And So It Begins

Dear Friends,

It has been 9 days since I started taking Sutent, and I am feeling the first of the side effects. The nurse at my oncologist's office said that the side effects will most likely begin to show around the two week mark, so I am just about there. The one I am most aware of at the moment is a sore tongue. It feels as if I burned it drinking something too hot, but it is all over the tongue, especially in the back. It makes it a little uncomfortable when I swallow food, and has the feel of being slightly swollen, but so far is managable. I also have a borderline numbness in my right leg, although the nurse called Pfizer, the maker of this med, and they concurred that this is not a normal side effect, so I will keep an eye on this that it will not get more pronounced. There could still be others, but I ask that you pray with me that they will not be bad, will be managable, or perhaps, our strong God willing, will not show up at all. I take this medication for 28 days, then am off for 14 days. I will repeat this at least for a second round before there is another scan to see if it has worked positively on the nodules in the lungs.

I am always on the lookout for encouraging verses and words, many of which I have received from many of you. This one I found in, of all things, a catalog we got in the mail. I want to share it with you as I thought it was powerful.

Cancer is so limited...

• It cannot cripple love
• It cannot shatter hope
• It cannot corrode faith
• It cannot destroy peace
• It cannot kill friendship
• It cannot suppress memories
• It cannot silence courage
• It cannot invade the soul
• It cannot steal eternal life
• It cannot conquer the spirit

I'm standing on faith that cancer is limited, and our God is not.

Thanks for your prayers, Danene (November 17, 2008)

Starting Meds

Hi, Everyone!

I just wanted to let you know that I have started medication (called Sutent) for the spots found in my lungs. According to the report from the last CT scan, there are four nodules in four different areas of my lungs, all 5mm or less in size. This medication is specifically for my type of cancer and should help shrink those nodules. There are possibly some cumulative side effects, and I would ask you all to pray that either I will not have any (smile) or that they would be ones that I can manage.

We are awaiting a call from UCSF for an appointment with a doctor in their Urologic Oncology Department. My records have all been faxed and have been reviewed by a doctor, so its just a matter of waiting for them to contact me, hopefully this week.

I was reading a book this weekend, and I read a part that I thought was really well said. I want to share it with you as there might be someone you can share this with someday. The lady in the book (this is fictional, so her character) has breast cancer and is struggling. She wonders how a God who loves His children could let cancer come into their lives. Her husband shares this: "What He feels about His children having cancer, He took to the cross. On that cross He rendered evil ineffective. He took it upon Himself, and then He crushed it. Disease, sin, bad things, they haven't ceased to exist, but their power over His children has been broken. Cancer has not been abolished, but it has been overthrown."

I know that I struggle with my cancer spreading, with having to take the medication and what its side effects might be for me, and for what all of this means for my family and friends. It is easy to say that I am standing firm on Jesus through all of this, but it is not always easy to mean it in my heart. But I liked what that passage from the book said, that at the cross, God not only saved my soul, but the evil that He knew someday would infect my life. So even though I doubt and question, I know in my heart of hearts that whatever happens to me, God is there.

Have a good week, my friends, Danene
November 9, 2008