Thirteen Days After Surgery

Today we received Debbie’s pathology report. We met with the Doctor to discuss his plan to treat her. It is now up to us to decide if we will subject ourselves to his plan.
The pathology report confirmed what our Doctor suspected. Debbie has Stage IV Ovarian Cancer. It has metastasized to both lungs and her large and small intestine.

The Doctor recommended treatment with the chemicals Carboplatin and Paclitaxel-which is also known as Taxol. He felt confident that this chemotherapy would cause the cancer to go into remission. But he also said that a cure is unlikely and that a reoccurrence of new tumors is common with this type of cancer and treatment.

He said that in 1990, Debbie would only have a few months to live. He said that this treatment could add years to her life and possibly years upon years as research continue

He also gave us the option of becoming a part of a clinical research. In a blind clinical research, a third drug is added to the treatment of two thirds of the patients. In a third of the patients, the drug is administered during five of the first six treatments. In a third of the patients, the drug is given during 28 treatments. In a third of the patients, the drug is not given at all. Neither the doctors nor the patients know which group they are in until the study is completed after 15 months.

The third drug is a biological agent that inhibits the development of new blood vessels in cancer cells. It is called Bevacizumab. It is marketed under the name Avastin.

The treatments could begin as early as two weeks or we could wait as long as after Thanksgiving.

Our current options for treatment are to have Debbie receive six treatments over a period of 18 weeks; enter the Clinical research trial in which Debbie would receive 28 treatment over a period of 15 months and possibly (a 33% chance) receive this new drug that is producing encouraging results in many patients already being treated at the OU Medical Center; or continue to treat Debbie only with nutritionally supplements and diet under the direction of Dr. Sandra Bailey. (Sandra has also agreed to continue to treat Debbie if we choose chemotherapy treatment).

We need wisdom and direction from the Lord. We would appreciate your prayers.

As we were driving to the Doctor’s office this morning, I asked Debbie to give us something to look forward too today after our appointment. While we were sitting in the Doctor’s office listening to these options, my phone rang at about 10:00am. My son Josh was taking his wife Jill to the hospital because she was in labor. We left the Doctor’s office after our meeting at about 11:00am and drove immediately to the Hospital to check on Jill. I pulled up at the front door and let Debbie off. She said that she would wait on me in the Lobby while I parked the car. I told her I wanted her to go on up to Jill’s room because I did not want her to miss the birth. When Debbie walked into the room, our grandson Caedmon was just being delivered from the his mother’s womb. When I arrived a few minutes later, I could hear him crying on the other side of the door. I joined him as I cried and thanked the Lord there in the hallway.

When I asked Debbie to give us something to look forward too today, the Lord gave both of us a gift that totally overshadowed the reality of what we had just faced at the Doctor’s office. God had something for us far greater than what our finite minds could imagine. The timing of Caedmon’s birth has given us a new assurance that our times are in the Lord’s hands. It has also given us a greater confidence that no matter what we face in the future, the Lord will meet us during our darkest hours in ways that we do not expect.

Caedmon is named after an ancient hymn writer in the church. The Lord certainly used him on this day to bring music to our needy souls.