Dear friends and family
Thank you so much for all the prayers, love, offers of support offered and given. We have felt overwhelmingly loved and cared for. Thank God for his love, expressed not only in the hope of the gospel but also through the love of people. Our friends and work colleagues have just been amazing in their love and support, as have our brothers and sisters at church. And we thank God for our amazing children and their love.
While it is frustrating not to be able to ‘do something’, your prayers have sustained us all in a state of God-given peace and calmness. Philippians 4:7 is very real, so I know that Philippians 4:4-6 is true. The prayers of the saints are powerful. I’m beginning to think one of the purposes of our family is to get people praying!
The news that David does not have mesothelioma was a big relief. However, David does have a primary lung cancer (not the smoking related one) which has spread to the pleura, the lining of the lung, causing the fluid build up around his lung. At the surgery last Monday, he not only had biopsies done, but treatment to try and prevent the fluid building up again, called a pleurodesis. The surgery knocked him around with subsequent infection, reaction to the procedure, re-accumulation of fluid, and the collapse of his left lung. The need for pain medication has subsequently caused problems with his gut and made it hard to eat and drink.
Despite all this he has worked hard at trying to do his breathing, coughing, walking exercises, with tubes in his veins, a chest tube with drain, and an oxygen mask – quite a procession!
Unfortunately, there has been a reacummulation of the fluid, with the chest tube not draining properly. On Tuesday he will have the fluid drained via a small needle. Hopefully that will reveal some treatable cause for why the chest tube drain isn’t working. If not, then he might have to have repeat surgery. Obviously, that is not what we would wish. Please pray that tomorrow’s simple procedure will resolve the issue. We would just like him out of hospital and home. David does not enjoy the long nights in hospital. Pray he would cling to Jesus, and that appropriate bible verses would comfort him. Pray he can rely on God’s strength to get him (& us) through each day.
We now must wait 2 weeks for very specific testing to be done on the biopsies, to determine which course of chemotherapy will be most useful. Please pray it will be a receptor positive cancer as that has special designer chemotherapy that will be more effective. (God understands!) Hopefully we will get to talk to the oncologists in the meantime so as to have greater understanding. Please pray we do so.
Chemotherapy will probably not be initiated until January some time, and not before there is healing of the surgery site. Please pray we get an oncologist who is a good communicator. Thank God for our surgeon, Dr Tharion, who is a very caring man.
Please continue to pray for a miracle. Both our youngest children are miracles in their own way, so we know God is able. We don’t doubt His amazing love for us or His ability to do what is best for all of us. Pray God will give us patience, trust in Him, love for each other, and gratitude for all that is being done for us. Thank God for the opportunities David has had to share Jesus with friends. Pray that we, and you, will have many more. Thank God for the encouragement of friends. (There’s not one of ‘Job’s friends’ among the lot of you!) We thank God for all who have helped, are continuing to, and will continue to look after our children.
Thank God for His word, and that so many of you have sent us encouragement from it. We have been able to read God’s word together as a family and pray. Psalm 102 was one particularly apt passage a friend referred us to that led to good discussion with our younger two. We encourage you to keep reading God’s word, or to begin if it’s not something you usually do.
Although it’s only been a week and a half, in that short space of time we’ve had to change our thinking from Darwin to Canberra. We’ve had to come to terms with David, fit and healthy, now having a life threatening illness. We’ve all had to grieve for the change of plans and adapt to God’s perfect plans, hanging on to him in the somewhat difficult, challenging journey ahead. (James 1:2-12)
Love from Fiona (and Dave)
macarisms 