity that many
patients experience.
In further
encouraging news, the swelling in my wife's arm has gone down drastically.
About two weeks ago, Tamara, the physical therapist decided to have her arm
wrapped and even trained her how to wrap it at home. Through diligent
care, and God's merciful answer to prayer (that rhymes), Christie's arm is
nearly of normal circumference. What a breakthrough! For a while we
were seriously wondering if her left arm was going to just keep on getting worse
and worse. It hasn't. Whew!
Nevertheless,
my wife is still hurting pretty good. The nerve, the muscles and the
tissue in her left arm are all very uncomfortable. Her heart beats
strangely and the effects of the Taxol (neuropathy) in her hands and feet is
worsening. Even so, she has braced herself against all of this with grit
and mettle. Her parents should have given her a classic Puritan name like
"Tenacity" or "Constance." I've spent a lot of time over this last
year watching a human being trust God through overwhelming change and great
discomfort. Please continue to pray for Christie, as I know you are.
Now that she is almost done with the steepest sections of her treatment plan, I
only wish Michaelangelo still breathed so I could commission him to sculpt a
noble statue of her for Leavenworth's park to commemorate. Thanks
for praying for us.