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Written by Jodee McCabe
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Thursday, 25 November 2010 08:36 |
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Finally....a medical update: I think we told you that one thing we have been concerned about with Dan's care throughout his cancer journey, has been all of the radiation he has been receiving through the diagnostic tests. Recently (this summer) we were able to negotiate a lengthening of time between the CT and bone scans. While they had been done in 8 week intervals, they are now done in 16 week intervals. This is wonderful for reducing radiation exposure but a tiny bit more worrisome in terms of wondering what is going on "in there" when the scan time rolls around again.
And it is once again time for CT and bone scans. Monday Dan went to Jewish Hospital for both scans. We are thrilled to report that he has been feeling quite well and looking good of late. Over the summer he has added 5 pounds and now weighs in at 165 consistently for several months. I'd be happier if we could up it to around 180 but am very grateful he has been able to maintain this weight.
The only negative report we have had in some time has been a rise in his urine protein. Each time he goes for chemo they check ALL of his "numbers" from blood and urine tests to make sure his body can handle the chemo. The last few times, that one indicator has been elevated. The AVASTIN, apparently, is known to sometimes have adverse affects on kidneys so they are watching him a bit more closely now. They did a 24 hour specimen collection which eliminated the possibility of the "time of day" factor in dehydration. That number was in line with norms so he can continue to get the chemo, but it concerns us that all of a sudden, the morning test was high.
Dan got an "unofficial" report verbally regarding his CT scan and since he always waits for a digital copy of his scans, when he got home, he could download the written report. Actually we took the report to his doctor on Tues. The clinical trial nurse had the report but the doctor had not seen it yet (we saw the doc before the clinical trial nurse came into the room).
Both scans show no changes. For Dan's situation, that is a blessing!
So, as we thank all of you for your faithful, continued prayers for us, we ask for prayer about the elevated protein level and give praises for the scan results. You know, as we waited for the scans and the results, we felt that old anxiety creep back in. You would think, after all we have been through, that by now, we would have thoroughly learned that GOD is in control and that His plan, whatever it holds for us in the here and now, is what is eternally best for us. Please pray for our hearts to abide in Christ and to totally trust HIM with all the scans and results in our future. It is so easy to take our eyes off of Him and put them on the meds or the doctors or the test results.
During the Sunday School hour this past week, our church here in Ohio had a "Concert of Prayer", joining together in prayer for the many ill in our midst, to pray for our country and our church, as well as praising God with thankful hearts, for all the answers to prayer we have been witness to over the last many months and for all of the blessings He continues to pour out on our congregation, collectively and as individuals. We have been the beneficiaries of much of that prayer from this congregation as well as from many others which include each of you! How we thank God for all of you who have so faithfully prayed for us for so long and continue to pray for us!
Today in S.W. Ohio, it is cool and pouring rain (we NEED the rain, but sort of wish it could come a bit more gradually). So it is dark and gray out. But our house will be alight with a fire in the fireplace, candlelight bouncing off of shining dinnerware and scrumptious aromas will permeate the rooms. Tom, Karla and family, Karla's parents and a couple from church will be joining us for dinner. This is the third thanksgiving we have been able to celebrate together since Dan's metastasis was diagnosed in June of 2008. At that point, little hope was offered to us of seeing the first Thanksgiving, let alone, a third one! So on this day of Thanksgiving, in addition to giving praises and thanks to ABBA FATHER, for Dan's improved health, and for all the abundant blessings He has poured out on us this last year, we thank you as well. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. We pray that all your time in prayer has encouraged and blessed you as much as it has us. Love, Dan and Jodee
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Last Updated on Thursday, 25 November 2010 08:43 |
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Written by Jodee McCabe
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Wednesday, 24 November 2010 22:37 |
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Dear Friends and Family,
PRAISE GOD! It has been another long pause between updates. That is b/c Dan has been feeling well and there have been few changes in his status. We are SO GRATEFUL!!
We are home in Ohio again, after having had a lovely summer and "damp" fall in NY. We had rain all through the summer but then it seemed to come in appropriate intervals and often at the best times to allow summer activities to go on unhindered. But in September, the rain became pretty relentless. After one particularly strong downpour, the lake rose to a new high level in our 18-year experience.
