Jonathan’s Medical Updates

"I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth." -Ps 34:1 Photo Credit: Joshua/Natalie Unger High-Level Process Update Second labs and infusion Mon 12/27, pump stays on 2 days and gets removed Wed 12/29. It turns out red and white blood cell counts are lowest between days 9 and 14, so maybe that explains why I've been mostly confined to bed with body aches since Tue night... My dad says it could be the bones attempting to produce more white blood cells. This is plausible because I was told to expect this after the white blood cell booster shot I received last week, although I didn't feel a thing then. Or maybe I'm just sick. Celebrate small wins, even if you still have a big problem I'll get to the small win shortly (which I actually consider a relatively big win), but first an explanation. Of every psalm presentation I've done in church over the years, I think the lesson of this one has been repeated back to me more times...

"And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O LORD, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness." -2 Sam 15:31 First Round of Chemo: So Far So Good! I had my first chemo infusion this past Saturday on the Folfirinox regimen. Benadryl was required to mitigate some weird symptoms of a reaction (numb tongue, tingling extremities, twitching eyes), but all of that went away in a couple of hours. On this regimen I stay hooked up to a pump for two days, which fits into a fanny pack (I thought it would be a pain, but no big deal even for sleeping). Sunday I felt great, which was one of my prayers - no interference with my attendance of public worship! After church I went over to Joshua Unger's for my first real weight lifting session of the new program (more on that later). No problem, easy day. Yesterday I felt nauseated so it was hard to eat as much as I need to, but really not bad. Today I felt great, almost ...

"The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?" -Prov 18:14 High-Level Process Update The port placement was done this past Tuesday, and we met with Dr. Yi, famed surgeon specializing in cancer patients. He expected that I will get a bowel obstruction at some point in the next few months during chemo, so he strongly suggested surgery first to perform a colostomy and avoid this risk. After discussing further with Dr. Yang yesterday, the probability and severity of this situation seems less of an issue, so I have decided not to elect for surgery first. But, as such, Dr. Yang recommends taking the first chemo dose ASAP, which will be tomorrow (Saturday). Also the liver biopsy came back confirming colon cancer cells, which is what everyone already expected - "extensive metastatic disease" is the way the reports expressed it. Why Take Risk and Decline Surgery? As much as I hated the idea, I understood Dr. Yi's reasoning and was pr...

"Thou therefore endure hardness , as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." -2 Tim 2:3 A New Chapter Has Begun And I'll confess up front that I am not a writer. I am an engineer. Some things here will be overly detailed and boring, but I will try to help you by providing headings to alert you of which sections you may want to skip. I never read blogs like this, so I understand if you don't like it. I am WAY beyond the point of bodily privacy, so I may cross some boundaries that you consider inviolate. So sorry. Just please understand that some gory details are included in order to help some who will go through things like this in the future. I already appreciate things I have heard from those who went before me. How Did We Get Here? Christina briefly summarized this in her earlier post, but suffice it to say that I had no health issues that warranted a doctor's visit in my mind. I did have some digestive / bowel issues that I attributed to growing intolerance of somethi...

We’ve never had a blog, but hope this might make it easier to relay information to you all, our praying family and friends.  In early November, Jon asked me to schedule an appointment for a yearly physical to see if it would get him a discount on his insurance. The doctor’s soonest available appointment wasn’t until mid-January, but after reaching out to him directly (thank you, Dr Melba!), he was able to work Jon in two weeks later. It’s significant to me that it was for insurance reasons, NOT because he was in severe pain or concern over any health issues. How often are these things detected after a traumatic visit to the ER? Lab work showed an abnormality that prompted further investigation. After those tests were run over the course of a week, we received the news that Jon had stage four colon cancer.  His chemo treatments will begin in the next couple weeks, and continue bi-weekly for 24 weeks.  As with everything in life, God leads us along the path He chooses, just...