Delayed Intensification Begins

Today Michael and I were back in Ann Arbor for our weekly appointment with Michael’s doctors as well as a few other things. For the last week, Michael has been off chemo. It was a blessing last Monday for him to get his PICC line removed and be detached from the pump that he had been on for the previous month. To our knowledge, this was the last time that Michael will have to be attached to a pump. While Michael felt good overall while on the pump, it’s still good to write those hopeful words “last time.” Hopefully, this is just one of many “last times” still to come.

This last week has been a good week for Michael. During the week off chemo he has felt as close to normal as he has since his diagnosis. One consequence of his feeling good that he was less than enthusiastic about, is that Sarah and I pushed him to really buckle down on his schoolwork while he was feeling well. Michael tends to view his online schooling as a necessary evil. (He would question exactly how necessary it is). But he worked hard and took a number of tests this week and hit some milestones as far as keeping up with his schooling is concerned. Michael took a little bit of time off from his studies on Friday morning to go deer hunting. He saw three deer but didn’t get a shot. I, on the other hand, saw nothing.

On Saturday, Michael, Blake and I worked on closing our pool for the second time. We had closed it once a few weeks ago, but apparently, I did not have the cover on securely enough. Early in the week, the cover blew off when we experienced some high winds. So, after I spent about an hour cleaning all of the debris out of the pool, the boys helped me get the cover back on, secured and tied down. Hopefully it will stay that way until spring.

Saturday evening, Michael was able to participate in our church’s annual trunk or treat. We had beautiful weather and a great time of fellowship with our church family as we passed out candy to kids from our community. Each of my kids came home with plenty of candy. After the trunk or treat, we went home and celebrated my mother-in-law’s birthday at our house, and we capped off the evening by watching the Michigan/Michigan State game. We enjoyed a great day at church together as a family on Sunday.

Today Michael begins eight weeks of intense chemo. The course that he is beginning is known as Delayed Intensification. If there are no delays in his treatment (which frequently occur during this course) Michael will finish the course the week before Christmas. Our doctors have also warned us that during this particular course, often end up in the hospital due to secondary infections. We are praying that God would protect Michael from secondary infections during this time when his immune system will be very low.

Michael has already been on most of the drugs that he will be on during Delayed Intensification. So having been down this road before, we expect him to be pretty wiped out for several days each week. Today he is being given a new chemo drug, Doxorubicin, that is similar to but slightly more potent than a drug he has been on before. He is also being put back on Vincristine, which doesn’t seem to affect him that negatively. His treatment for the week is being rounded out by a new steroid dexamethasone. He will be on the first two drugs for the next three weeks and the third drug for two out of the next three weeks. Michael also had a spinal tap today and received an injection of Methotrexate in his spinal fluid. Over the course of the next eight weeks, he will be on a total of seven different chemo drugs (if I counted correctly). We are looking forward to getting this course behind us. Once we are done with Delayed Intensification, things are supposed to get much easier for Michael. We look forward to that day.

I have been blessed that for the last few weeks, I have had minimal pain in my lower back. I am grateful for the improvement that I have seen as I wait to get in to see the neurosurgeon in early December. A couple of weeks ago, I finished preaching on a Sunday morning and was struck with the thought, “I’m not in pain.” It was such a drastic contrast from the weeks immediately following Labor Day when I had to fight through some pretty intense pain to preach. I am very grateful for how far my pain has improved. The numbness in my right hip has improved but is still there to some extent for now. Hopefully, that will continue to improve as well.

We will see what this week holds, but Michael and I are hoping to get back out in the woods deer hunting at least once this week. We take one day at a time asking God for the grace that we need for that day. Because His grace is sufficient.