Because of all of the rain, we did not get in all the kayak trips and hikes we had hoped to do this fall, but we did manage a hike up Watch Hill with friends, Scott and Terry, and another one up "Manny's Mountain", to a friend's lean-to, to say good-bye to yet another summer. Starting up Watch Hill (Dan in rear, Scott in front of him and Terry is ahead of Scott. The view from the top Making our way (carefully) down. Arriving at the lean-to on "Manny's Mountain" to say good-bye to yet another summer season. The view we had of Lake Pleasant. The crew at the lean-to. Toasting our farewell to New York.
Shortly after that last hike, we packed up and headed west. We had been in Ohio less than 2 weeks when it was time to go to Florida to visit my mom. She lives in Pompano Beach and we don't get to visit with her as much as we'd like, but we usually try to get down there in the fall after we return from NY. Dan is still getting chemo every two weeks, so we decided that he would fly down between treatments and I would drive down, taking some time along the way to visit friends.
On the way down I got to visit the Darlingtons in Aiken, S.C. and the Millers in DeLand, FL. Both of these couples are friends from our NY church and it is fun to see them in their other settings and get a tiny taste of what their "real lives" are like. It broke the trip up so nicely for me....it is super having such wonderful friends who are good hosts!
I had a great week with Mom. I got to her place on Friday afternoon and Dan joined us on Sat. We spent the week helping her to prepare some goodies for the John Knox Holiday Bazaar. They looked pretty good but I only got to taste the party mix. She also made graham cracker pudding (a dessert that we cut up like bar cookies) and we added some oatmeal, chocolate chip, nut, raisin bar cookies. They sure looked and smelled yummy! Then mom packaged them all up and priced them for the bazaar. It's a lot of work, but the whole community really pitches in.
Mom is doing great for 91! She is still amazingly involved with goings-on at JKV (her retirement community) and at Coral Ridge (her church). I'd like to see her get a little more physical exercise....but I know how I struggle with that so who am I to preach??
We got to visit Coral Ridge with her on Sunday and hear Tullian Tchividjian preach. Lots of changes happening there and I'm so proud of Mom for her understanding and grace and forgiveness when faced with such upheaval in the place that should be solace and anchor to all the OTHER changes that happen in our lives. The church has settled a lot of the challenges it faced and is moving forward. They admitted 60 new members the Sunday we were visiting so that is very encouraging. That Friday, we hosted a dinner at John Knox Village. Mom, Judy Olenik and Marie Holvig were our guests in the main dining room. Judy had just driven her mom down from NY. Marie's home is in Boca Raton, about 10 miles north of where Mom lives.
The next Sat., after too much good food in Mom's dining hall and a SHORT week of visiting, I drove Dan back to the airport for his return flight. He had an early departure so I was back at JKV by 6:30 a.m. Mom is an early riser so I picked her up and we went out to Denny's for breakfast. Then we drove along the beach and watched the sun rise over the ocean. After finishing my packing and turning in the key to our guest room, I headed north.
I got to visit another couple from our NY church, the Samuelsens, as well as getting to visit their huge church, IDLEWILD. I saw a few more NY/ COTWs folks there, so that was fun. Then on to my sister's home in Plant City. While there, the two of us got to meet with a dear family friend in Orlando. Jodee, sister, Sharon, and friend Carole after breakfast at Mimi's in Orlando.
On Wed., I left Plant City, planning to drive to around Knoxville, TN. But Sharon and Phil are early risers too, and since they are up by 5 a.m., I decided I may as well get up and on my way early. So I was on the road by 5:40 a.m. When I reached Knoxville, it was only 3:30 p.m. so I figured I may as well just keep trucking. I got home at about 7:30 p.m. It was a long day but my bed felt great! And now we are HERE for real and able to re-plug into life in Ohio. . Even though Dan feels well, b/c he is in a clinical trial, he still needs to have scans every 16 weeks. ' His next set (CT and bone scans) will be Monday, Nov. 22. I'll post the results when we get them. Jodee (and Dan)
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Last Updated on Thursday, 25 November 2010 11:35 |
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Written by Jodee McCabe
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Friday, 06 August 2010 11:28 |
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Dear Friends and Family,
It has been quite awhile since I wrote the last update. Thankfully, that has been because there has been little to report. After Dan's last scans we pushed to get the space between scans lengthened because we were concerned about the amounts of radiation he has been receiving. We were able to get the study folks to change the sequence from every 8 weeks to every 12 or 16 weeks. Since the results of his scans have been very stable for the last year, we decided to go with the 16 week interval.
