Author Archive
Saturday, November 12th, 2011
Made Two Trips
Cathy ended up making two walking trips down the hall today. She did really well.
Tomorrow she is scheduled to jump to the next level of recovery with the removal of two more tubes. One of those tubes will be the pain med drip tube, to be replaced by taking pain pills instead.
The goal tomorrow is to walk a lap around the floor.
No Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Saturday, November 12th, 2011
Windows open, pain meds working
Recovery with pain medication is good. Cathy is comfortable and enjoying the beautiful weather today with the windows open. She can’t stay awake more than 5 minutes at a time, but that is way better than experiencing the full on pain she would have without medication.
The goal today is to walk to the nurses’ station.
2 Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Friday, November 11th, 2011
Two challenges today
Just after Cathy finished her walking tour of the hospital room, the good day she was having presented some challenges.
Her IV port problems had developed to the point where they required a specialist to put a new one in, but during the three hours while we waited for the specialist, Cathy got no pain medication. Shortly after she got back into bed from her walk and got the new IV port installed, her back developed some very acute pain. It was difficult for her to tolerate and difficult for me to watch with no way of helping.
Shortly after the pain meds kicked back in and gave her some relief from the intense pain, her surgeon visited us for a consultation. She explained that Cathy might need a smaller follow-up surgery in a few weeks, but it is still uncertain if that is required. While we are not happy with this possibility, we know God is taking care of us and will get us through it if it’s required.
In the mean time we will be praying that God gives our doctors wisdom and good judgment while they discuss Cathy’s situation and form a recommendation.
No Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Friday, November 11th, 2011
Taking a walk today
Cathy is out of bed again today and began walking around the room. Sounds like nothing, but it’s really good progress!
Today all the healing indicators were good with the minor exception of some complications with the IV port. She is drinking and beginning to take in clear liquids.
2 Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Thursday, November 10th, 2011
Day 1 Recovery went well
Cathy made it out of bed and into a chair today. This was actually a big accomplishment, and getting it done was a mental boost. Pain meds help, too.
No Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Thursday, November 10th, 2011
Recovering well
After a good night’s sleep Cathy is alert and on the recovery path. The big goal for the day is to get out of bed and into a chair. And to remain free of complications.
The room here has a Murphy bed, so I got a good night sleep, too.
3 Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
sleeping in her room for the night
[12:00] Cathy is in her room and sleeping on and off. The pain meds are doing their job, so she is not terribly uncomfortable, but she is exhausted. .
Tomorrow is a new day. Thanks for praying for her today.
3 Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
in recovery room now…
[7:30] Cathy is awake but groggy. But she is coherent enough to be elated that the surgery’s outcome is what we were hoping for.
3 Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
Success!
[4:30] After an eight hour surgery the doctor said she got all the cancer. It wasn’t easy, though, as the previous radiation treatments caused other damage that was hard to work around.
Cathy is now in recovery.
We are grateful to God for this outcome and for everyone’s prayers.
6 Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
still waiting…
[3:45 pm] It is approaching the 8 hour mark, the duration Cathy’s surgeon expected. No new updates since noon.
No Comments » - Posted in General by Jerry
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
mid-surgery update – going well
[12:10] I got a call around noon that things are going well. Should be done in a few more hours.
2 Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
In surgery now…..
[7:30 am] I got to see Cathy briefly before they rolled her to surgery. She was wearing new blue pajamas and had tubes plugged in to both hands. She was ready to get things started and wasn’t anxious at all.
Sometime after noon today when she gets out of surgery, or if anything interesting happens in the mean time, I’ll post another update.
Pray they would be able to remove all the cancer without removing any other parts she’ll want to keep.
1 Comment » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
waiting to start
It is 5:15 am, and Cathy and I are waiting for her to be called back to begin pre-op. We’re both tired because of the hour, but she is fine otherwise. Pray that this day would be a good one for her surgeon and for Cathy.
2 Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Monday, November 7th, 2011
Will you pray for Cathy Wednesday?
On Wednesday morning (November 9) Cathy will have her cancer surgery. Her surgeon estimated it would be an 8 hour procedure followed by 5 – 10 days in the hospital. We would value your prayers during this time!
