As I told you last week, when we make a trip to New Castle HCC, it is never wasted whether I am able to have chemo or not. God always has an adventure planned for us.

Last week (8/8/23) before I learned that I wouldn’t be having chemo, we were ushered into a different POD than we had ever been in to an apologetic Jessica who had been having a rough morning and was running behind. I don’t remember how the conversation started, but one gentleman with a long, healthy beard, commenting on the length of the wait he’d had because of Jessica running behind, told us he’d been clean shaven when he arrived! We all had a good laugh about that and a conversation began.

The bearded gentleman started telling us about his cancer journey and said something like, “I know when it’s my time to go, it’s not up to me, it’s up to the Man Upstairs” and went on in that vein at some length.

Finally, I said “You’re right, it’s not up to us when we go but we do have control over one thing, we have control over where we go when we die. That’s a choice we make by whether or not we believe in Jesus and repent of our sins.” The gentleman immediately agreed but later as the conversation continued, I wasn’t completely sure of his spiritual condition and I’m praying that he would make a complete surrender to Jesus.

Eventually when we were on our way out of the facility, because of the route we chose to leave by, I saw Nicole, the sweet young Christian we’d connected with on our first trip to HCC and had seen a couple times since. Last time we saw her, Nicole hadn’t been sure when she was going to have surgery so I hadn’t known if I’d see her and her mom again. I was so delighted when I spotted her that I rushed to her like a long-lost friend! We learned that this was her last visit to HCC before (and hopefully after) her surgery on August 30.

We visited with Nicole for a few minutes, grateful that we would see each other again in heaven if not on earth, and assured her of our prayers. Then Nicole told us that Eileen, the lady who has a daughter who is an author who lives in Italy, was also at the Center that day. She directed us to the POD Eileen was in, and we went there to visit her. (She had given me a copy of her daughter’s book, and I had given her a copy of Homespun Faith, and she and a friend are now reading my Christian Historical Fiction series.)

We discovered Eileen will be having surgery on August 22 and that her daughter from Italy had returned home. Then I told her about my leg and she wanted to pray for me before we left. It’s such a rare occasion that someone offers to pray for me on the spot—what a blessing. She prayed for me and then I prayed for her right there in the HCC POD!  I thanked God again for introducing me to these sweet members of His family.

I read recently in one of my books given to me by Mercy Health that they didn’t know of anyone who actually looked forward to chemo day but it didn’t need to be something to dread. I realized that, amazing as it seems, I do actually look forward to chemo day because I never know what God has planned. We’ve met such wonderful people and had such times of sweet fellowship. Only Jesus could turn a Cancer Center into a place one would look forward to going.

On August 15, we were somehow missed after checking in at the Hillman Cancer Center and had a long wait but were so thankful to know we would eventually be in Annie’s POD.

When we were finally called back to Annie’s POD, where Jessica was also helping out, they called in the CRNP who has been monitoring the issue with my leg. She and Jessica were very impressed with the improvement. I updated them that my PCP was also happy with the improvement but just to be on the safe side, she wanted to put me on a different antibiotic for five more days. In the past, that antibiotic had given me headaches, but I was willing to try it again to see if I could tolerate it. I’m drinking lots of water and no problems yet.

I also had an opportunity to tell the CRNP that as soon as the chemo was out of my system (seven days), the heart palpitations had basically stopped. My PCP had ordered a heart monitor which would not be available until September 19. The CRNP wanted me to continue keeping a diary of any heart palpitations.

As we waited for the results of my lab work which would determine if I could have chemo, one of the other clients made a comment about the antibiotic I was being changed to that showed more knowledge of it than a lay person would have. We discovered he had been a pharmacist.

I asked him if having that knowledge had helped him on his cancer journey or made the journey more difficult. He decided it had made it more difficult. We talked a little more about this, then I admitted I had never thought I’d agree to having chemo due to the many bad effects on the body. However, after losing our son to esophageal cancer two years ago, I felt it would have been too hard on our family to have me refuse chemo treatment and so I agreed to it.

When this conversation was winding down, another man seated near us shared that he had lost two sons so he knows what that’s like. My heart went out to him, and I asked what had been the cause of their deaths. He told us both of them had fallen asleep at the wheel. One had died 22 years earlier, the other seven years ago. I could hardly bear to think how difficult that must have been to have two sons die in that same way.

 Then he made the same statement as the gentleman last week about what happened to his sons leaving him with the belief that when he died, it would be because it was his time to go, so he wasn’t worried about his cancer. Later in our conversation, he mentioned that something had been “meant to be.”

This gentleman was articulate and seemingly at peace about his situation. He looked healthy even though he said he had been coming for treatment for three years. I never got to ask him questions that would have given me more insight into his spiritual condition, but perhaps we will find ourselves in the same POD again in the future and I can ask him how he found peace about his losses.

After my lab work came back good, Annie asked if I wanted her to do the slow chemo again since I didn’t have chemo the previous week, and I chose to have her do that. I so appreciated being given the choice and chemo proceeded without incident.

Once again I came away from our time spent at the HCC knowing it wouldn’t have been wasted even if I had been unable to have chemo. God had given us conversations that might be continued at some future time and regardless, given us people for whom we can pray as we completed one more round of chemo—now two-thirds of our way through the initial 12 treatments.

I find myself completely at peace that after these 12 treatments are finished, we will continue to return to HCC every three weeks until around May or June for Targeted Treatments. (These treatments will take less time.)  I believe God has a purpose for us being here and will provide us with more opportunities to bring sunshine and light to the Cancer Center, even as He uses other to do the same for us.

Heavenly Father, we continue to be amazed at your ability to bring good from what could be looked on as something very bad. Help us continue to trust you for one day at a time of this journey. Amen.

Health Update 8/16/23

Annie called this morning to tell me they’d had another patient who was having heart palpitations with her chemo too, so Annie spoke with my oncologist about decreasing our steroids in the future to two tablets the night before chemo and two tablets the morning of chemo. I’ve been taking 5 tablets each time. (I will still be given steroids during the IV cancer treatments.) I’m delighted with this development, hoping it may also help the steroid-related sleep issue, and once again so grateful for Annie’s insights and proactive responses to the things I share. Please pray with us that the reduction in the amount of steroids will help settle my heart and enable me to get through these last four treatments.