In our last post, we had just come up to the lake for the summer....well, for most of the summer. Dan still has to return to Cincinnati every two weeks for his chemo treatment. The first trip home was over Memorial Day Weekend. We had a wedding to attend and then the following Tues. he received his next treatment. I returned to NY but Dan stayed in Cincinnati. He had his 4Oth (gulp) Notre Dame Reunion the following weekend. Notre Dame was still an all male school when he attended and I did not meet Dan until a year after he had graduated, so I did not know too many of his college buddies. Most of his friends were not bringing their wives and I had NO desire to go. He also had two golf tournaments to attend; one to watch and one to play in. The tournament he was watching was the Jack Nicholas Memorial in Columbus. Megan does some marketing work for the tournament and she had tickets and invited her dad to go with her. He LOVED it. The other tournament was the Ohio State Football Coach's Outing. He got to play in that one and had a great time. Not being a golfer, I was not included in those events either (thankfully). The final golf tournament was the day after his next chemo treatment so he left Columbus at about 5 p.m. and drove to Erie, PA. He arrived in Lake Pleasant the next afternoon after stopping in Utica to pick up supplies like dog food and organic groceries; things that are hard to get in our little store here. His next chemo treatment was near Father's Day so we both made the trip home for that one. We got to spend Father's Day in Columbus with most of the family. The chemo treatment went off without a hitch and we were on our way back to NY that Wed., with Morgan, our oldest Granddaughter. We were bringing her to NY to attend Tapawingo for her 3rd year! A trip to the TeePee for Swedish The boat ride to Tapawingo! fish is a must! Morgan is almost as tall as her counselor! In July we had both kids visit us at the lake, along with their friends. We celebrated several birthdays, spent lots of time with the grandchildren; on the water (well, THEY did), eating way too much and having a lot of fun. Dan enjoyed playing golf with Megan again, even though she "schooled" him and Tom's family and friends got in a couple of hikes and lots of trips to the swinging rope (you hang onto a rope and swing out over the water and let go!) and the big rocks where you jump off into the water. There were campfires and s'mores and sunsets, tubing, Sea-Doo rides, pedal-boating and fishing; all favorite parts of time at the lake. The children had great luck this year catching "sunnies". I think they are all "hooked" now on fishing! Emma - 6 Daniel - 8 Ethan - 5 Birthdays we celebrated at the lake this year Meg took this photo of a sunset when she was here. It was one of many glorious sunsets we have seen this summer! This is a photo of Meg and me after our 36 mile ride around Lake Pleasant and Piseco Lake! It was all I could do to stand there....I was exhausted!!
Throughout July, Dan was able to fly home for his chemo. He would drive the 2 hours to Syracuse, fly to Cincinnati, rent a car and drive home from the airport. The next day he would take himself to the doctor's, see the nurse and/or the doctor (he only sees the doctor every other time) and then receive his chemo. Then he would go to Wal-Mart to pick up his new prescriptions and then head for the airport to fly back to NY. It is absolutely astonishing that he has been able to do that!! I was pretty concerned the first time and asked him several times if he didn't want me to drive him to Syracuse. He insisted that he was fine and could do it on his own. He did so well that first time that I relaxed a bit and didn't push as hard the next time. The flights went pretty well except the last trip, the return flight was delayed two hours or so. That adds to the difficulty for him because of his not having a really comfortable place to sit for his back but he even did very well with that.
We were unable to get any kind of reasonable air fares for the August trips so his first trip back he drove home. Yes, he DROVE home. ALONE. Again, I was very concerned about this but even though he had had some days earlier in the summer where he had not felt really well, recently he has been doing great and insisted that he was fine and would stop if he did not feel well. (He has some latitude in time receiving the chemo, although we like to keep it on schedule). He left the lake at about 6 a.m. on Sunday morning (Aug. 1) and when I called to check on him at about noon, he was almost to Cleveland!! I was shocked! I asked him how FAST he was driving. He told me he wasn't going any faster than I went, he just didn't have to stop as often. He had packed a bagel with peanut butter for breakfast and a turkey sandwich for lunch. His only stops were for gas and ONE bathroom stop. So, since he did not stop for meals OR restroom (except once) he cut almost an hour off the trip! So he was able to stop at Krogers and pick up groceries for his short stay at home and get to the house by the time I would have arrived without the grocery stop.