I’ll post progress updates here as they happen.
1 Comment » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011
Cathy is doing well
It has been over a month since the end of Cathy’s chemo/radiation treatments, and she is feeling better and getting back up to speed. The next few weeks will be a little bit of a break for her before surgery. November 9 is the date set for surgery, so we look ahead to that and trust God with it. We continue to be blessed by your prayers and well wishes…thank you so much!
1 Comment » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
Yes, the fonts got bigger
I read an article saying font size makes a difference to readers. Then I took a look at this site and realized that the font was pretty small. If this bugs you, leave a comment and let me know.
1 Comment » - Posted in General by Jerry
Saturday, September 3rd, 2011
Audrey jumped!
Audrey’s Skydive
Audrey has wanted to skydive for her birthday for a while, so when she turned 18 she did it! She amazes me. She was not scared and never hesitated.
Here’s the video. It’s big download, so it may take a minute or so before playback starts.
Cathy’s sister, brother in law, and niece came for a visit and also jumped out of the plane with Audrey. My original plan was to drive them all there and watch, but when I got there I realized it was one of those moments in life that only happen once. So I joined them and jumped, too. What a rush!
We All Jumped
The only bummer was that Cathy could not join us, but she says, “I have no sadness at all. I am absolutely thrilled that they got to go.”
We jumped with SkyDive City, and I would highly recommend them for a skydiving adventure. Great customer service, friendly staff, and a first-class, safe operation.
4 Comments » - Posted in General by Jerry
Monday, August 22nd, 2011
Our last First Day of School
Audrey’s last First Day of School
Today was Audrey’s last first day of school. Cathy got up and saw her off, and I was happy to have someone else in the house awake with me that early. Overall, I think we’re all glad this is the last year of high school.
Audrey’s First Day of School 1999
No Comments » - Posted in General by Jerry
Tuesday, July 26th, 2011
Saw Two Cancer Doctors Yesterday
pic by jonnyabbas8 on Flickr.com
We met the remaining two cancer doctors yesterday, an oncologist and a radiation oncologist. Neither of them changed the prognosis or overall treatment plan, but both of them gave us new details of what the next 9 months might look like. The details are a bit sobering.
Cathy gets oriented to the radiation process and machines tomorrow and then on Monday begins the radiation and chemo treatments. The chemo will be in pill form and shouldn’t make her lose her hair, but the radiation won’t be so benign. Over the next five or six weeks Cathy will have a gradually building fatigue, radiation burns, and discomfort – if things go normally. If things go abnormally it will either be a walk in the park for six weeks or an immediate disaster requiring a change in treatments.
If Cathy is deficient in an enzyme called DPD, the chemo treatment will create an immediate disaster. She said she would appreciate all your specific prayers that she would not have this deficiency.
Each new batch of information we get takes a day or so to sink in, and then we move ahead with God’s peace. At no point have we been afraid or angry so far, something that is obviously God’s grace in our lives. Cathy would normally react to something like this with anger, and I would react with fear. Instead we have both had God’s peace, and we have no doubts it is because of people praying for us.
But at this point the next six weeks look challenging. We value your prayers!
9 Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Sunday, July 24th, 2011
Home Today, Doctor Tomorrow
We arrived home early in Orlando, as planned, from our CCCI/Cru Conference in Colorado for appointments with cancer doctors tomorrow. God’s peace has been with us the last two weeks along with an abundance of encouragement and prayers from friends and family. We are so grateful. It is an amazing thing to be showered with God’s blessings like this.
Cathy feels better now than at any other time in the last few weeks. The tumor causes no pain, she is eating as healthy as ever (nearly vegetarian, and as cancer-friendly as possible), and she has had nothing but encouragement and love from everyone.
The next few weeks are really unknown to us. We think we will find out more information tomorrow from the doctors about what to expect, but in the mean time we are keeping our plans very tentative.
Thank you for praying for Cathy!
No Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011
Campus Crusade for Christ gets a new name: Cru
Research has shown that 20% of the people in the U.S. willing to have a conversation about Jesus are less interested when they hear the name Campus Crusade for Christ. This, among other reasons prompted a name change. You can read more about it here. Don’t miss the menu at the top of the page with links to more information.
We like the new name.
No Comments » - Posted in Ministry by Jerry
Monday, July 11th, 2011
Treatment Plan
Dearest family and friends,
For those of you who want to be updated on my ‘new situation’ we finally have some news. It only involves the next few steps, but that’s just fine with us…too many big steps at one time is overwhelming!
This morning I had an ultrasound to determine at what stage the cancer is. Turns out it has gone past the colon wall (well, rectum wall … but the word colon sounds so much better!). It hasn’t spread to ANY lymph nodes so is considered Stage 2. This was great news!
In order to have a smaller mass to surgically remove later, I will go through some chemo and radiation to shrink it. They’ve said 5 weeks of this…Monday through Friday! Yikes, that’s a lot! But they can do both at the same time. Not sure if this is good or bad yet…sounds exhausting to me. We’ll meet with the oncologist and the radiation doctor on the 25th and will have more details then. Our surgeon was very optimistic about things. She said after the chemo/radiation she should be able to get it all during surgery, no permanent colostomy and I’ll enjoy living for the next 50 years : ) Now… that does have me living until 97…hmmmm.
The reason we’re waiting until the 25th is because we got the all clear to travel to Colorado! This was wonderful news as well! We won’t stay for the entire conference, but we will get to attend most of it. We felt it was wise to come home early and get this treatment show on the road.
We want to thank you so much for your prayers and all the encouraging notes and emails we’ve received. I recently told a friend that if you want to feel super loved, just get cancer! We have truly felt loved and blessed beyond measure. Thank you all so very much.
We will keep you posted as we go along, as we covet your prayers. To make things a bit easier for us, we’ll post updates here on the blog. This way, you can also read entertaining news of our neurotic dog, Annie.
Much love to you all,
Cathy
3 Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Thursday, June 30th, 2011
New Situation
We’ll start this with the end of the story: Cathy will have treatment and surgery soon that should resolve this completely.
The beginning of the story was recently when Cathy had a colonoscopy and found a tumor in her digestive tract. The biopsy indicated it is malignant. The good news is that further blood work and a CT scan indicate the cancer has not spread anywhere else, and the colonoscopy showed only this one tumor. The indications are good that this is contained and isolated.
Surgery, radiation, and chemo seem like the treatment that should take care of this, but we won’t know details until the surgeon can do an ultrasound on it in the next couple weeks. It also seems most likely that the surgery should completely remove the malignant tumor and leave Cathy cancer-free.
We would appreciate your prayers as we walk through this!
Emotionally we’re doing well, actually. Cathy was a little troubled for a few days, but the good news about the cancer not spreading relieved most of that. Neither of us are fearful or terribly unsettled. It hasn’t seemed as horrifying as we always thought news like this could be. It might change our summer plans regarding our staff conference in Colorado, but we don’t know yet.
We will let you know how things go. It is probably going to be a six month process, but that is just our early guess.
No Comments » - Posted in Cathy by Jerry
Friday, June 24th, 2011
Pastor Philip
Pastor Philip
I don’t usually post our prayer letters here. At one point I’m sure I had a reason why, but now that they get posted to Twitter and Facebook, I don’t see why not here, too.
No Comments » - Posted in GTO,Ministry,mLearning Project by Jerry
Saturday, May 28th, 2011
Mombasa Class 2 Completion
Jerry Interviews a Mombasa Pastor
Actually none of the pastors we interviewed today were from Mombasa, but that was where we met them all. They took the final exam for the Institute of Christian Leadership course and told us about how their ministries changed as a result of the class and how they had grown spiritually through it.
Philip said he was so grateful for the class because he could not afford to pay for training at a seminary and couldn’t leave his ministry and family. He is a perfect example of why we developed this type of training.
Pastor Philip
And this is where we landed for the night; Mombasa Beach. No complaints. Back to Nairobi tomorrow.
Mombasa Beach
