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ANOTHER BEGINNING

Written by Jodee McCabe
Thursday, 22 September 2011 23:44
Dear Friends and Family, Sept. has been very busy. Even with the end of the camp season, we manage to fill our days with friends and outings and meetings and trips. We did get in one more kayak trip with church friends. After church one Sunday, we met at a friend's home and kayaked down part of Piseco Lake, through the outlet and all the way down Big Bay to Route 10. (Well, SOME of us made it to the end :-) ) Then we turned around and paddled UP STREAM. Going back was a bit more challenging because you are actually paddling uphill in places. Although it is too gradual to really see, you can tell by the increase in the current. We all made it back safely and felt quite accomplished. But with the days getting shorter, we didn't have too much daylight to spare. On Sept. 15, we packed the car and headed back to Cincinnati. Rain always seems to find us when we travel and there was no shortage of construction projects to navigate, but God was gracious and we arrived home safely after a short visit with Megan at her office. We usually try to see her when we pass through Columbus. On Friday evening, we met 8 others from our OH church at Grace Fellowship Church in Florence KY. We participated in their Counseling and Discipleship Training Program, which is a continuation of what we began back in February at Faith Baptist Church in Lafayette, IN. We met some great people and heard really good teaching. The seminar lasted until almost 10 p.m. and resumed at 8 a.m. Sat. until 5 p.m. At the conclusion, we were ready to VEG out for awhile! Sunday we got to attend ECC and then rushed over to Roger Bacon to get to see our grandson, "MATT", play football. Ever since he saw "Matt" written on his helmet, that is how he prefers to be called. We are trying to cooperate, but after being well trained to call him "Matthew", change is hard :-) After his game, I dropped Dan off and attended a baby shower for a long-time friend and then both of us went to Morgan's basketball game. That was quite the day! Monday was SCAN day. As we were driving to the hospital, I confessed to Dan that I was kind of emotionally resisting the whole idea of having to return to the hospital....after having a wonderful summer of normalcy.....it seemed like a sort of harsh reality check. He had the much better attitude of just being grateful for getting 4 months reprieve and for having had the summer without needing to drive back and forth every two weeks like last year. I admitted that was where I needed to be too. Tues., we met with Dan's new oncologist, Dr. Dyhouse. We spent a little time just getting acquainted and then she gave us her interpretation of the scan results. Basically, there are no new developments for which we are VERY GRATEFUL. There are a couple of areas that maybe were not quite as clear cut in terms of whether or not there was progression but once again, wording from radiologist to radiologist makes this a bit dicey now and then. She felt that the "disease is stable" for right now and that our current course of action, which is watching with blood tests every 2 months and scans every 4 months is correct, unless/until there are new "clinical signs" (symptoms that Dan or I notice) that develop or those tests show definite changes. The beginning I referred to in the title is the beginning with a new oncologist. Changing doctors is always difficult. It takes time to get used to a new personality and a new way of communicating. It takes time to build up trust or confidence. But we are grateful that we have the same supporting staff, especially Oncology Nurse, Arlene, to help us in the transition. We are so very grateful for the continued remission for Dan, and safe travels to Cincinnati and back to NY. We are grateful for so many who faithfully pray for us and encourage us on this "journey". We are very grateful for the discipling we are receiving through the counseling program we have been studying, which is helping us to get and to keep things in an "eternal perspective". Our desire is to be able to effectively share that with others. We continue to hope for complete healing for Dan. We are honest with God about what we hope for, but we ask for that eternal perspective and increasing desire to rest in His plan for us. So thank you to each one who reads our blog and prays for us. We know the impact your faithfulness in prayer has had on us and we hope that in some small way it has drawn you closer to the LORD ......in growing confidence in His sovereignty and power. As you pray for us, please pray that our eyes remain on Christ in eternity but also on what He would have us doing in the meantime. With love and gratitude, Jodee and Dan
Last Updated on Thursday, 22 September 2011 23:48

