Dear Readers:
A follow-up on my 25 January entry about personal life issues my family currently face: As you know, Presbytera was diagnosed with a grade-four glioma in November of last year. This discovery came after a CAT scan revealed the tumor and emergency surgery was performed to remove as much of it as possible. By mid-December, she was on a regime of chemotherapy (Temodar) (seven days a week) and radiation therapy (five days a week).
By 11 February, all chemo and radiation therapy were completed. The plan was for a one-month ‘cool down’ period which would include a weaning off of the steroid used to reduce swelling. On 11 March, she would have an MRI and the next step of treatment would then be arranged. At minimum, this was to be chemotherapy five out of every twenty-eight days for the next six months. There was also a possibility to participate in a study which would entail twenty-five days of treatment out of every twenty-eight for the six month period.
Unfortunately, things have progressed with some difficulty. By the weekend of 15 February, Presbytera’s condition had begun to deteriorate. Headaches and forgetfulness returned, and Saturday of that weekend was particularly troublesome and emotional for her. By Sunday morning, she seemed somewhat disconnected and confused. Shortly after arriving at Church she said she wanted to go sleep in the car; it was suggested that she relax on the pew. A few minutes later she wanted to go home and sleep.
Our daughter drove her home and later reported that it took about twenty minutes for her to get out of the car (she didn't seem to know what was being asked of her and how to do it). Of course, by the time I got home we were all quite concerned. The concern was increased by the discovery that after returning home Presbytera had taken her morning medicines again, having already taking them before leaving for Church. A call to the neurologist advised taking her to the emergency room.
At the emergency room a CAT scan was taken. She was told to return to full strength steroid use and an appointment was arranged with our oncologist. (The steroid increase has greatly helped her return to normal.)
When we met with the oncologist Wednesday, he revealed that the CAT scan seemed to indicate renewed growth in the original tumor and possibly three additional new tumors. Given the lack of precise detail of a CAT scan, he urged that she have an MRI done immediately. He would review the MRI and contact us either later that evening or the next day.
The oncologist contacted us Thursday. The MRI clearly showed two areas of growth and two areas that could be growth, or dead tissue swollen due to the radiation. Either way, the revelation was troubling. At a meeting Friday, a new plan of action was decided. Either tomorrow or Wednesday, Presbytera will begin the five out of twenty-eight day chemotherapy regime. As planned, in March a new MRI will be compared with last week’s image. Several options can be then considered.
These are trying times for our family. The general uncertainty in the world economy, the continuing moral and spiritual collapse of the society in which we live, and now Presbytera’s health problems all combine to cause worry and fear.
Nonetheless, I have found in our Lord’s Grace a strength I never experienced before. It strikes me sometimes these days that I only now have a glimmer of understanding of what the priesthood truly is. At the same time, faith has become a more potent reality. Somehow the fact that this new development in Presbytera’s health has come more or less with the beginning of the Great Fast is comforting. I know we are in His hands and He is walking this path with us even as He encourages us to walk His path with Him.
And our parishioners have been wonderful! They have offered help, cooked meals and checked in on us regularly. Thanks be to the Holy Trinity for the great gift of Salvation and the friends he grants us along the way.
I will update again on Presbytera's health when anything significant occurs, probably not before mid-March. In the meantime, I thank you each and all for your prayers. We treasure those prayers more than you could know, and I offer thanks for them at every Divine Liturgy I celebrate. God bless you all!
Oh, my hip replacement surgery has been pushed forward to 2 March.
C’est la vie!
Thanks be to God.
Showing posts with label prayer request. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prayer request. Show all posts
Monday, February 23, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
An Update on Life
Dear Readers:
My apologies to you for the long period of low-blogging; things here have been rather complicated.
On 20 November, the good Presbytera was discovered to have a dangerous tumor impacting her brain. She had been suffering from headaches, forgetfulness, confusion and periods of dizziness for some time, the symptoms getting more pronounced for weeks. When the neurologists looked at the MRI they told us they were frankly amazed that she had walked into the emergency room under her own power. This was in the evening after the initial CAT scan revealed the tumor and several hours of the doctors consulting each other as to where she should go for the surgery.
