A Small Cancer Milestone

It’s been a little over three and a half years since my ENT surgeon spoke to me on the phone and said, “Yes, you have cancer.” God has worked on me a great deal during that time, and continues to do so. I go to the GHS Cancer Institute for my medical care, and Dr. Joe Stephenson is my oncologist. I’m very thankful for him. He listens to any questions I have and gives good answers, and I love the fact that he allows me to look at test results with him. And ask more questions.

I’ve been seeing Joe regularly every six months, and I told him that I want to avoid scans (CT and PET) as much as possible because I don’t want to get too much radiation, which can potentially cause problems, but I’ve had them whenever necessary. Consequently, my regular checkups involve blood tests. If I find something that concerns me, then I go in sooner, and I’ve always been able to get an appointment when I need one.

On Wednesday this week I had another regular checkup, and it was the usual stuff. The phlebotomist took my blood and analyzed it. Stand on the scale, get the blood pressure cuff put on, have my temperature taken. As always, my blood work looked great. Dr. Stephenson palpated me in areas where there are large numbers of lymph nodes to see if there were any changes that would concern him. He said that after he sees a patient for a while, he develops a memory of what that patient’s body is like. In other words, he retains a sense of where my specific lymph nodes are and their sizes. He has a good feeling of where I’m at and the rate at which my follicular lymphoma is progressing. Here’s the milestone: It’s progressing so slowly that he suggested that we change from a six-month schedule to a nine-month schedule. Yahoo!!!

I intend to continue to avoid chemotherapy for as long as I can. Of course, there may come a time when I’ll need to reconsider that, and I hope that there will be a cure before that happens. I’ve asked God to heal me, and I’m very thankful that people have prayed for me. I don’t care whether God cures me by way of natural or supernatural means: In either case, the cure would come from Him:

Every good and perfect gift is from above,

coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,

who does not change like shifting shadows.

(James 1:17 NIV)