SUMMER FUN

Written by Jodee McCabe
Tuesday, 06 September 2011 06:11
Hi EVERYONE! Well, it has been quite a while since I last posted here. You know what they say, "No news is good news." And in our case that is certainly true!! We have been super blessed with an awesome, fun-filled summer! The weather has been great. The visits from family and friends have been amazing. The programs and concerts at Camp-of-the-Woods have been beyond great. But best of all, Dan has continued to feel good with minimal back pain issues and has even put on a couple more pounds. We began the summer with a family trip to Hilton Head. We had a great time the whole week (although for MY taste, it was a bit too hot) with lots of beach time and pool time. Emma and Aunt Megan were enjoying the beach together at Hilton Head. We were able to share in two weddings of "kids" of families we have known for many years from College Hill Presbyterian and Evangelical Community Churches. What a blessing! At the end of June we arrived at our cabin in NY for the summer. We had week-long visits from Tom and Megan and their friends/families throughout July. The weather cooperated pretty well and the cabin was alive with laughter, busy-ness, cooking and "stuff". On the last day of July we were able to participate in the dedication of The Adirondack Bible Chapel's Ministry Center. It was an amazing day of worship and praise and thanksgiving for the many, many miracles we have witnessed in the process of purchasing and rehabbing a large property for the purpose of all kinds of Christian Discipleship. As we were reminded of many of these miracles, I once again realized how easily I limit God by not really, fully grasping His GREATNESS!! Even having witnessed all of this, not to mention the miracles He has done in Dan's situation, I still forget all too quickly/easily how powerful and faithful He is!! No wonder He continually told the Israelites to "REMEMBER"!! We ALL need to be reminded again and again! A photo of the finished Ministry Center. In August we took a week out of our NY Summer and drove to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for a week of "Family Camp" with our home church family from Ohio. We have always been in NY during August so we have never been able to participate. This year we decided we needed to make the effort as a way to get to know some of the young families from our church. We had a great time at Cedar Campus which is located on a bay of Lake Huron. We were impressed with the effort and creativity of the families who organize and plan this event and we had a great time. A photographer took photos of each family who attended. We wish we could have brought our grandchildren with us They would have LOVED it. Maybe next year........ On the way home, we got to visit with my cousin and her husband over breakfast in Mackinaw City and then spend the evening with my sister, Sue and brother-in-law, John. Sue had just had a total hip replacement so we wanted to check in and see how she was doing. She has rehab in front of her but thankfully the surgery went well. We enjoyed the visit and John's great cooking!! We recently had a wonderful visit with friends in VT and an adventure on their boat on Lake Champlain. That "adventure" included 4 ft high waves and some worried expressions on my face....prompting the captain to cut the trip short and return to the marina a day early. I was grateful :-) I think he was just as happy to have the boat secured in the marina with extra time to prepare for hurricane IRENE. We weathered the hurricane with two groups of company from Cincinnati. Our area had lots of tree damage and power outages (thank goodness we have a generator!!) but not the horrible flooding of downstate NY and VT. We were thankful for safety and minimal damage. Sept. 1, we got to go on a church group kayak trip where we paddled down stream on The Moose River and then loaded our kayaks on a train and rode back to near our starting point where outfitters picked us up in vans with trailers. It was beautiful scenery on a beautiful, picture-perfect day. Here we are in Charlie John's parking lot ready to head north for our kayak trip. Now we are in Sept. The camp schedule is over. For the Labor Day concert, musicians, who were already back in their jobs in the "real world" were replaced largely by guest artists. ALL the concerts were amazing and this one was no exception. Sept. will hopefully bring more good weather and opportunities for kayak and bike trips before we head home to Cincinnati for Dan's next scans and doctor's appt. This will be his first scans since early June and his first appointment with his new oncologist. So the time just keeps flying by! We hope and pray that you all have had great summers which included time with loved ones and friends as well as physical and spiritual refreshment. We covet your prayers as we prepare to travel home in a few weeks and go through more tests, but we want to be sure to continue to share our joy and gratitude for the many miracles and blessings God has poured out on us, many of which came through your hands and words and prayers. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! Jodee and Dan
Last Updated on Thursday, 22 September 2011 23:43

AT THE DOCTOR'S

Written by Jodee McCabe

Sunday, 29 May 2011 07:35

Dear Friends and Family,

Here is the promised "quick update" to add to the previous one.

Wednesday we had our last visit with Dan's oncologist. I hate to see him go but we are thrilled for him and pray that he is able to effect changes at Vanderbilt that will really benefit cancer patients and their families.

There really was no news. According to him, we had interpreted the test results correctly. We asked about the back pain and he basically said that Dan had had all the tests that an ortho or neuro doc would do. He suggested more physical therapy so I guess we will try to find a therapist in Utica when we are in NY.

Dan is not scheduled for more scans until Sept. unless (once again) there are changes in his condition that he makes note of. So we are free to go to NY and he will not have to travel back and forth this year.

We did meet the new doctor....a Karen Dyhouse, but just barely. Did not really have any time with her to make any sort of judgment. If all goes well, we won't see her until Sept. Dr. Neuss wanted us to understand that we are in her practice primarily b/c she is the one who inherited the oncology nurse that we are familiar with and respect so much. He said she is a great doc, but Arlene is the main reason he thinks we should stick with her. Apparently there was quite a bit of politics involved in rearranging patients b/c of his leaving.