Early Monday morning he had to begin taking the contrast for his scans. This time he was scheduled for a CT scan, a bone scan AND an MRI of his brain. That meant he was at the hospital for much of the day. But he completed all of the tests and even had the results of most of them by 2 p.m. and was at home, supervising some home maintenance when I called mid afternoon.
Over the summer we have had a multitude of issues with "stuff". Both at our Cincinnati house and here at the lake, one thing after another has broken and we have had a hard time getting parts or getting them fixed. One of the MANY issues was that we got a couple of calls from neighbors back home. The first one was telling us there was water spewing out of the front of our house. The backflow valve on our sprinkler system had failed. We had just had that checked out before we left for the summer. hmmmmfff. The neighbor had called the city and they came and turned the water off. We were able to call the sprinkler folks and get that fixed from here. Not too long after that, we got a call from the folks who cut our grass telling us we had water spewing from our BACK YARD!! WHAT is going on here? Dan told him where to turn the water off and we called the sprinkler folks again. So he had arranged for the sprinkler folks to come in later afternoon on Monday. They came out and found the problem. That particular pipe was up next to a rock and as the pipe vibrated when the water was pulsing through it, the rock wore a hole right through the pipe. So, we HOPE we have ALL of the sprinkler issues fixed now. But think about it.....here he had just gone through 3 big scans and when I called him to see how he was doing, he was standing in the backyard watching the repair of our pipe!! AMAZING!
From what he had been told about the results that day, he thought the disease was "stable", much as it had been on the previous several scans. So he was not expecting anything unusual Tues. morning at the doctor's. He was not scheduled to see the doctor as our oncologist was on vacation, but just a visit with the nurse and then his chemo. WELL.....not so fast. Apparently, the research folks felt there had been some progression in the bone lesions and decided he was out of the clinical trial. There is a brand new clinical trial nurse and she was not really "up" on Dan's history. Dan was shocked because he had read the reports and as far as he could tell, the measurements were all about the same. The oncology nurse (our doctor's right-hand-man so to speak) was surprised as well and decided she was going to go back over the last several reports to see if she could see what they were seeing. This was NOT good news. But wait.....there's more. Dan was sort of thinking aloud when they were talking about this and saying that at least, if he got kicked out of the clinical trial, he could still get AVASTIN on his own, since it was cleared by the FDA earlier this year for use in kidney cell cancer. Right? There was bad news on that front as well. Apparently the FDA has recently rescinded its approval for AVASTIN's use in breast cancer and one or two other cancers and so even that possibility may go away. The clinical trial nurse was talking to Dan about another trial that was a combination of drugs, but I think he was mostly hearing "WAAH, WAHH, WAHHH", kind of like Charlie Brown. One of those drugs is very similar to the first chemo drug he was on. He developed an intolerance to it and it was not fighting off the cancer well enough either. In his mind, this other drug, because of its similarity to the first, would have the same poor result. If AVASTIN were not available that meant to him, that there would not be any tolerable treatment left for him.
After the nurse reviewed his reports for the last year, she was convinced that the primary discrepancy was in the difference of wording between the last two radiologists rather than the actual lesions. She convinced the folks in research that the disease process was still stable and he had been cleared for treatment. So after a 2 hour delay, he got his treatment and is OK'd for the next 4 months when he will have his scans repeated. PRAISE GOD!!
I called him around noon, thinking he would be at home, but he was just beginning his treatment. I was as shocked at what had happened as he had been, but I reminded him that we have "been here before". Two years ago several doctors told him he might have as little as 3 months to live, even using all the medicine available. While we do our best to use the gifts of medical knowledge and skill available to us, our hope continues to be in God's plan for us, trusting that it is GOOD in the highest possible meaning of GOOD. It doesn't always coincide with our understanding of good but our understanding is feeble and limited.
