"Uphill Battle"

 Happy Day After Thanksgiving!! 

We had a nice Thanksgiving with my brother's family, my sister-in-law's sister's family (they live here in Colorado) and my parents (who live down the street). 

It was pretty loud and crazy with NINE kids, so I didn't make it out too long. Shawn and everyone else did a great job of decorating for the evening. We think the boys watched their third Home Alone and they played about 5 hours of hide-and-go-seek. Naturally occurring social distancing.

In my last post, I mentioned that Shawn and I had been researching more alternative cancer therapies. It  is a long story and took a few weeks as we plowed through various doctors, cancer centers and locations. A quick amount of background...There are a number of places that offer a blend of alternative and standard chemotherapies. The most famous of these places are in Germany (where Farrah Fawcet got treatment). There are also some less famous (but successful) centers in Mexico. Only three (we think it's 3) states in the US allow these treatments - Nevada and Arizona were the 2 states where we focused our search since they are relatively close or convenient for us. I do want to mention that most of the work at these centers is not covered by insurance, which makes them pretty expensive. 

After Zoom interviews and some pretty crazy Divine Intervention, We decided to go with a cancer center in Scottsdale, Arizona: Envita 

One of the largest "signs" we received is that my best friend's sister (Sr Meg, a SOLT sister) had heard of the clinic because her best friend (Fr Mark, a SOLT Priest) is friends with one of the clinic's head oncologist/research doctors. Fr. Mark called this doctor and the doctor called us (we had already sent my paperwork) to review my case. 

The doctor said, "You definitely have an uphill battle,  but if we get right on your case, I think we can help." It was both discouraging (but we were starting to get that feeling ourselves) and hopeful. I brought up that "God will do what He wants" and the Doctor immediately said that "I find that people who can trust in God do better and even totally heal." Well, as readers from the beginning will know, the theme of this blog is basically "Jesus I trust in you." Even if I don't always totally feel it, I will push forward and believe.

Practically speaking, what does this all mean? For now, it means that Shawn and I will be flying down to Scottsdale on Nov 30 (yes, on Monday) and we will meet with the doctors on Dec 1. The next day, I will have a number of blood draws and some big testing. I will begin some immunotherapy treatments the next day. It also means I will be updating the blog nearly everyday so that people here in Denver as well as family and friends far away will know what is happening. My sister-in-law will spend the week here with our boys (see picture above). I am so grateful for her (and my brother). 

After this first week, we're not sure what will happen. Our patient advocate said not to make long term plans but they do offer daily care and I will live in Scottsdale for as long as treatment takes. I will keep you updated. 

Again, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. While I am most thankful for my family (especially Shawn) I'm also thankful that it looks like there is a covid vaccine coming in quickly and I just can't wait for this stupid pandemic to be over.

Talk soon

Jesus, I trust in you.