I Believe

In the ’90s I listened to and most likely sang this song in church from Ron Kenoly’s 1992 album, Lift Him Up, “Whose Report Shall You Believe?”. Just prior to today’s meeting with the oncologist I was thinking about this song. Part of the lyrics are:

His report says
I am healed
His report says
I am filled
His report says
I am free
His report says victory

Whose report will I believe? I will believe the report of the Lord!

Today’s report from the oncologist on the PET scan results was not positive. There is increased activity in the tumour area and a spread from the left to the right side of the chest since the PET scan on October 25, 2020.

On a positive note there are several treatment options available at this point. Next Monday, January 18th, in the morning there are grand rounds for Lymphoma where all the top specialists will meet and review my entire case to determine the best treatment plan going forward. We will know more by the end of day Monday. At a high level, here are the options that we briefly discussed today.

  1. More chemotherapy, some different drugs that I have not experienced yet.
  2. CAR-T Cell Therapy at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota
  3. Immunotherapy where specialized drugs activate your immune system to kill cancer cells.

In today’s discussions they seemed to be leaning towards the Mayo Clinic option. There are several steps to make this one happen. First, the group meeting on Monday needs to agree and recommend that this is the best option. Next, would be to secure Manitoba government funding approval to get the costs covered. Preliminary estimate was a one week trip for the initial work and about a one month stay to finish the therapy. In addition, the Mayo Clinic has to review my case and accept me for treatment. My oncologist was fairly positive about this part due to my otherwise good health.

We thought the journey would end today but there is still some more to do. Thanks for hanging in there with us. We so appreciate your care, concern and prayers.