March 29th - Blog Update from Greg & Jeane

Prayer Update for March 29

Greetings Friends, Last week, Ethie informed you that I was having a biopsy on the mass in my right thigh. This is such a strange and unusual place for kidney cancer to metastasize to that the doctors were thinking it might be a different kind of cancer altogether. Well, our biopsy is back and there is a very large tumor on my right thigh that is, in fact, also kidney cancer. We looked at the MRI of the tumor and it is very long and almost extends to my hip joint. My oncologist, Dr. Wong, is urging me to get started on a drug called Sutent for treatment of this cancer. The treatment is not curative, but in some cases it can cause the tumors to halt or even recede a bit. The problem is, once you start on this drug it is taken for the rest of your life. And there are a multitude of side effects for this powerful drug - some of them extremely dangerous. That's what I need prayer for in the next week or two. Jeane and I are weighing the pros and cons and praying about this treatment. I am not opposed to any medical treatment that may help my situation, but sometimes - as they say - the cure is worse than the disease. I need a word from the Lord about what to do. Yesterday morning Jeane and I were talking about this decision right before I left for work. It was heavy on our hearts. Just before I walked out the door we kind of looked at each other and said, "This doesn't look good."   As I was about to back the car out of the garage Jeane opened the garage door and yelled, "Just remember, it didn't look good for Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego either." Then, as I was backing down the driveway she came outside. I rolled down the car window and she stuck her head in the passenger side of the car and said, "...and it didn't look good for Paul and Silas in prison with chains on either!" As I drove away I had to smile and shake my head. I thought of Daniel being thrown into the lions' den. It didn't look good for him either. But we know how those stories ended: The three Hebrew guys emerged from the fiery furnace without even smelling like smoke; God sent an angel to shut the mouths of the lions, and when Daniel was lifted from the den they couldn't find any wounds on him. And what about Paul and Silas? As they sang and praised the Lord their chains fell away and they were freed. And even though Paul was beaten and imprisoned many times, he went on to give us some of the most powerful writings contained in the Bible. In fact, speaking about one of his experiences he wrote these words: "For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. Why, we felt that we had received the sentence of death; but that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead; he delivered us from so deadly a peril, and he will deliver us; on him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us in answer to many prayers."      2 Cor. 1:8-11 It is our hope and confidence that you, too, would keep us in your prayers. Please pray that we can have a word from the Lord and clear direction of how to proceed in this fiery furnace. Either way we decide there are potential perils. Your prayers lift us up. Our God is an awesome God, "...who is able to do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine..." (Eph. 3:20) With gratefulness, Greg & Jeane