TEARS, FEARS AND MRI'S ....OH MY!

January 29, 2012

The Lichi Report

Dear Friends,

Greetings in the Name that is above every other Name; The Lord Jesus Christ!

 PRAISE FIRST!!

In the last report I mentioned the need for prayer related to the cost of a much needed chemo-medication to be used in conjunction with my current chemo-therapy regimen. You may recall the Revlimid cost $8,000 out of pocket for three weeks of treatment. Dr. Lazarus at University Hospital and my primary oncologist Dr. Lewis feel strongly that the medication is crucial to move things along more quickly to get my cancer levels to the place where they will do a major "blast" at the hospital and wipe the slate clean prior to reintroduction of my own stem cells into the bone marrow.

 When I posted last week I simply suggested that we PRAY with anticipation and see how God would answer this need and that whatever He provided would be good. The initial call came to my office Monday morning from an anonymous source and by the end of the day the need for the cost of the Revlimid was met 100%. Would you join me in singing the children's song for this generous provision?

"Praise Him, Praise Him....all ye little Children....God is good....God is good!"

 Guess what? God IS good...and not only when He answers prayer the way we think He should. I recall hearing recently that if God does not choose to answer our prayers in the way we want...trust that He always has something better! That is the type of faith I'm asking Jesus to build into my life on a daily basis.

 Here is the weekly update from our end. 

·        Praise for the provision of the full cost of this first round of Revlimid! Amen!

·        The medication was over-nighted on Tuesday and at $390 per pill, I've been advised not to take it over the toilet or the sink with the risk of accidentally dropping it....no problem!

·        Two MRI's last Wednesday (see below). Met with neurologist on Friday to confirm that yes indeed my pain is a result of compression of bone mass, bone loss, myeloma and nerve compression. Several other consults scheduled.

·        Apparently the VA made an error and misinformed me regarding qualifying benefits. We will likely have to appeal to the VA and as we pursue this and I'll let you know what happens.

·        Thanks again to all of you who gave up your valuable time to haul me to and from appointments and work.

·        Was able to get in a full week at EMERGE. I love my clients and thank God for the ministry of EMERGE!

·        We haven't had a single day since November where there hasn't been at least one card (and often many more) from friends and family offering a word of encouragement. We've had well over 60 meals provided along with many other practical expressions of love.

·         I've asked others to step in to several (pre-cancer) pre-scheduled speaking engagements lately and those have gone exceedingly well...meaning that God doesn't necessarily need ME to be the one who does the speaking.....as long as Jesus is lifted up....that's the key. May He be glorified!

 COMING UP

·        My fourth round of  chemotherapy starts Monday January 30th and we have two more scheduled.

·         I have another MRI scheduled for Wednesday to see if bones have been affected in the Cervical region of the spine.

·        We also have a February 21st orientation to inpatient treatment at University Hospital. This orientation alone takes about 4 to 5  hours. It will let us know what to expect when I finally do go into isolation to prepare for the bone marrow transplant.

 DESCRIPTION OF AN MRI

I'm a psychologist. I love to learn about how the mind works and am a life-long student of the miracle of how the supernatural interacts with the natural. However, there are times when I must simply use my imagination to bring some humor to an otherwise scary or painful situation. Now, I beg you to try to go into my mind for a moment and I'll try to describe what a 4-part MRI is like. I don't want to scare any of you, but I have to admit that I used every bit of my mental power and imagery to get through nearly 3 hours in an enclosed tube with the most unusual noises. The variety and complexity of the noise of the MRI was almost overwhelming. Imagine two under-rested, irritated sumo wrestlers (you know the really big Japanese guys that stalk one another on wrestling mats), wearing steel-toed tap dance shoes for the first time and playing "dueling jackhammers" interspersed with laser tag weapons all at the same time! And...somehow these guys managed to get  into my brain itself! Well you get the picture!

 Final Comment

 EMOTIONS

Thank you for partnering with Marcie and me in our journey. Your  ongoing, unwavering, relentless (!), love and prayer support mean more than I can say. In this amazing Christian community we  are truly better together as EMERGE's President John Palmer is fond of saying. Together we pray better, think better, serve better, laugh better and cry better.

 My tears still come pretty quickly....sometimes out of the pain of unrelenting soreness in my hips, back and legs. Sometimes the tears  come out of the sheer joy of knowing that I am not going through this journey alone. Sometimes out of sheer frustration of another doctor's appointment without clear answers and, in all honesty, fear of the unknown regarding the success of the treatment.

 I hope that amongst friends I can be honest with you about both tears as well as fears.

 When I was a teenager, I had a "life verse."  (Everyone did didn't they?) Mine was/is from Psalm 126:5-6, "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him."(KJV)  Somehow even at an early age I had some sense that suffering had its purposes and that ultimately God would win! 

 Your tears are never wasted and they never go without being noticed by our loving Father! In fact, God puts our tears in a "bottle of remembrance" AND EACH ONE IS RECORDED...IMAGINE THAT! (Psalm 56:8)

Tears, fears, MRI's...come what may...this I know, God is for me and He is for you!

 Would you join me in claiming that for your life and situation as well? God Wins!!!

 Much love to you dear friends and family!

 Don and Marcie

 This song expresses very well what I am trying to say.