Suffice it to say that the next couple of days were chaotic. Our Liturgy for the Entrance of the Theotokos in the Temple had to be cancelled; I spent the day in the hospital with her praying as the medical team awaited the optimum time for the surgery; and our parish family joined in prayers for her safety. We dedicated her recovery to the Holy Theotokos under the title Our Lady the Protectress of All Christians.
Our prayers were met with God’s favor. Presbytera came through the surgery very well, again to the amazement of the medical staff. By 25 November, she was discharged and back home.
Of course, the surgery was not the end of the trouble. Presbytera has a grade four glioma. These are very dangerous, quick growing, and tenacious. By mid-December we were introduced to the routine of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. She was given a mild regime of antibiotics as a prophylaxis against infections, and began the watch for the obligatory falling out of the hair and onset of exhaustion caused by the treatment.
We currently are near the end of the round for both chemo and radiation, and the cumulative effect on Presbytera has been telling but not defeating. There are days wherein sleeping is her major activity around taking her meds and visiting the hospital for radiation. Then there are days where sleep seems far removed and out of reach. Other physiological effects also are borne with patient but difficult endurance.
God willing, after the round of treatment is over, and the cooling off period that these necessitate, the next MRI will show no further growth. As this type of glioma is rare, Presbytera will be eligible to participate in a drug study that seeks to determine the best combination of already-known-to-be-effective chemotherapy medicines. Whether she participates – initially she was ready to sign on – will depend on how she feels by the time she is eligible.
This time of our lives has been profound on many levels. People have been wonderful in their prayers and support for us. From our local parishioners to people around the Eparchy to my co-workers in the Chancery, the inner heart of each has been revealed in their care, sincerity and desire to help us. For your rambling host, this has been a time to re-evaluate priorities, look beyond the obvious, and allow God’s compassionate Spirit to comfort and reassure through difficulties that I now perceive can only be understood from the “inside”.
As I noted in a previous entry, the Psalter – always central to the life of the priestly vocation – has become more and more important to me; and the writing of St Ephraim the Syrian (A Spiritual Psalter) has provided a spiritual balance I have desperately needed. Of course, the Divine Services have been a supreme source of comfort and inspiration.
In many ways, I have come to consider that only now have I begun to truly understand what the priesthood is all about. The Apostle’s image of the earthen vessel has more truth than people know. Only when we are emptied of our own illusions of power, authority, importance, and intellectual prowess can we make fitting accommodation for the Holy Spirit. In the Divine Liturgy, the priest’s work is accomplished in humble silence as the ancient prayers and words of the Golden-tongued are enlivened through Grace. These prayers, like so much of our Byzantine Tradition, nourish, heal, and fill with hope as we surrender all to the Holy Trinity. Our Lord warms us in the fire of His Divine Love, and the Theotokos craddles us in the protection of her intercessions.
Presbytera has good days and bad days. We do not know what the future holds for her and us. Yet somehow I have a confidence that defies the limitations of statistics and expectations. We are not going through this alone. It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible.
Please keep Presbytera in your prayers; and her mother, our daughter, and your rambling host. While blog updates may be erratic for some time (like that never happened here before, eh?), I will do my best to continue my rambling commentary and reflection on life in this age of cultural decline. We have no need of fear, He has conquered death already; and so, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Oh, and after Pascha I will have to undergo hip replacement surgery.
C'est la vie!
Thanks be to God.
My apologies to you for the long period of low-blogging; things here have been rather complicated.
On 20 November, the good Presbytera was discovered to have a dangerous tumor impacting her brain. She had been suffering from headaches, forgetfulness, confusion and periods of dizziness for some time, the symptoms getting more pronounced for weeks. When the neurologists looked at the MRI they told us they were frankly amazed that she had walked into the emergency room under her own power. This was in the evening after the initial CAT scan revealed the tumor and several hours of the doctors consulting each other as to where she should go for the surgery.
Suffice it to say that the next couple of days were chaotic. Our Liturgy for the Entrance of the Theotokos in the Temple had to be cancelled; I spent the day in the hospital with her praying as the medical team awaited the optimum time for the surgery; and our parish family joined in prayers for her safety. We dedicated her recovery to the Holy Theotokos under the title Our Lady the Protectress of All Christians.
