Health Issues

[George]

I am a little leery of posting this since the last prayer request I posted turned into a political debate that was not in any way connected to the prayer request.

Would you consider prayer for my health again? Two days ago I had to start taking medication for high blood pressure and a rapid heart rate that is caused by my cancer medication. So far the meds seem to be working well but I would appreciate prayer in that area.

Also next Thursday I am to get another set of CT scans. Please pray that I get good results on the scans. What I would like to see is confirmation that the tumors in my abdomen are actually necrotic as they appeared to be in the last scans and that the ones on my liver are at least stable if not reduced in size or even dead as the ones in the abdomen appear to be.

Thank you for your consideration. I covet your prayers.

In Christ,
George

[Mongol Servant]

Amen, Bro George - we'll add this to our prayer list.

I don't think Bro Jim and I will vent on the sad state of the nation this time!

[Davo]

Amen bro George.

[preacherchris]

will pray.

[George]

The results of the CT scans were not as good as I would have liked and had been praying for. The scans showed that over a five month period there was a minor amount of progression of the disease. The doctor said that based on the time and the amount of progression you could say I was stable. Stable is a good thing.

However he did say he was going to put in a request for compassionate use of a different medication It is the next one in the hierarchy of GIST meds. Of course my insurance denied the request because the FDA has not approved the med for this kind of cancer. It is widely used in GIST circles though and people have had a lot of success with it.

Now here is where the hand of God steps in. Yesterday morning I toll the papers showing the denial over to his office. As I was leaving he waled in. I greeted him of course and then told him what happened. He said he would take care of it. That was right at 8:45 yesterday morning. Right at 3:45 yesterday afternoon the phone rang. I thought it was my fiance' but when I looked at the caller ID it said Greater Sacramento.

I let it go to voice mail and because of the message I called right back. It was a pharmacy in Sacramento, CA. I was told they had a prescription for me from Dr. Robert Dichmann for Tasigna. So I asked them how that worked because they were in Sacramento and I am in Santa Maria about 5 hours away. The nice young lady said they would overnight it and I would have it this morning. I also told her that my insurance had refused to pay for it. She said it was ALL paid for, not even a co-pay!

Wow! You talk about answers to prayers. My goodness, I have no idea what my oncologist did but it worked very well. Only a few people knew about the denial but my Mother, my sister and of course my fiance' were praying about. (Well, I was too.) I am still flabbergasted at what happened. Our God is certainly amazing!

We have a tendency to believe the difference in the last set of scans and this one is probably form the angle of the scans. If I am not in exactly the same position when I get a new set of scans it is very likely the tumors will appear different and since it is almost impossible to lay in exactly the same position it is likely the minor amount of progression is actually stability.

I apologize for the length of this but it is not a simple subject by any means.

In Christ,
George

[Mongol Servant]

Amen, Bro George!

We continue to pray for you at home and at our church. Keep us posted.

[George]

The Power of Prayer

I had the most amazing experience with the power of prayer Tuesday and Wednesday.

As I posted in my last note my oncologist had requested a new medication for my cancer. On Monday of this week I got a letter of denial from my insurance (which I expected,)so I decided I should take it to his office.

Tuesday morning at 8:45 I was in his office to drop off the papers. As I was leaving he walked in. We of course greeted each other and then I explained to him what had happened and that the receptionist had copies of the documents. He said, "I'll take care of it." I was a bit concerned because next week he is leaving for a two-week vacation.

Remember as the story unfolds that only four people knew about the refusal. my Mother, My sister, my Fiance' and of course myself. That makes four people who were praying about the situation.

That afternoon at 3:45, exactly 7 hours after I was at his office I got a phone call.The caller ID just read Greater Sacramento. I answered and it was a pharmacy in Sacramento. I was told they had a prescription for me from Dr. Robert Dichmann. I asked them that since they were in Sacramento and I am in Santa Maria how is that going to work. I was told they would overnight it. So I asked what the prescription was for and they said Tasigna which is the medication the Dr. wanted for me. Then I asked if they were aware that my insurance had refused to cover it. That is when the nice young lady on the phone said, "Oh. it is ALL paid for." I was flabbergasted. Praise the Lord. So I verified my address and they said I would have the meds yesterday (Wednesday) between 8:30 and 10:30 in the morning.

