Hello all.

I again want to humbly thank you for your love and support of me and my family. I also want to thank you for all of the kind words to me personally. “Blogging” (or whatever this is) is obviously uncharted water for me (ok, I promise I’ll quit the watery metaphors very soon), but your encouragement has given me the confidence to continue. And we’re going to continue to need your support as we move forward in quickly changing and uncertain circumstances. And please, send me your prayer requests and too!  We would love to share your burdens with you. And your praises.

Yesterday was supposed to be the day that we found out what the immediate next steps are. You may recall that we met with a doctor that performs a procedure called HIPEC for which he thinks I’m a good candidate. The only question is when to perform it. On Thursday mornings, groups of doctors (and presumably researchers) get together to discuss various patient cases. Our new doctor was to present my case to his committee so that they could collectively determine what treatment plan is best for me.

Well, as it turns out, there was a larger conference going on, so their committee did not meet. So, our case will be presented next Thursday. However, in order to not lose any time in case they DO want to proceed with HIPEC, a physician’s assistant called me yesterday to discuss possible surgery dates. She informed me that there was only 1 day available until July and that it took her over 3 hours of schedule shifting between different groups to get this date. And that day is May 9. Egad!

I suppose that if this is going to happen, it is best that it happens soon, both from a cancer-fighting standpoint but also so I don’t have more days to dwell on these things. Next Wednesday, we will fly out to Houston, spend the night, and wake up to meet with the doctor. It will be good to meet face-to-face to have him explain what the committee recommends. If we’re a go for HIPEC, we will then meet with the appropriate groups to sign consents. Regardless, we’ll be returning Thursday afternoon so we can spend the weekend with family.  We’ll fly back out on Sunday the 8th if I’m to have surgery.

This is all I know for now.

Before I continue, I want to be clear about something. I hope you don’t read what follows as complaining. As I’ve told many people, I feel so strangely fortunate to be a part of what I perceive as God at work. There’s a whole lot going on around us beyond just what is happening in my family, and God has given us the opportunity to continue to be a part of His work. Just a mere glimpse of it is nourishment to carry on; He’s provided the desire, the peace, the strength, and the endurance to do so. I mean, what else can it be? Otherwise, I think I’d be losing my mind. Or I’ve already lost it and just don’t realize it.

Believe it or not, I’m actually working. I have my “mobile workstation” with me, trying to do what I get paid to do. But as I write this entry, there are people in my house hanging shutters (Kim wanted them and what are we waiting for?), there is paperwork in my Inbox for me to sign so I can refinance my house, and it’s Friday, which means “can so-and-so spend the night, etc” when the kids get home. All the while, my dear mother is making travel arrangements for us to go to Houston next week and we (more like Kim) begin to think about what we’re going to do if we are going to be out of town for several weeks. Sadly, we heard yesterday that Kim’s father, also a cancer survivor, will spend next week in the hospital to fight pneumonia. And yet this morning, I heard some extraordinarily encouraging news concerning some dear friends — praiseworthy news for which we’ve been praying for a long time.

The point is that today is just another day in the life of a believer. We have all of the usual typical and the difficult stuff, but we also have the promise that none of these moments are fleeting, that all we do has purpose and should be for God’s glory. In and through our daily affairs there seems to be a current of otherworldly energy binding it all together and moving lives forward. We are gifted with the opportunity to participate in Christ’s redemption of the world. And while God doesn’t rely on us to accomplish His goals, it is in our labors that He loves us, teaches us, and feeds us with His grace.

So while I’m happy that I’ll be saving money from refinancing and also improving my earthly home, it is the promise of the treasures being stored up for us in our Heavenly home (Mat 6:19-20) that really makes this life worth living . And worth fighting for.

Peace and love,

Brent