The Sunday he was driving back to Ohio, I was hearing a sermon by Pastor Ed Hart about how God does everything He does for HIS GLORY. But whatever He does for His Glory never gets in the way of doing GOOD to those who belong to Him. What a reminder to me just when I needed to be reminded in order to be prepared for this week! I'm impatient for the sermon to be uploaded onto the church website so Dan can listen to it too. (since I posted this, the sermon has been put on the website.) You can find it at:
So when you think about us these next few weeks, please pray for our faith to be strong and for our trust to be certain in the Almighty God who does everything He does, for His Glory and who always does GOOD to those who belong to Him. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Dan and Jodee
P.S. Our next trip home will be in 3 weeks. We were able to get an extension on the next chemo treatment so we only had to make one trip back to Ohio to include his treatment AND my bike ride. Please pray for me, too, as I finish training for that long ride in the heat of August in central Ohio!! Jodee
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 10 August 2010 21:58 |
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Written by Jodee McCabe
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Thursday, 20 May 2010 10:01 |
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Dear Friends and Family, Today is our 38th Wedding Anniversary! Can that REALLY be possible? 15 or 20 years, maybe, but 38??? YIKES! It is truly difficult for us to comprehend. And yet the events of the last couple of years puts a new "spin" on the passing years and getting older. While many resent having to add a year to the numbers of their ages or their years of marriage, we REJOICE with each new day!  We are also celebrating the 2 year anniversary (approximately) of the diagnosis of the metastasis of Dan's kidney cancer. After his right kidney was removed in Dec. of 2007 he was told he was cancer free and all would be well. So in late May of 2008, when he had a CT scan for his 6 month check-up, we were totally blindsided when we were informed the cancer had spread to his liver, both lungs, his ribs, his pelvis and his spine. (the brain tumors were discovered a bit later in June or July) The prognosis given after seeing our oncologist and 2 other consults, was 3 to 6 months, give or take a little. We learned all we could about the disease and have used God's gifts of knowledge, good medicine and a healthy life style to the best of our ability. But rather than put our HOPE in these things, we chose to put our HOPE in God's plan for us and His faithfulness and goodness. We know that many faithful believers suffering from cancer or other serious illnesses have made those same choices and God has not granted an extension to their lives. We don't understand why, nor do we understand why we have received this extra grace nor for how long it will be extended to us. But our desire is to use it to glorify Him and point to His faithful love and his gift of Salvation for all who will receive Him. This week, we are at our lake house in upstate NY. We left OH last Wed., right after Dan's chemo treatment the previous day and his finding out that the people who run the clinical trial have OK'ed extending the time between CT scans from 8 weeks to 12 or 16 weeks! We are relieved to know he won't need to be exposed to as much radiation.
On Sunday, Dan was asked to read the Scripture for the worship service here. He took a moment to thank the congregation for their faithful prayers for us. There were not too many dry eyes in the sanctuary, not only because they share our joy at how well he is doing right now, but because he is a very visible tangible evidence of God's answering their prayers and His awesome power. He truly is a living, breathing miracle. We have no grand celebration plans for today other than to take in the beauty of the lake and mountains, the joy of friendship and fellowship, the privilege of sharing the gospel, the challenge of working out, and MAYBE, if we are not too worn out by dinner time, a dinner out. We will take time, though, to PRAISE GOD for his mercy and love, to pray for our family--for their protection and nurturing, both physically and spiritually; to thank him for so many faithful friends (EACH of you!) who have stood with us in this journey, praying for us and encouraging us in so many ways, and for this place and the privilege of enjoying His beauty which is so abundant here.  
Life is GOOD on the lake! With love and gratitude to you all, Jodee and Dan |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 20 May 2010 10:41 |
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Written by Jodee McCabe
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Thursday, 01 April 2010 16:29 |
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Dear Friends and Family,
This is WAY overdue. Please forgive me for not doing a better job at keeping the blog updated. We are so grateful for all of your prayer support and I know it is hard to keep praying for others when you don't know what is going on.