Our prayers were met with God’s favor. Presbytera came through the surgery very well, again to the amazement of the medical staff. By 25 November, she was discharged and back home.
Of course, the surgery was not the end of the trouble. Presbytera has a grade four glioma. These are very dangerous, quick growing, and tenacious. By mid-December we were introduced to the routine of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. She was given a mild regime of antibiotics as a prophylaxis against infections, and began the watch for the obligatory falling out of the hair and onset of exhaustion caused by the treatment.
We currently are near the end of the round for both chemo and radiation, and the cumulative effect on Presbytera has been telling but not defeating. There are days wherein sleeping is her major activity around taking her meds and visiting the hospital for radiation. Then there are days where sleep seems far removed and out of reach. Other physiological effects also are borne with patient but difficult endurance.
God willing, after the round of treatment is over, and the cooling off period that these necessitate, the next MRI will show no further growth. As this type of glioma is rare, Presbytera will be eligible to participate in a drug study that seeks to determine the best combination of already-known-to-be-effective chemotherapy medicines. Whether she participates – initially she was ready to sign on – will depend on how she feels by the time she is eligible.
This time of our lives has been profound on many levels. People have been wonderful in their prayers and support for us. From our local parishioners to people around the Eparchy to my co-workers in the Chancery, the inner heart of each has been revealed in their care, sincerity and desire to help us. For your rambling host, this has been a time to re-evaluate priorities, look beyond the obvious, and allow God’s compassionate Spirit to comfort and reassure through difficulties that I now perceive can only be understood from the “inside”.
As I noted in a previous entry, the Psalter – always central to the life of the priestly vocation – has become more and more important to me; and the writing of St Ephraim the Syrian (A Spiritual Psalter) has provided a spiritual balance I have desperately needed. Of course, the Divine Services have been a supreme source of comfort and inspiration.
In many ways, I have come to consider that only now have I begun to truly understand what the priesthood is all about. The Apostle’s image of the earthen vessel has more truth than people know. Only when we are emptied of our own illusions of power, authority, importance, and intellectual prowess can we make fitting accommodation for the Holy Spirit. In the Divine Liturgy, the priest’s work is accomplished in humble silence as the ancient prayers and words of the Golden-tongued are enlivened through Grace. These prayers, like so much of our Byzantine Tradition, nourish, heal, and fill with hope as we surrender all to the Holy Trinity. Our Lord warms us in the fire of His Divine Love, and the Theotokos craddles us in the protection of her intercessions.
Presbytera has good days and bad days. We do not know what the future holds for her and us. Yet somehow I have a confidence that defies the limitations of statistics and expectations. We are not going through this alone. It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible.
Please keep Presbytera in your prayers; and her mother, our daughter, and your rambling host. While blog updates may be erratic for some time (like that never happened here before, eh?), I will do my best to continue my rambling commentary and reflection on life in this age of cultural decline. We have no need of fear, He has conquered death already; and so, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Oh, and after Pascha I will have to undergo hip replacement surgery.
C'est la vie!
Thanks be to God.
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Prayer request
I don't usually ask for prayers on the "blog" but I do today.
Yesterday, a routine "nuclear" heart check up led to my father being admitted to the CCU. At the moment we aren't sure what the doctors will decide in the way of treatment. (My father told me, via his cellular phone - before the nurse ordered him to turn it since it was causing other patients to do the St Vitus dance - that by late afternoon he had given two barrels of blood and been X-Rayed so many times that the attendant could turn the lights off and read the report from the glow of his eyes.) Since my mother's falling asleep four years ago, he has done little to preserve his health in the way of exercise and/or diet.
Please keep him in your prayers.
Thank you.
Shookrun.
Evharisto.
Yesterday, a routine "nuclear" heart check up led to my father being admitted to the CCU. At the moment we aren't sure what the doctors will decide in the way of treatment. (My father told me, via his cellular phone - before the nurse ordered him to turn it since it was causing other patients to do the St Vitus dance - that by late afternoon he had given two barrels of blood and been X-Rayed so many times that the attendant could turn the lights off and read the report from the glow of his eyes.) Since my mother's falling asleep four years ago, he has done little to preserve his health in the way of exercise and/or diet.
Please keep him in your prayers.
Thank you.
Shookrun.
Evharisto.
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