Psalm 62:5-7

Psalm 62:5-7. "For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God."

With God all things are possible. Even though I am beginning chemo again tomorrow, I have no fear because my Lord is with me. I am never alone and my circumstance does not cause me to loose hope.

I am now a patient at the Cancer Treatment Center of America. It was hard to leave Mayo, especially Dr Parapatti but she has graciously said that I could go back anytime. That was such a blessing because I really like her, but she understood that I need to make changes while I still have the option. She has said that chemo will only work for a period of time, then it stops being effective. My naturopathic doctor, Shauna, has already placed me on Melatonin and B6 + B Complex. The Melatonin increases blood factors related to inhibition of tumor growth plus other benefits and the B6 helps prevent peripheral neuropathy (numbness and tingling) which is one of the side effects of the chemo drug that I will be getting. It also helps with fatigue which is also a big side effect. My nutritionist, Barbara, has placed me on a diet higher in protein than I had been doing, but she loved that I had switched to a plant-based diet already.

My chemo drugs will be the same that Mayo used but it will be given in fractured doses over 3 days instead of one. Supposedly, giving smaller doses increases the benefits of killing more cancer cells plus lessens the severity of the side effects. This is already more than Mayo has done, but still within the traditional medicine approach that they use.

I will be at the CTC starting tomorrow, Wednesday thru Friday. I will have the chemo then go to work from 2p-6p. Please pray that I will have the energy necessary to do my job.

Thank you for your prayers. I can't wait to let you know how this goes

Psalm 46:10

Psalm 46:10. "Be still and know that I am God"

My appointment at the Cancer Treatment Center of America was above my expectations. I feel that this is what I have been praying for and that God is surely in that place. I spent the morning answering questions, verifying my personal information, meeting with my case manager, having blood work drawn, and finally meeting my new oncologist. In the beginning, I was under whelmed by him. His name is Dr S. Frederick Brunk, who is somewhere in his 70's, and speaks very softly. He is slim and looks as though he has been eating well all his life. With his white beard, he reminded me of a slim Santa Claus. After a round of note taking in which I realized that he was very familiar with my health care so far, he had me put on a robe so that he could listen to my heart etc. He had a sweet lady come in while he was doing this procedure, who turned out to be his wife ,Mary. Then he used his stethoscope and a small rubber hammer that most of us have had doctors whack our knees for reflex, and began to gently tap me all over my back, then he had me lie down and off he went tapping on my stomach and around right area where my tumors are, and using a ballpoint pen to mark off something on my stomach. I looked at Mary and said, "what is he doing?" When he finished tapping, he said that he was listening for the tumors. What did he say? Listening for the tumors? After he left the room so I could get dressed, Mary explained that Dr Brunk has perfected a procedure over many years in which he uses percussion to give a better physical diagnosis of a patients health. He has written a paper which has received acclaim from his peers that was published in the International Journal of Clinical Practice. Mary asked if I would like a copy of the paper,and I jumped at the chance. After reading it, it makes perfect sense. I certainly don't understand the medical terms but I get the jest of it. He says that he can better understand what is going on using this technique and finds this is better than most scans. He has ordered another CAT scan for tomorrow because he told me after he came back into the room that he has a suspicion that the uptake in my CEA level is not from the two tumors near my urthuer but rather from two spots in my lungs that Mayo has told me are not active. Is this not interesting? We will find out if the tapping is accurate, but at any rate, I am intrigued.

So, I went from "under whelmed" to "in awe" in a manner of minutes, so it may be Christmas after all Virginia, and Dr Brunk could be my Santa Claus.

After meeting tomorrow with the teams in naturopathic, nutrition, and spiritual wellness, I will then have my CAT scan, and sometime early next week, I will get the results and a plan of action will begin.

Thank you for your prayers. Isn't it wonderful when we pray the God has a way of answering our prayers in a way that is far more than we can ask or think?

I can't forget to tell you about what Mary said. When I was dressing, we were talking like old friends and she said something about spiritual wellness. I remarked that this, thankfully, was not a problem of mine, and she said, "Oh Gwen, I know that. When I first saw you, I knew that you had the joy of the Lord on your face. Is that not the best? We hugged and I felt the arms of the Lord around me. From Him, to Mary, to me. What a blessing!

Ephesians 4:20

Ephesians 4:20. "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,"

When the hand of God moves, it is with precision. All of the pieces of the puzzle start to fit together. When we pray, we ask for what we think we need, but then, by praying as we should for his will and not ours, we open up the abundance that the verse in Ephesians speaks about. God's power is in each of us who call upon the name of Jesus as our Lord. It is his Holy Spirit that dwells in us and prays for us. This is explained in Romans 8:26-28. "Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

How wonderful....all things work together for good.

Since my last post, I have continued to pray for God's will in my life and in my cancer. I said before that I believed nutrition and diet was the key. I started "googling" diet and cancer and found some old as well as new information. Some I immediately put aside as false, some I liked....but in my search I came across something that I had forgotten. The Cancer Center of America recently opened a campus in the Phoenix area. Their website is full of useful information. They have traditional cancer treatments the same as Mayo which is surgery, chemo, radiation but they go further and have natural programs focusing on nutrition, exercise, and much more. I was struck by the words of Dr Parapatti the last time we spoke. She said that since my CEA level had gone up so fast, the we were looking at chemo again, and that I could start now or wait a month....and then she left it up to me. This reminded me of my first oncologist, who did not have a plan but would ask me what I wanted to do. Dr Parapatti is not like him, but I felt the question to be one in the same. I remembered when she told me that we would use chemo sparingly because chemo will not work after awhile. I do not want to wait until I have no choice...I believe I have a choice now, and I have an appointment with the Cancer Center of Thursday July 9 for an evaluation. Good news is that my insurance will cover me if I change from Mayo to the Cancer Center. I can hardly believe that I might make this change. Mayo has been wonderful, but I am cognizant of the fact that they are only traditional medicine and I believe I am being lead to try something different. Please do not think that I am grabbing for straws and seeking strange cures.....I am not....this is different and I will let you know what I decide.

I appreciate all you prayers and phone calls. I am doing well and actually have not felt this good in years!!!