Month: July 2015

Update on The Millionaire

/ sainteliz / 2 Comments
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Typical Tip O’ Texas Evening Sky #GodsBeauty

We are in Dallas again and as I type this Dave is undergoing a fascinating procedure called chemoembolization.  Liver cancer is clever.  As it grows in the liver it gathers to itself arterial vessels for nourishment.  Clever doctors, therefore, have discovered how to send chemotherapy directly up these very arteries through catheters.  Finding the smallest vessel possible that donates a blood supply to the tumor, they maneuver a catheter through it, and then inject the tumor with microbeads which deliver a timed release dose of chemotherapy.  Simultaneously, the little beads gather at the ends of the arteries, blocking them and disrupting the flow of blood, and thus the nourishment, to the tumor.  He has two tumors roughly one inch in size.  (The doctor called these small – YIKES!)

I find it amazing how advanced medicine is, and of course by extension, God.  By spot treating the tumors in this fashion, the usual side effects of chemotherapy are avoided.  Dave will not lose his hair, have nausea, or many of the other negative chemo effects.

Those clever tumors can, however, despite the chemo attack, eventually draw other vessels to themselves and resume their malicious growth.  It is their nature.  There is also a chance that the tumors will not respond at all, if they happen to be of the super-aggressive persuasion.  We pray that is not the case.

Chemoembolization is the first choice tactic in this case in slowing or stopping tumor growth as Dave awaits a transplant.  I received official notice just today that he has been placed on “the list”.  Depending on who we talk to, this could mean a wait of anytime between 6 months and 12 months, though we’ve been told it can happen sooner.

Meanwhile, we’ll return in six weeks for scans to see whether the chemo is effective.  At that time, depending on the results, he could go through this procedure again.

Meanwhile, on the farm (in the desert, at the hanger):

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goofing off


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waiting at the bank

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aftermath of a microburst

This is what they do while Dave and I are out of town.

This is what they do while Dave and I are out of town.

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Belle and Babs swimming in the canal

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repairing a damaged well

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hangin’ at the hangar

 

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Our Father in Heaven, we love You, we trust You. Amen.

Dallas and JFK

/ sainteliz / 4 Comments

I had not planned to travel this month at all.  This past Spring I’d been to Midland, Houston, South Texas, and North Texas/Oklahoma.  It took forever to get my garden planted, and once my plants got started I had finally settled into a comfortable routine of watering.  Knew I didn’t have to travel again till August.  But last week Dave, the Millionaire, got a call from the hepatology department.  Lesions were detected on the left lobe of his liver, so now we are in Dallas where he is undergoing the testing necessary to qualify for a liver transplant.  He qualified.  The surgeon estimates the transplant will take place 6 to 9 months from now, as long as the growth of the lesions can be subdued.

Having finished the day’s course of tests and meetings, we drove into town to explore Dealey Plaza and the 6th Floor Museum.  We were impressed.  I was grateful that a few months ago we had listened to Killing Kennedy by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, which we thoroughly enjoyed.  The book provided an excellent preparation for the museum tour with it’s compelling background study of Lee Harvey Oswald and detailed unfolding of events on that fateful assassination day.  We started out by parking under Old Red.  We should have parked at the School Book Depository where the museum is located.

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Old Red

The museum presentation was impressive.  There were very few items on display.  Instead, the tour focused on audio and visual storyboards and it was effective and moving.  High points for me were the corner window from which Oswald shot JFK, one of the videos consisting of a montage of the day’s events (which brought a tear), and, surprisingly, a gorgeous photograph of a memorial Mass held for JFK in Japan, attended by the Japanese King and Queen (Emperor?).

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These mosaics were created from little individual photos of JFK and Jacqueline Kennedy.

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The Grassy Knoll (well, actually it’s to my right)

 

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Us. Obviously. The 6th Floor Museum is in the building behind us. On the 6th floor.

One more day of tests and meetings, and then we’ll fly home and I will gratefully return to my watering routine.  The animals will be grateful, too.  I hope to always be grateful to God for everything.  His thoughts are so far above my thoughts.  I defer to His wisdom and His care for us, and I trust in His plan.  Amen!