week of challenges and blessings

well, this week has been very challenging so far.

it started off great. sunday the four corners church prayed for me in the service. they had the elders lay hands on, anoint me with oil, and pray, james 5 style. that was awesome.

monday i found out one of my doctors had made a mistake with my chemo medication. what i thought was 5 days of chemo a month is really supposed to be 40 days of chemo during radiation, then 5 days a month thereafter. so tuesday i started my temodar in earnest again. i take it every day one hour before my radiation treatments. this really puts the hurt on the cancer in my brain during treatment, and makes me a bit more tired than before.

in other news, my car has been sick (with the check engine light on) for the last week or so, and i got my tag renewal (including emission inspection requirement) in the mail this week. so i decided to take the car in for service on wednesday. four hours of missed time at work and several hundred dollars later i got a car back that is all well.

so today is thursday, and i'm super tired. sleep is all i am craving. however, all in all i have to say this week has been a good one. i did get back on track with my chemo with no problems. i have gotten ill once or twice at night, but not too bad. i do have a functioning car once again, that i am ready to get all nice and legal this weekend. and the work week is almost over. so i say thank you Jesus for a good week.

next week, on monday, i will be starting my second type of chemotherapy treatment. this drug is called avastran, it is part of a drug trial, and it's actually made from some hormone from the ovary of chinese hamsters (you can't make this stuff up). i will be getting this chemo from an IV drip on monday, and every other monday for who-knows-how-long. this drug is a so-called cancer inhibitor. it works by blocking the blood supply between cancer cells (and also some regular cells). the major side effect of this drug is hemorrhaging from any place you can think of. so i am praying that there will be none of that.

thank you all for your prayers this week. they have been heard.
john