Yesterday morning at 8:45 EXACTLY 24 hours after I had been in my oncologist's office I had the meds in my hand. I called my doctor's office and told them that I had no idea what Dr. Dichmann had done but it worked very well and would they please tell him thank you very much.

There are many blessings to this new medication. The side effects are quite considerably less than the one I had been taking. I have started taking it already and I can feel the difference.

Praise the Lord for answering prayer once again!

In Christ,
George

[TheBibleSender]

That is great. Praise the Lord. I will be praying for you. God bless.

[IM4given]

Continuing in prayer! Praise God who often works in mysterious ways!

[George]

Unfortunately my oncologist's visit did not yet again go as well as I had prayed for. I had CT scans this past Wednesday and was at the oncologist's office on Thursday. All of the tumors have grown. The most growth or progression is on the order of one centimeter in diameter over the last three months.

I have been experiencing quite a bit of pain in the right lower part of my abdomen with the pain at times literally shooting up into the area of the bottom of my rib cage. It is being caused by one of the tumors in the abdomen. Apparently the tumor is at times causing a kink in my intestines by pushing up against it. If I eat anything with a high fiber content such as fresh fruit and vegetables (which I really like) it causes the intestines to become active, but the kink stops them from doing what they are supposed to do. The result is that I get extremely gassy, bloated like you would not believe and it really hurts. What happens eventually (usually after the pain keeps me awake all night long) is that the stuff has to come out so I start vomiting. While it does offer some relief the problem is still there; at least the cause of the problem is. Today it has been causing me quite a bit of pain but no stomach upset thus far.

I asked specifically about the tumors on my liver. If they were isolated to one specific lobe of the liver we could remove that lobe. Unfortunately that is not the case and they are in a number of places.

One thing to be really optimistic about is my oncologist and I may have found the cause of some other problems by sharing ideas and talking about things. I believe I shared previously that he had taken me off of all the cancer meds because the latest one was causing me some pretty bad side effects. I have been off the meds for five weeks and I still have the same symptoms so it can't be the medication. We started talking about other things and he mentioned hot flashes. I said, "I'm having one right now." Yes Sisters, I have been having hot flashes. Apparently over time from the medication and because of my age my testosterone levels have fallen so much I have more estrogen in my system than I have testosterone. I am literally almost going through menopause. Sisters I sympathize with you more than I ever have! Anyway I had some more blood work done yesterday. That makes three times this week. I will get the results on Monday and if the hormone levels are what we think they are I can start using a topical gel to treat it. Inside of a few days I may start feeling better than I have in a long, long time.

It is possible since my body is so depleted that if the hormone levels are the cause my immune system and the healing process in my body may start working better too!

All I can say is Praise The Lord for His Goodness, Grace and Mercies. Praise The Lord also for the many, many people who have been faithfully praying for me. God gets me passed all of this one hurdle at a time. He does still listen to prayers and He does still answer them. Oh, He does still work miracles too!!!

In Christ,
George

[preacherchris]

prayed for you today.

[George]

Thank y'all for the prayers, they are appreciated. It keeps getting curiouser and curiouser. Monday I got rushed over to the radiology department at the hospital to get and acute abdominal series of x-rays while using such words or acronyms as ASAP and STAT. Exciting, huh?

Well it was sort of anti-climactic because the results were inconclusive. This morning I have to go back to the radiology department for some other kind of test. It sounds sort of like an endoscopy. I understand they intend to have me swallow something and then follow it through me with some kind of little camera thingy. I told them I wanted copies of the pictures for my album.

It was quite interesting because yesterday when they were going to schedule me for the test it involved the use of iodine, I am allergic to iodine and cannot do it unless I have two days to pre-medicate so I don't go into shock. Back to square one! The radiology department called the oncologist and they changed me to some other thing that apparently does not use iodine.

So since last Wednesday it has been nothing but scans, doctor's visits, blood work, x-rays and a few other things like trips to the pharmacy thrown in for good measure. My insurance company will certainly be glad when I go to heaven!

In Christ,
George

[Mongol Servant]

We're continuing to pray for you, Brother! Thanks for the update.

[IM4given]

Will keep praying for you brother!

