Greetings, Good Friends,

It has been a couple of years since I have posted anything on this blogspot. Our good friend, Ethie, started this blog for us in 2012 as a way I could share information and personal prayer requests with you during my journey of fighting cancer six years ago. I so appreciated the support you gave and the prayers that healed and sustained me. It was a difficult battle, but God miraculously answered our prayers and the cancer went into regression. 

Well, it seems that I'm back in that cancer fight again and I wanted to give you all an update of my current situation. This is a way that I can reach out to my friends and family both near and far without you having to guess how I am doing or hear rumors about me.

Just a brief review: I have been on dialysis now for over two years. Yes, I know, I put it off for a long time. But eventually my doctor convinced me that it would alleviate the muscle pain I was feeling (it did) and it would give me more energy (it didn't). But it has become a part of the routine of my life and I have come to a point where I can thank God for it, which has not always been the case!

Having said that, I still pray and call that kidney back to life, just as I felt I was supposed to do five years ago. (You've heard it said that God makes haste slowly, but His timing is perfect?) 

My work with Life Discovery Ministries continues. I love this small faith community as we grow together and minister to those who are in loss or grief. This Spring we ran two Healing From Loss workshops at the same time, but on different nights of the week and in two different locations. I still teach on Monday Nights and do a lot of individual counseling. It is my joy and I wouldn't want to be doing anything else.

During the past few years the cancer has remained stable. It did show up in my liver several years ago and I had radiation on it in 2016. The radiation seemed to halt the growth for a while, but it has picked up again and doubled in size over the last year, according to my last scans in May. They also saw more spots appearing in the liver. My doctors are getting worried. 

After thinking and praying about what to do and where to seek treatment I felt led to go back to the integrated cancer clinic in Irvine, CA where I went in 2012. It's now called Cancer Center for Healing. Jeane and I scheduled a consult with the fantastic doctor I worked with six years ago and began the alternative treatments last month. 

Some of the treatments are the same as I did before and some of them are new. I can do some things here in Phoenix, such as Hyperbaric Oxygen (which I've been doing all along) and Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (which my chiropractor started doing just recently). But some of the other treatments need to be done in California because of their special equipment and treatment modalities, so we go back and forth as often as we can.

So that's my world right now. I have no pain due to the cancer, and other than fatigue, I feel good. Dialysis drains me (literally and figuratively!) so on those days I am usually more tired. 

Several of you have been asking me to start up this blog again, so I will make every effort to keep you informed. If you received this blog in your email it is because you were on my list of prayer partners back then. I hope you still are! You can also get to the blog at www.PrayerUpdatesForGregOlson.blogspot.com.

Even though I am seeking alternative ways to fight this cancer, the best treatments are those of prayer. I believed six years ago, and I believe now, that we have the most amazing opportunity to partner with God in creating and making things happen here on earth. I don't understand how all that works and I probably never will, but I believe it. So I ask for your prayers and I thank you for standing with me. 

Blessings always,

Greg