This is a cancer update. I’ll talk about a few bouts of pleuritis that I’ve had, having my infected port removed, and the results from my September 15 PET scan.
Pleuritis: I’ve had an eventful few months, including dealing with some side effects of chemo. First, in April, I had an emergency condition called “pleuritis”. This is when some tissue between my lung and chest wall become inflamed and irritated. This is usually a delayed response to radiation treatment. At first, it felt like I was having a heart attack, but as soon as we got to the hospital, they found out that my heart was fine! Breathing was very difficult until they figured out what the actual problem was. After they determined that pleuritis was the cause, a simple medication gradually fixed the issue over the next few days.
Since then, I’ve had 2 small bouts of the same condition. Unfortunately, one of these bouts happened on August 29th, the day of my high school reunion! So if you were there, sorry I didn’t make it! Hope you had a great time on the beach!
Port infection and removal: On the evening of September 14th, my port was irritated. By the next morning, it was very sore. We had scheduled my PET scan and didn’t want to miss it, so we went to the scan. But we called our oncologist, sent him a photo and he recommended that I go to the ER. So after the scan, we checked in to the ER. After several days of blood draws and testing, it was determined that my port did indeed have an infection and would need to come out. It was removed on Friday and I was released later that day. I’ll be taking antibiotics for the next week. I don’t have any more chemo scheduled right now, so it remains to be determined when and if I’ll get another port.
PET Scan Results: OK, I’ve been telling many of you that I have a PET scan on the 15th. Indeed we got the PET scan done, and happily, it’s all good news! All but 1 of my tumors are much reduced, almost gone, from the June PET scan.
The only exception is the lung tumor. It’s also reduced, but it’s still there.
Prayer: My church has a prayer meeting every Monday. We went in yesterday and one of the people praying for me said that God told her to lay hands on my lung and pray that my last tumor would go away. When she prayed for me, she got very intense, like people do when they are filled with the Spirit. I take this to mean that God was working through her and that my lung tumor is likely to be healed. This tumor never hurt, so the pain level didn’t change as she prayed for me.
I understand that if you’re not a Christian, this may be hard for you to accept. I get it. Just wait along with me and see what happens! I’ll get another PET scan in 3 months.
I still have lots of abdominal pain from the muscles that have been irritated for 2 years, so I still have things to recover from. Please keep praying for healing for that.
Don’t fear, but be smart,
Erik
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