"Praise is rising, eyes are turning to You, we turn to You
Hope is stirring, hearts are yearning for You, we long for You
'Cause when we see You, we find strength to face the day
In Your Presence all our fears are washed away, washed away
Hosanna, hosanna!
You are the God Who saves us, worthy of all our praises!"
We just had to share the words of a praise song that lifted our spirits this morning as we worshipped with our church family for Palm Sunday. The lyrics "Cause when we see You, we find strength to face the day. In Your Presence all our fears are washed away" ring so true in our lives right now and it is only right that we start this blog post giving praise and thanksgiving to our Heavenly Father who is our strength and our hope and whose faithfulness never ends!
Since our last blog post, we have had an eventful few weeks. First of all, we spent a fantastic vacation in California with my brother, sister, sister-in-law and nieces and nephews and we absorbed some much needed sunshine. Olivia enjoyed part of that week with her music department from Glenbard East. She had a wonderful experience and we are grateful that she did not experience any seizures on this trip!
As you know, during this trip we went to City of Hope for a second opinion. The Doctor affirmed all of the treatment Art has received thus far, and said that our Doctor at University of Chicago has been very aggressive with the treatment (which we really liked to hear). We were reminded again of the extent of the cancer throughout Art's liver and the limitations of further treatment, however we did talk about options going forward.
The City of Hope Doctor recommended that we pursue a treatment in which radioactive beads would be "injected" directly into the liver. The correct terminology is a catheter directed radio-ablation of liver tumors. (Oh yeah, we're getting pretty good with the medical terms!) He also said that the best place we can go for treatment is right in our backyard--Northwestern University Medical Center! Little did he know that Art's cousin, Karl Vos, had mentioned a discussion he had with a Doctor at Northwestern just days before we left for California who was having success with this particular treatment. This Doctor was in fact part of the same team that the doctor at City of Hope recommended. Wow! Karl helped us to get a consult the week we returned from California (it does help to have the same last name!) and we have the ball in motion to progress with this treatment hopefully. The doctor is very encouraged that Art will be a candidate for this so we ask you to pray for this process of determination and the details and tests which need to be addressed before it can begin.
We left this meeting feeling encouraged. This feeling was much needed as Art was having a few rough days on the current chemo. The Doctor at Northwestern in fact said that with further chemo treatments, they would become more toxic to his body. Art has definitely felt this and so that you are not surprised the next time you see him, we're letting you know that he has finally lost his hair. This came as a bit of a shock yesterday morning as his hair began to come out in clumps. Although Art has always said losing his hair would be no big deal, it's an "in your face" reminder of the battle going on inside and it definitely took us by surprise.
We will continue to pursue other chemo options as well with our oncologist at University of Chicago. We will finish the current treatment plan with two more cycles and a scan most likely in May.
This past week we also remembered the 1-year anniversary of when our dear friend Mark Dykema graduated to glory. We had the opportunity to honor Mark and give glory to God for his life with Mark's family and friends. With tears and laughter, we were reminded of the example Mark gave us for "How to Live with Cancer". For Mark, it wasn't about him. It was all about the faithfulness of our Heavenly Father who gives life--eternal life--so that even though the earthly battle with cancer was lost, the war was ultimately won and now he lives cancer-free in the presence of our Almighty God.
As Christians, we move into Holy Week where we remember the events leading up to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We realize that not all of our readers are Christians, but we truly hope that all of our readers feel the incredible presence and love of a God who will never leave us alone to fight our earthly battles, whatever they may be. Any strength that we have in this battle with cancer we know comes from Above, as well as through all of you being the hands and feet of Christ as you support us along the way.
God bless each of you. You have blessed us.
Praying for strength for each day, and bright hope for tomorrow!
With much love and thanks,
Kris (on behalf of Art, Makenzie, Olivia and A.J.)
