Monday, May 11, 2009

A Good Stretch Today

Friends,

Last night and early this morning it rained a bit. It's my favorite sort of weather. I feel like I can sense Yahweh in rainy weather more than any other, and He has been kind enough to give us rain the last few days.

After the rain this morning, it was time to go in and get the esophagus stretched. They put you to sleep with IV sedatives, put a tube (endoscope) down your throat, and blow up balloons attached to the endoscope to stretch (widen) the esophagus.

This one hurt a bit more than usual. Doc said I shouldn't wait as long next time, but rather get on the schedule at the first sign of narrowing. Roger that Doc!

The staff there are so nice to me. Most of them seem to know me by name, and I was able to share with them the good news about the PET scan.

And there was more good news! Doc said he took a look around the stomach as long as he was down there and--the thing he thought was a tumor growing into the stomach last time was no longer visible. Praise Yahweh, Jehovah-Rophe, and Yeshua--visual Mark-One eyeball confirmation that things have gotten way better! It's one thing to have a PET scan. It's another entirely for an MD to see it and talk about it.

We had a brief discussion about the surgery option. He still thinks it unlikely that any surgeon will touch me, stating that there are probably "micro-metastases". He may be right. The fine print on one of the earlier PET scans said tumors less than 5mm in size have a smaller probability of detection.

In his opinion, if the surgery is going to happen, the Cleveland Clinic is the best place in the nation to have it done. This doesn't surprise me. I grew up near Cleveland, and celebrities, dignitaries, and even kings from all over the world would fly in there for treatment of tough diseases. Several of my family have gotten treatments there, which always seemed to go well.

Right after, we had to go over to the clinic, which is thankfully right across the street from the hospital, and get the blood checked. It had improved a bit. No shot today!

There is so much to praise. I'm so humbled by what God has done for me, and by the great love shown by you all. Somewhere in God's book, I think it says something like "And this is how you will know them-by their great love for one another."

Well, it is 10pm here and it still hurts, so I might just take a small dose of morphine and go to bed.

God Bless,
-Mike

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Igor,

Thanks for the great report! I ran into Haywood today over here in the Deid. I was stepping for a combat mission and he was passing through the PAX terminal enroute to home following a 6-month Iraq deployment. Haven't seen him in well over 5 years, probably almost since we were WUGs together. He will be moving to Ramstein very soon to take over an ASOS. He has been Sapling's DO during his previous tour. He sends his greetings and best wishes! Sapling just checked in last week on a 6-month Iraqi "vacation" of his own, and I know he's watching your blog faithfully. I also ran into Harley Hrncir who just replaced Thumper here as chief of OGV. Good to see old friends and you should know everyone is pulling for you!

Caveman

Anonymous said...

Mike,
Thanks for blogging of your good "visual" news. You all are teaching so many people so many things even though through such hard trials. Heidi and I never miss a day praying for you all and she seems to have so much more faith than I!! You two must find that true sometimes with Elizabeth, yes? Aren't kids great!!? Love, all the Armes

lynn / kev said...

Praising God for all He has done and will do for you, Deanna & Elizabeth, Mike. With love & prayers & Praise to God, LP & the com group