I had one update written while I was flying to Florida on March 6th. We were taking our children and grandchildren to Walt Disney World to celebrate Dan's reaching 2010. (Each day is another miracle.) When we arrived, I discovered that in addition to charging an obscene amount of money for our lodgings, they wanted to ADD $10 a day for the use of internet...and it wasn't even wireless!! Are you KIDDING me? So I chose to forego the internet for most of the week and my update got "filed" way for later. Well, LATER is now.
Dan had his series of scans right before we left for Florida and the results were pretty much the same as before, with no visible soft tissue tumors, no new tumors and maybe slight improvement in what is seen on/near the bones. (They are unable to tell via scans if bone lesions are healed b/c the scarring looks pretty much like the lesions). We are SO grateful. What is even more amazing to us is that in the clinical trial he has been in, he is unusual. The results have not been as good with many of the other trial participants. God has surely been doing a work in Dan's body!
Dan continues to do well most of the time. He is working with a personal trainer to try to strengthen the little muscle he has left AND to try to build more. Building more muscle is difficult b/c he still finds it very difficult to eat enough protein (well, really, enough of anything, but especially the protein he needs for building muscle). The increased strength IS helping him. He has greatly reduced his pain meds, even more than the last time you heard from us. When he reduces it, he doesn't feel well for awhile. Those pain meds are VERY strong narcotics that he has been on for many, many months and we think those days of not feeling well are a kind of withdrawl. But he pushes through and then starts to feel better. He is currently taking a very small fraction of the pain meds compared to last fall. THANK YOU, LORD!!
Dan is able to do most everything now, except he still has not tried golfing. He is a bit leery of the twisting strain on his back. He is going to have the trainer work with him specifically on how to gradually move into those motions necessary to swing a golf club. He would LOVE to be able to play his beloved golf game again.
When the whole family was at Disney in early March, we had to work hard to keep up with the younger generations. Dan did very well......better in some ways than I did. (my feet hurt the whole time!) He did sleep a lot while we were there and even more afterward, probably from being worn out. But we didn't miss out on much of the fun or activities. Below are some photos that give you a peek into our wonderful family week at Disney: Our son, Tom, giving Matthew, a better view of Mickey's performance Tom, Morgan and Emma enjoying the safari ride through the jungle. We saw lots of animals and Mimi and PopPop (Jodee and Dan) appreciated the break from walking! Dan and Karla enjoying the ride, too. You can see that in the shade, the days were a bit cool. This is our daughter, Megan, being silly. But we are very GLAD that a real shark did not have her for dinner when she was scuba diving! You are right....there are no photos of me. Only a few were taken b/c I'm usually BEHIND the camera rather than in front of it. But you get the idea that we all had a great time and will treasure the memories we made forever.
As I am typing this, Dan is outside power washing the screened in porch and outside decking; getting ready to seal it again. I am astonished over and over at how well he is doing.
Last Sunday, we went to a visitation of a friend who died from lung cancer. She was younger than we are, the mom to one of Megan's school friends. Her husband is in the midst of battling pancreatic cancer. Please pray for Mike and their daughters, Anne and Molly. I know they are confident that she is done with her suffering and is now with her LORD and KING, but that doesn't mean that they don't miss her terribly. Another lady I knew only via the internet, Carole from Mississipi, also passed away from lung cancer last week. The epidemic is real...VERY real but as we celebrate Easter, the highest of Holy Days, our hearts burst with gratitude for all this Holy Season means to us! I can't imagine going through cancer with a loved one without the assurance that God is with us and cares for us and is using EVERY aspect of our circumstances for our GOOD and that no matter the outcome of these circumstances, we will ultimately be safe in God's presence, better prepared for whatever work there is for us in heaven.
This weekend we look forward to celebrating Megan's 31st birthday with her. She is coming down on Sat. and we will be celebrating her birthday (actually on Easter this year) and Easter on Saturday with Tom and his family b/c Tom has to work on Sunday. (we do need paramedics and firefighters to be available every day!). We are hoping to do some volunteer work on Easter Sunday after church, as long as Dan feels up to it.
So once again, we PRAISE God for all He has done for us, physically, emotionally and spiritually. We praise Him for giving us wonderful friends and family like you who faithfully lift us in prayer. And we thank you for being such wonderful encouragers and prayer warriors on our behalf! We love you all and pray that each of you will experience this Easter in a new and profound way. Dan and Jodee
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Updates (Dan)
