Thursday, July 30, 2009

Education

Today was fun. I had the PET scan at 8:00 this morning. I was injected with radioactive sugar then put in the CT machine for a full body scan. The machine then does a color image of where all the sugar went to serve as an overlay for the full body image. The example given to me was a weather map. The full body scan is the map and the color image is the weather. The color image will show organs like the heart because the organs draw blood sugar. Of course the doctors know what is supposed to draw the sugar so they are looking for things out of the ordinary. Looking for color where there should be none. This will likely be cancer.


The best part of my day was going to lunch with my wife. I ran in to a couple of friends from work one of whom paid my check without me knowing. If anyone knows where he is going to lunch tomorrow I may try to run in to him again. (that was a joke if you didn't catch it) I am thankful for all the good people I have opportunity to deal with on a daily bases. I won't call him by name because he wouldn't want me to but it was a blessing that I appreciate.


2:30 I had chemo school. Regina and I went to Dr Anagnost's office and talked to Jesse one of the chemo nurses there. She gave me a tour of the facility and talked to me about what to expect during my treatments. It sounds as though they have come a long way with medication that assist with nausea and other side effects. She made it sound as though I will not be nearly as sick as I was thinking. The biggest thing she said is fatigue. They will keep a constant watch on my white blood count. If it gets down to a certain point they will have to suspend the chemo until it gets back up. She also said I have about two weeks left with my hair. She told us when it comes back it may be curly and will be soft so Regina will not be able to keep her hands out of it. I can't wait!!


I said in an earlier post that I would see Dr Anognost on Friday. I was mistaken. I will see him again on Monday before I start the chemo. I guess he will then have more news on all the scans and tests I had this week. This has potential to change my total therapy but I think at this point no matter what chemo will be the first step.


For those of you praying I do have some specific request:



1) Pray that God will use this for his Glory!



2) Pray that the results of the scans this week will be good



3) I think Regina is starting to feel the pressure of knowing that my income will change. Her business has picked up lately. Pray that God will continue to bless in that area.





4) Pray for my family as a whole. I am sure this process will be difficult for everyone. Regina the kids and my mom and dad.



5) My Mother has a friend named Chris Carpenter. She has an infection in her blood stream. It is very serious. Please pray for her as well.



This is most likely my last post until Monday. Thank you all for your kindness. I am truly humbled by all of the people who have taken the time to contact me with words of encouragement by phone, cards, email and comments on the blog. You can not truly know how much it means to me. Thank You!!

8 comments:

  1. Danny,
    I have thought about and prayed for you all day today. I have written your requests down and will continue praying for you all. There is power in prayer!

    God bless you all!

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  2. Danny, I am so thankful that part of your 'dealing' with this includes talking and informing us about what's happening. That is a lot of times what scares people the most for someone's experience...the "not knowing". Thank you for allowing us to follow along in the knowledge! I really seriously HATE that this is the hand you've been dealt...but I LOVE your strength. God is already using this for His glory- I knew that as soon as I spoke with Regina! We love you guys SO much, SO much.... SO much!!!

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  3. Danny & Regina,

    Our hearts go out to you and your family. Cancer is such a scary thing as we have been down this road this year with my sister and breast cancer, but one thing we have seen is that our God is so much bigger than cancer! We have seen such marvelous works and give him all the glory! As we hate to see you have to endure such a painful and stressful journey we pray that God will continue to give you every bit of peace, healing, provision, and comfort. Please know that you are in our constant thoughts and prayers and we are here for you. We will continue to lift you up to the Great Physician for healing physically and emotionally and know that he will sustain you. We love you and will keep checking your blog. What an awesome testimony you are of God's greatness! God is so good!

    Matt & Allison Jordan and family

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  4. Hi Danny,
    Thanks so much for your words. I feel like such a loser. I should be encouraging you but instead you keep encouraging me. I'm going to be preaching August 9th on Walking in Victory and you are a great illustration. :-) "All things do work together for good to those who love the Lord..." Already I can see Jesus making you more like Him through this trial. And as Christians isn't that our goal; to be more like Jesus. You already have the victory you just have to go through the battle. And we are going to be with you the entire journey. Praying every step of the way.
    God is good... and All the time...! James

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  5. Danny, I just heard and will be praying for you and your family. After reading all that you have written I can see that you are a strong person in all that matters. God be with you and your family and Medical staff.

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  6. Danny, Understand the trials and stress your family is going through. After recently going through our journey with Chris and his brain tumor. Doug and I will keep praying for you, your family, and the medical staff that supports you through your treatments. God Bless

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  7. Danny,

    You and yours are in my thoughts and prayers. We're down here in Sumter SC trying to win a World Series. We won our first, lost our second, and won our third. We play the host team today at 7:00 pm, and we will have to bring our "A GAME" if we wish to continue on. The girls are playing well together, they just have to continue hitting the ball. Just wanted to give you an update. God Bless.

    -CH

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  8. I pray everday that the Lord will give ALL of you the strength to endure this!!!!

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