Cancer Blog #104
By Brian Zimmerman
Begun on July 31, 2021
Email: dyingman1@yahoo.com
My Dying Words
Entry #104– Medical Update
March 28, 2024
Medical Update: I just passed the 7 week mark for no chemo treatments. I thought there would be more reduction of side effects by now, but no. My hair, such as it is, is growing back more than ever (but still no eyelash or eyebrow change), and, the big plus, is that I have a modest increase in my level of energy. That is especially helpful as my wife had surgery last week and is still recovering but now I’m able to help out a little more. The other side effect that has changed is my experience of shortness of breath when doing nothing that should produce that effect. I only occasionally now have that symptom, another welcome reduction of a side effect.
On the other hand, many other side effects continue such as increased blood pressure and neuropathy in my hands and feet, and with the surprise reappearance of one I particularly dislike: itching. But, as the days progress from the last chemo treatment (which was February 7), other side effects may diminish or disappear. Only as time increases without treatment will it become apparent which side effects are more permanent in nature.
Something else I have done, only last week, was to go to see my primary care physician (PCP) to develop a plan to reduce my daily prednisone intake. His suggestion was to lower the dose by 2mg/day once per month. I have been on 15mg/day for a while and am now on 13mg/day for the next month. At that point I will go to 11mg/day for another month. At which point, it will be more than 3 months since my last chemo treatment and so time for my status CT scan followed by a review appointment with my oncologist. He will then decide to delay chemo for another 3 months if the scan shows little change, or to restart chemo if the cancer has begun to grow. For now, as Jesus has encouraged us, my wife and I are taking it one day at a time.
Meditation: [2Co 5:8] “we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.”
As I’ve mentioned before, my wife and I pray regularly to be filled with the Spirit and ask that the fruit of His presence be seen, and then we verbally list those fruit (Galatians 5:22) in our prayer. But, we have recently added a trait to those fruit. Paul mentions that character trait here in 2 Corinthians: courage. Courage plays such a large role in our Christian lives for a number of reasons, but especially as we face adversity. Here Paul gives one reason for our ability to have courage: because one day we each will die, when we will be absent from these decaying, increasingly painful bodies and go on to be with the Lord. I use that thought on days when I struggle to find joy. This life is only temporary, and the suffering we undergo here will be gone. We will then know the permanent joy we will never find here. And, that’s because unending joy will be found only when we’re at home with Him.
Don’t let yourself get discouraged, much less despair, as we have yet a race to run, one that He will help us to endure, and in the end be granted the blessings and benefits of completing. And, we will find that those blessings far outweigh what small troubles now nag, distract, and afflict us. As Paul ends his first letter to the Corinthians: “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” (I Corinthians 16:13). In other words, he tells them (and us) to have courage!