[George]

My dear brothers and sisters, on Friday, June 18th I almost went Home to be with my Lord. I apologize for taking so long to let y'all know about it but I have been slow to recover and still have a long way to go.

It all actually started on Wednesday, June 9th with my normal and "routine" CT scans. Unfortunately they did not come out so routinely. The oncologist ordered some blood work done on Friday, June 11th. At that point I had been in almost constant pain for over a week. I was so swollen and bloated I looked like one of those poor African children shown so often on TV.

I went the next Monday for the results of the blood work and was immediately rushed across the street to the hospital for a set of acute abdominal x-rays. Of course Tuesday the oncologist's office told me the x-rays were inconclusive so I was sent again on Wednesday the 16th for a set of what is called a small intestine study. That involved drinking 600ml of Barium Sulfate that was at least 5 times stronger than I normally take. The radiologist and I watched the screen as he guided his camera thingy over my belly. Very quickly he said "There it is George, do you see it?" (We are on a first name basis because I knew him for many years before I knew he was a doctor.) I told him I did and they basically kicked me out.

What we were looking at was one of the tumors in my abdomen having gotten so large it was causing a kink in my small intestine and thus an intestinal blockage. Recall the 600ml of Barium Sulfate? Of course it is rather thick and had no where to go. Within an hour after I got home I had passed out from the pain and my wife had to call 911. Here's a bit of humor for you: when I passed out I was sitting on the toilet and I ended up face down in the kitty litter box! Fortunately it was clean but when the medics came they found me laying on the floor of the bathroom with my head in the litter box in so much pain I could not move.

I got to take a ride on the freeway in the ambulance with the red lights and siren going after they gave me 10mg of morphine. Now I have to admit that was sort of fun. Anyway to try to shorten this up a bit I was admitted. They let me lie around in the ward the next day to see what they could do for me. That lead to the decision to do exploratory surgery on the 18th.

When the surgeon got inside of me he found out that the offending tumor not only was causing a blockage, it had ruptured. Yes brothers and sisters, the tumor literally self-destructed inside of me causing it to bleed all over the place and resulting in me having to get three units of blood during the surgery.

The next morning in the CCU the surgeon stopped by to check on me and told me he found more cancer in me than he had ever seen in someone's belly before and could not understand how I was still alive. (WE know, don't we?) Another doctor who had assisted stopped by and told me he did not expect to see me that morning.

Anyway I spent a total of 10 days in the hospital. The Lord provided me with some wonderful doctors and great nurses. I did develop jaundice right after the surgery and woke up looking like a mango. The Lord got rid of it in a few days with no treatment. I have been battling a low-grade fever since I was in the hospital. I have been taking an anti-biotic for it for 4 days now and it appears the fever is gone now too.

I am still very weak, run-down and sore. I have been bombarded with narcotics such as morphine, norco and percocet for about a month now. The pain is lessening. Praise God for that one! However my blood count is so low that if it drops one more point I have to have another transfusion. Whoopee, more needles. The people at the hospital gave me more injections and IVs than I cared to try to count. My arms and the backs of my hands have been black and blue from it. When I have to go for blood work now I just put both arms up on the table and tell them that if they can find a spot to go for it.

So such has been my life for the last month or so. The wonderful part of it is that God knows what I need to get me through the day and at the end of the day He has provided me with it because I am still here. He also used me daily as a witness for Him and a testimony about being a Christian to many nurses and such. I also invited a lot of folks to Church while I was in there.

Over the passed few weeks without my God, my wonderful and loving wife and my Church I would not have made it. I don't see how an unsaved person could go through what I have recently. The Pastoral staff of my Church were so incredibly wonderful to me. My Church family was likewise. When I got to the point I counted 25 different visitors to my room I quit counting. There is no way I could have begun to count the number of visits I received. After I came home I continue to have people visit. The Biblical teaching of the family of God and Christian love has been played out over and over again for me recently.

I need to end this as it is getting quite long and for that I apologize. You actually got a short version. It could be much longer. I believe I may write something about expectations and taking things for granted here in the next few days as I feel up to it. I have quite obviously had a lot of time to think, ponder and meditate recently.

Thank you all for your prayers. I believe my biggest need at present is for my blood count to improve so I do not need to go back to the hospital for another transfusion.

In Christ,
George