So now we are off to Hilton Head with the whole family. Then we return to Cincinnati to attend two weddings in one day!! Then we pack up and leave for NY. We look forward to a summer of visits from family and friends and lots of good teaching from the speakers at Camp of the Woods and our own pastors at Adirondack Bible Chapel and great fellowship with many locals and other seasonal folks there! PRAISE GOD for all of His blessings!! Jodee and Dan

MORE GOOD NEWS!

Written by Jodee McCabe
Monday, 23 May 2011 19:31
Dear Friends and Family, At the moment, we have just climbed back upstairs from the basement after a severe storm passed right over us with very strong winds and hail and tornado warnings. There are now 50,000 (and counting) folks without power. The tornado threat is past our area for the moment, with more storms headed our way later tonight and early tomorrow morning. I'm writing with GOOD NEWS, though! I was going to wait until our meeting with the doctor on Wed. before I wrote so I could include all of the details, but so many have emailed or called to find out, that I decided to go ahead and send this out tonight. I'll do a short update on Wed. Yesterday, Dan and I drove home from NY. We had remarkably good driving weather UNTIL we got to about Wilmington (about 40 miles from home) where we ran into a severe thunderstorm with giant hail. EVERYONE pulled off the road, trying to minimize the impact from the hail, which felt and sounded as if it would break the windshield. God protected us in the blinding rain and the scary hail, and we arrived safely home at about 4:20 p.m. Today Dan had his 3 scans. He had an MRI of his brain, his CT scan of his chest, abdomen and pelvic areas and his bone scan. Before he even returned home from the hospital, I got a call from the oncology nurse telling me that the reports stated that the scans were "stable". That is VERY GOOD NEWS. Dan has been off of the AVASTIN for over 3 months and he also has been experiencing increased pain in his lower back and in his pelvic region. Common sense told us that the most likely cause for that would be progression of the cancer. But the scans did NOT show that and they did not show any hairline fractures either. While we still don't know WHY he has that increase in pain, we are so thankful that the tests do NOT show any progression in the disease. They will still be watching him closely and when we meet with the oncologist on Wed., we will talk about what other tests we might do to figure out the cause of the pain. That meeting will be our last meeting with our oncologist. He is moving on to become the head of the Cancer Center at Vanderbilt University. We hope to meet our new oncologist Wed. as well. We have so much to be thankful for right now. As I read about the most recent deaths and damage from storms in Joplin, MO., and think about the disasters in Japan and Alabama and other regions in the south and many other areas dealing with severe flooding, I wonder why we have been spared. God has been abundantly merciful to us and we are so thankful. We are thankful as well, for all who have been faithfully praying for us and encouraging us. Once again, we thank you beyond our words. Jodee and Dan

INCREASED PAIN

Written by Jodee McCabe
Monday, 09 May 2011 07:43
Dear Friends and Family, When I last wrote here, Dan had just been taken out of the clinical trial he had been doing so well on b/c the chemo was adversely affecting his one kidney. As part of that issue, his blood pressure was rising and he needed to be put on medication for that. We had scheduled blood tests for 6 weeks later and scans for 3 months later to keep on eye on how things were doing without the chemo. We were told to let the doctor know if pain increased. Well, the last couple of weeks Dan thought that pain in his back and pelvis was increasing. It is hard to tell b/c it is not steady or even, so he began to chart it, giving the pain numeric values. That is not easy to do either, but it was the best way we could figure out to sort of keep a measure of his over-all level of pain. While I was in Florida visiting Mom, Dan decided he really was having an increase in pain and called the oncology office. They did the blood test that day (Thurs.) and moved up the scans. Those are to be done two weeks from today. He has some other medical procedures this week before we leave for NY. I suggested that he might want to go ahead and have his scans done right now, but I think he feels he has enough on his plate. My sister, Nancy, is flying in from Taiwan tomorrow...actually she leaves Taiwan tonight (our time) and will be coming to NY with us. I was chatting with her this morning and shared that I struggle sometimes even knowing how to pray. So please keep us in your prayers. When things are going well, it is easy to think our faith is strong....but these new challenges keep us humble and remind us that we still have lots of room to "grow". Pray that our hearts' desire will be for God's eternal best for us, even if it turns out to be painful right now. (He knows we'd rather skip the pain.....we tell Him that, too. But we just don't want to miss out on His best for us). We are so grateful for the faithful prayers of so many. It blesses us in ways we never expected and can't even express. So thank you, each of you, for each and every prayer, each email, card and call. Love and thanks, Jodee and Dan

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