Chris's Lymphoma Journey

Dear family and friends,

Today was a big day for me.  God is on the move in a mighty way!  I cannot express how much I feel God’s presence with me, leading and guiding us through this process, preparing the way for us in unexpected and underserved ways.  As you know, today was my first appointment with oncologist Dr. Sochacki at Cancer and Hematology Centers of West Michigan.  I’ll tell you more about that in a minute, but I first wanted to recap how God has answered prayers over the past 5 days to get me to today.

After the main meeting with Dr Rattiya last Wednesday in Thailand, God made it clear that I should return to the USA for treatment.  Our Dr. in Thailand is incredibly skilled, and I’m so thankful that she helped us get so many tests done so quickly within the span of a single week.  All of this was validated today when Dr. Sochacki said that the tests done in Thailand will help to really narrow down the final testing needed to be done this week.  God provided a way for me to get the paraffin block and slides all the way from Thailand to the doctor’s office today in Grand Rapids, MI.

My flight to the USA was good and uneventful – I was accompanied by my friend Andy, who you’ve already read about.  I’m so thankful for him flying with me across the world, and for my parents and brother who received me at the airport and have been by my side the past 48 hours.

God has provided a beautiful place for us to stay for the whole month of June – when we arrived on Sunday evening several family members had come before to have a hot meal ready and the fridge and cabinets fully stocked – Thank you Robin!

The Lord is answering our prayers – God has given me strength for each day!  Today I took a short-ish nap (probably more due to jet lag than lymphoma) and have been feeling well, eating well, and almost feeling normal.  I am sleeping well.  I think the doctor and others were surprised to see how well I was feeling, especially after having made the trip across the world.  In their words, I am not an emergency case and they are very comfortable doing another week of further testing before starting chemo.

While I really did have my hopes set on starting chemotherapy this week, there are three things that I need to have before we can get started.  I completely trust the doctor’s process on this one, and I’m thankful to have some next steps.

The actual meeting with Dr. Sochacki was a huge relief to me and my family.  Would this be the right doctor?  Absolutely – God completely exceeded our expectations by getting us an appointment with one of the top doctors in this field to be found anywhere.  This is God’s good gift to us amidst the unknown.  He is taking care of me…

Please pray with us that I will be able to get the following done this week, all of which we are waiting to be scheduled:

• Get a echocardiogram of my heart
• Get a lymph node biopsy in order to do further genetic testing on the cancer cells (before they are killed by the chemo).  This testing will likely inform the later stages of my treatment plan
• Get a chemo port put in in my chest

I feel so blessed – so blessed by your care, notes and support in practical ways.  God is growing my faith through this process – He is my everything, and He has me in His arms.  There is no other place I’d rather be.

Thank you again for your prayers.  Pray especially for Becca and the kids as they have 3 more days to wrap up school, say goodbyes, and close up the house before they get on the plane.

Love,

Chris