I just realized that it has been about a month since my last update. This season of our lives just feels like one big whirlwind, but we continue to feel immense gratitude for the many blessings that God has given us.
It has now been 2 1/2 months since we both returned home from Hope4Cancer. Despite the huge learning curve that we have both had, we have fallen into some pretty good routines and we believe that the treatments we are doing, and the way of life we have adopted, are making a huge difference in Larry's quality of life. Ultimately we hope that they will make a difference in his quantity of life as well. We will learn more when we go back for his three month assessment on November 29th. We are hoping to find some clarity at this appointment as there is still so much confusion as to where we are really at in this battle. We know that that the treatments are making a difference, but where we stand in reducing the cancer remains clearly unknown.
The PET Scan that we had a few weeks ago shows that the tumors have grown. There was no evidence or report that the cancer had spread, just that the tumors were bigger. It is our understanding that when cancer cells die they cause inflammation. Could this be the reason for the enlargement in the tumors? There are so many unanswered questions.
As part of our weekly routine we go to Dr. Jason West in Pocatello for IV therapy. We went to Dr. West immediately after Larry's diagnosis. One of the things that he did at his initial appointment was to take Larry's blood and magnify it under a microscope. Larry's cells had an abnormal shape and were sticking together which was indicative of cancer. His most recent blood work his cells looked round and evenly distributed. This was very encouraging to us, but we are still uncertain what to make of the enlargement of the tumors.
We have looked into becoming part of research studies for Stage IV pancreatic cancer and we did meet with The Huntsman Cancer Institute last week to get a second opinion on options that we had available. We were once again told that Mexico has done us no good (which we strongly disagree with--maybe it has not been a cure yet, but Larry is doing amazingly well considering the originally prognosis he was given (as one of our good friends put it, he is past his expiration date😉). As we were filling out the symptoms questionairre before our appointment I felt great gratitude in my heart for all of the many, many things that Larry is still able to do. He does not have the stamina to be at work all day or do the things he would normally physically do around the yard, he has pain in his stomach that comes and goes, he has digestion issues, and he is not producing insulin like he should, but other than that he gets himself dressed, he is able to do most of his protocols by himself, he drives, he still goes on daily walks, he still actively serves as the 1st counselor to the Bishop in our Ward, he participates in most family activities, he recently spoke at Ben's Eagle Court of Honor, and he is a wealth of information for so many things for our business and to our family.
Honestly, we have our occasional days when we wonder if it is all worth it, but it is usually after we have rubbed shoulders with someone in traditional medicine. When we first started on this journey of healing against all odds we were told that 90% of the battle is mental and we have found this to largely be true. I believe strongly that you can only achieve what you believe. As we are told in the scriptures faith proceeds the miracle. If we don't believe something can happen then we don't even have a shot.
I remember going to IEP meetings at the school when the twins were just starting in elementary school. I remember them asking me if we should even bother teaching them to write as they would probably just lose that ability as time went on. I told them ABSOLUTELY that they needed to learn to write! They have learned to write and are still writing at 18 years old. In fact, they have handwritten some of the most beautiful and touching notes through the years. What a shame it would have been to limit them because of something that might happen. I believe so strongly in the power of the mind. We are both anxiously awaiting more conclusive testing and reports as to the progress we have made towards healing with Larry's disease. I will just pray to have patience until we know more.
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