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):

goofing off

waiting at the bank

aftermath of a microburst

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

Belle and Babs swimming in the canal

repairing a damaged well

hangin’ at the hangar

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