Dear ones,

6:30 am, 2/27/18        I am starting this entry early on the morning of the PET scan.  Dr. Patel ordered this to document my status after two rounds of chemo.  So, this is the morning report with the post-PET scan report to follow.  This sequential approach to my update is more an exercise for me rather than to give you new insight into how Nancy and I are feeling.  I will complete this journal entry when the results are known.

So, will it be “good” news or “bad” news?  I have asked that question about a hundred times over the past week.  Assuming I do not die in a Houston traffic accident, the “good” results would imply that I will live longer; the “bad” results would imply that the time will be shorter. Whether sooner or later, death is our final common pathway.  The question for all of us is the pathway to what.  Since I am the author of this, you get my opinion.  My opinion is that there are three possibilities: heaven, hell, or oblivion.  The Christian believer understands that there are only the first two.  For the atheist, he/she is finger-crossed-hoping for number three.  As I have shared in earlier entries, I have lived my life (certainly imperfectly) oriented to heaven.  Probably, the best distillation of this heaven-directed life is found in Philippians 1:21-24 where Paul writes: “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.  Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.  I am hard pressed between the two.  My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.  But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.” So, the “good” or “bad” news of the PET scan has a different perspective for this heaven-headed old man of sixty-eight years.  I certainly prefer the “good,” but I trust that I am ready for the “bad.”

3:00     Pet scan report: “Interval resolution of the hypermetabolic right orbital mass…The findings are compatible with favorable response to therapy.”  So, the orbital mass is gone, and all the other areas of concern have resolved!  Praise and thanksgiving are in order. Encouragement to all who have prayed and loved us is in order.

I will meet with oncology and ophthalmology tomorrow.  I assume that we will continue the current course which is four more chemo’s and three more spinal tap injections.  This report certainly encourages my endurance.  My eye muscles are still gimpy, and I still see double on upward gaze. Keep praying for this.

Dave/Daddy/Granddaddy/Doc Dave

Dear ones,

It’s Saturday morning, day five after the last chemo.  I am definitely stronger today with less nausea and fatigue.  The Lord has spared me the more significant side effects of GI issues, mouth sores, and rashes. Those specific prayers have been answered. The visual acuity of my right eye is close to normal and I see a single image when reading, but I still see double on upward gazing.  So, continue to pray for the lymphoma to go away and specifically for the double vision to resolve.

Nancy is doing well.  It may be my illness or just the coming spring, but she been overcome with the drive to clear out drawers and closets and to take stuff to the Goodwill store.  She is an excellent nurse with great patience with her patient.

One of the benefits of the slow-down of illness is the time to refresh memories.  Your words of encouragement have certainly served that end…thanks.  It has also been a good time to refresh some things memorized.  Let me close with a passage that I have learned and relearned. It is from the prophet, Habakkuk 3:17-19: “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will take joy in the God of my salvation.  God, the Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer’s; He makes me tread on high places.”  I think that we all do better with deer’s feet when we venture to high places.

Dave/ Daddy/ Granddaddy/ Doc Dave

Dear family and friends,

Before my illness, I occasionally took acetaminophen or naproxen for aches and pains.  You might ask: why this profound confession?  Let me explain.  For centuries, there has been a tension between the use of medical knowledge and application of faith in divine healing.  I would even venture to say that every Christian believer has had to deal with this question somewhere along his/her walk.  So many of you dear people have shared your commitment to pray for my healing or at least, my comfort and endurance.  So many of you dear people have also personally visited the medical community for relief (i.e. surgery for appendicitis or pills for pneumonia or chemotherapy for lymphoma).  So, does taking advantage of medical research and treatment compromise faith, or does it simply acknowledge and apply an aspect of God’s grace?

As some of you may know, God saved me from dentistry by bringing Nancy’s dad, Kirven Nichols, into my life. He was my model for and mentor in being a Christian physician.  So, I committed my education and career to the medical model.  The challenge has always been to learn, to relearn, and to incorporate new medically proven discovery. So, what is God’s role?  I think that there is some guidance when Paul refers to his companion, Luke (writer of Luke and Acts in the New Testament). Paul refers to him as “Luke the beloved physician” in Colossians 4:14. Note that it is not Luke the “former physician.”  In the context of Paul’s multiple injuries and illnesses, can’t you just imagine Luke saying something like this: “Paul, I have found this treatment to be helpful for your condition.” Or, “Paul, some of my trusted colleagues have found this treatment to be of value; I suggest that we try it.”  So, would Paul have taken an acetaminophen or ibuprofen from his physician? I think yes; but he would do it with thankfulness for God’s grace in providing relief through it.

Nancy and I are doing well.  I will get the first of three spinal injections of methotrexate (a preventive) on Friday and get the second infusion on Tuesday, 2/13/18.  If you are bored, there are some photos in “Dave’s series” in PostHope.  Thanks for being part of my life.  Thanks for letting me part of yours.

If you would like, send a photo of you and/or your family.

Dave/Daddy/Granddaddy/Doc Dave

Dear family and friends,

Nancy and I are truly celebrating at one week into treatment.  I am feeling well, without eye pain or swelling; there is mild nausea but no other significant side effects.  Weakness is tolerable.  Join with me in praying particularly for resolution of the double vision.

Nancy and I met with our pastor, Fred Greco, to discuss both of our funeral plans, obituaries, and the orders of worship.  We look on this as co-ministry with Fred and as the loving thing to do for our daughters. Everyone should consider similar preparations.

II Corinthians 5:1ff says: “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house made not with hands, eternal in the heavens.  For in this tent we groan…”  I was not a Boy Scout; so, my knowledge of tents is limited. But I do know that they do not last forever.  We groan when there is a leak or tear.  We groan when storms batter.  Whether sooner or later, I am ready to change dwellings and explore that “building from God.”

Dave/Daddy/Granddaddy/Doc Dave

PS: For you gals who respond, include your maiden names.