----------- 10th Entry January 9, 2010 6:00 AM -----------
We now have all the info for our appointment at MD Anderson. It is next Thursday, January 14th, at 8 AM. Our initial consultation will be with Dr. Araujo, a physician there who is in the Sarcoma department that deals specifically with these types of tumors. We will leave the Denton, Texas, area (and the wonderfu hospitality of my brother Lee and his wife Brenda) Wednesday to take the 4-5 hour drive down there.
We have been told to expect that that 1st meeting will be to inform us of MD Anderson's take on all of our current information including the clinical notes, the MRI, and the pathology from the biopsy which were all done in Idaho. Then, they will outline a series of tests that MD Anderson itself will want to do in order to further and more closely clarify the nature, location and size of the tumor. This will probably include more MRI and CT work.
At the end of that process which we are told will take 5-7 days itself, depending on what they find, they will then develop a treatment plan and present the options for treatment to us.
We are grateful to be able to have the opportunity to be treated at MD Anderson. The more we read and the more others talk to us who have either themselves been treated down there, or know others who have, the more we realize how blessed we are to be able to be availed of the Doctors and facilities.
I am anxious to get started. The pain is pretty strong and the neurological complications are mounting. I do not like to take the pain medication because of the way it makes me feel and its own complications, but am grateful to have them because as time goes on I find that those concerns are less and less consequenial to not taking them.
Oh well, as I say, I am anxious to get the ball rolling.
Gail is looking for and finding places for us to stay through the first week or so, and then for the longer term once they decide the course for the treatment. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for her compansionship, love, and comfort. I look back on the 32 years of our relationship and all we have experienced and shared together and I know that the good Lord and my Father in Heavenhas blessed me in this regard beyond my capacity to receive or fully understand the blessing. Yet, I am grateful for the understanding I do have, and the ever growing knowledge (a growth that will extend into the eternities I am sure) of what that love means and how much of a reflection of our Savior's and Father's love it really is...and I am committed to more fully emulating it.
We are both grateful beyond words for all of the help, kind wirds, wishes, and thoughts of all of our family, relatives and friends. Many of whom have contacted us on facebook, on FreeRepublic, elsewhere on the web, via email, phones, notes, even their own journals of their own history with various forms of cancer. All have been helpful, all have bouyed our hearts and spirits.
Most especially we are grateful for faith and prayers and the power that is within them. A power to help us each more fully understand and know God's willl for us, to accept it and testify in faith of it to others.
So, we are several days away from that first meeting at MD Anderson. Unless something develops between now and then, I expect my next entry in this journal/blog will be after we receive that intial consultation.
Sincerely, and in Christ,
Jeff
PS: Keep the faith with our nation, our constitution, and our fundamental values and way of life. Down with the traitors and hoorah for all who cherish our Republic and its foundation:
WHY AMERICA IS FREE AND HAS PROSPERED
- and -
AMERICA AT THE CROSSROADS OF HSTORY
If I have am blessed to have any sort of legacy at all, let it be my love and dedication to God in Heaven, my Savior Jesus Christ, my wife, my children, my family, and my love for the Constitution of the United States of America and the fundamental principles upon which it was founded! And, Dear God in Heaven, my eternal Heavenly Father, let it be reflected in the lifes of my childern and grandchildren!
Thanks for the up date jeff.
We are all praying for you.
Your FRiend
Tet68.
Thanks for the update, Jeff. We are all praying for you.!
Been praying for you every day Jeff, I just know our prayers will be answered and you’ll be just fine. We need you so much.
Good Morning Jeff!
There is no question in my mind, that the Lord Jesus has His Hands upon you, we as Christians are promised that He will never forsake us, that nothing and no-one will ever pluck us out of His Hands, the Blood He shed for us is all-encompassing, from start-to-finish, ‘alpha-to-omega’, there are no exceptions whatsoever, and “By His stripes, are we healed” and I am lifting that up in prayer, in your behalf.
Doctor Jesus as we all know IS that Great Physician and this trial that you are passing through is being used to bring Glory to His Name, that Name above every name, for He is King of kings, Lord of lords and Doctor of doctors and He will deliver you, of that I am certain. Your testimony is powerful and stands as an example of how we are to face adversity. I admire your courage Sir.
I could say ‘The Lord be with you’ but it is powerfully evident that He already is, and has been, and will be.
God Bless You Jeff! (and Gail and all your family!)
Mark (MKJ)
Thanks for the ping Dolly.
Thanks for the update Jeff. We are pulling for you.
Not a Canada ping...update from Jeff Head at #580.
Thank you, Jeff, for taking the time to post this update. Have been thinking of you and praying for you every time I do think of you each day. So glad you are blessed by your wonderful wife and family and being able to go to this fine medical center for evaluation and treatment. Prayers continue.
Just want you to know that we are thinking of you!
A Shepherd’s prayer
Lord, I am walking your way, let me in.
For my feet are sore, my clothes are ragged.
Look into my eyes, Lord,
and my sins will play out on them as on a screen.
Read them all, forgive what you can,
And send me on my path.
I will walk on until you bid me rest.
Tex and Rosie: Update at 580.
Jeff and Gail: Prayers continue.
May I suggest that you contact churches in the Houston area today, and ask if anyone has a place for you to stay. God will prompt someone’s heart, to provide for you. It is a chance for someone to serve the Lord too. It is wonderful that sometimes we are blessed by serving others, and sometimes we can bless others by being served!...We will be praying about it for you in the next few days.
May God bless and keep you and yours Jeff.
PRAISE GOD.
THX FOR THE UPDATE.
PRAYERS AND HUGS.
Thank you so very much for keeping us informed! Prayers continue...
May God be with you every step of the way and bless you & your family.
Praying for you Jeff.
Thank you for the updates.
They are a blessing in themselves.
All the best for successful treatment. Prayers for a full recovery.
We look forward to your next update.
prisoner6 and family
Still praying for you and your care Jeff. May our Lord touch you and keep you.
I will Jeff. And I am and will be lifting you and your family up to our Father in prayer. I will keep the faith. Always and forever and ever...Many X's and O's Lynn in Indy aka republic