My parents have been giving me lots of information about the holistic clinic in Florida where my dad is getting treatments now for his prostate cancer, which is great, because if the clinic in Fond du Lac doesn't work out for some reason, I want to know that I have other options. (My dad has been fighting prostate cancer naturally since 2015 [see the post on that here]. His PSA fluctuated at first then kept creeping up, so a couple months ago they sought a clinic where he could get actual treatments. Since he started at Lifeworks Wellness Center in Clearwater, FL, his PSA has started dropping again, which is a great sign!) Anyway, this past Thursday I received this email from my mom:
Hi Bob and Kim,
We talked to Dr. Minkoff today (dad’s doctor
from Lifeworks Wellness Center) about Kim. We told him you had breast
cancer about 4 years ago and had a lumpectomy. Told him you now have
three small spots of bone cancer on your hip. We also told him you were
looking at a natural clinic in
Fond Du Lac.
His response: He said the clinic in Fond
Du Lac is a good clinic but he also said he believes Kim’s cancer would be
stage 4. He said Fond Du Lac clinic called him this past week and asked him
to take a patient of theirs who has stage 4 prostate cancer because they don’t
have everything he needs there. He said they may not have
everything there Kim will need to get rid of the cancer. He said they
could help her but probably wouldn’t have adequate facilities and treatments for a
cure. He is very nice and I think he was just being honest with us.
He knows what they have there and he said
she would need more to get rid of her cancer.
He said if she would come here to Clearwater for
treatment she would need 2 1/2 – 3 months of top treatments, probably
daily treatments. They do have everything she would need here. What
they do is take all the tests, send them to Germany, where they go through them
thoroughly by natural
cancer specialists and they can then tell what
exactly she would need for treatment in detail. Then they do all those
treatments in Clearwater. Dad, because his cancer wasn’t stage 4 could get by with less
cost or testing.
The cost for the 2 1/2 – 3 months would be
$40,000 to $60,000 and would include all the testing, treatments, supplements,
doctor etc. for that period of time. It certainly is not
cheap! As you hear this, I’m sure you are saying “No way can we do
it”. BUT you just need to start praying about
it. If it is your only option you may need
to try it. He said after that 3 months, Kim could then go home and
continue treatments if necessary with the
Fond Du Lac Clinic. It would not be an easy thing!
Whoa.
First off, seeing in print that a doctor said I have Stage IV cancer hit me kind of hard for a second. I honestly don't know why, because I already knew that and have been telling other people that. Maybe it was just having someone else say it instead of me. I don't know.
Secondly, "$40,000-$60,0000 and 2 1/2 - 3 months of daily treatments"?! That was like a punch in the nose. I mean, I knew it was going to be expensive, but that was more than I expected. Several seconds of panic/shock/dismay passed by. Okay, just breathe. Get your emotions under control.
The thing about feelings is that they aren't always very reliable, and they have to be evaluated for accuracy and filtered through what God's Word says is right. Satan loves to use our feelings to lead us astray. We can't always control surprise emotions or thoughts that come over us, but we can definitely choose whether or not to succumb to them and dwell on them. So I pushed the emotions down and started to think rationally. The first thing I did was call my clinic to find out if my doctor knew that I was Stage IV (I didn't know if he had gone through my paperwork yet.) and if he could help me or not. They had told me that the first appointment costs between $850 - $1500, and I certainly didn't want to fork out that much money only to find out they weren't equipped to help me. The receptionist was very understanding and put me on hold while she went to speak to the doctor. When she came back, she assured me that Dr. Coleman had been reviewing my paperwork all week, knew my situation, and was completely confident that he had everything he needed to treat me. Okay. Deep breath...relax. I said, "Great! That was all I needed to hear, and I'll be there on Monday. Thank you!" See, nothing to worry about there. As for the cost...my treatments aren't necessarily going to cost what they do at the Clearwater clinic. We aren't going to know the cost until after my appointment anyway, so there is absolutely no use fretting about it. We will cross that bridge when we come to it. So after those initial, brief feelings of panic, peace returned.
PAIN
The leg hasn't been so good the past few days. It's still not as bad as the previous worst, but it's getting close. The crazy thing is how there seems to be no rhyme or reason about where the pain is or what it feels like. It can be sharp, shooting pain or dull, throbbing pain or a sharp ache; it can come and go or be constant; it can feel like it's in my thigh muscle, outside of my calf muscle, or all in my knee, etc. It changes a lot and can be anywhere from my hip/top of my leg all the way down into my ankle. The past few days it has been bothering me during the day, but then it's been OK at night and has allowed me to sleep. This is better than in the past when it would be horrible at night and not allow me to sleep.
I was planning to go with my kids to their first church youth quiz/activity today, so that my brother (our assistant pastor) could stay home and go to his son's football game. The youth outing is 90 minutes away and lasts all day, and since my leg has not been cooperating, I ended up not going. My brother went to the youth outing, and I went to my nephew's game. :)
PRAISE
When King David wrote a lot of his Psalms, he often started by pouring out his heart to God about whatever trial he was experiencing, and expressing his sorrow or his anger or his despair, etc. But then he almost always ended them by praising God. He set an excellent example for us, because no matter how desperate our circumstances, there is always, always something worthy of praise to God.
I'm going to follow that pattern and end this post with some praises.
Bob is able to go with me to my appointment on Monday which is at 11:45. He will be able to get four hours of work in and be home at 11:00 which is when we need to leave. Along with that, one of my coworkers generously offered to let me use one of her vacation days for Monday! Her thoughtfulness and generosity is such a blessing!
Bob checked with our bank about some financing which required a home appraisal, and the appraisal came back higher than either of us expected, which is very helpful.
I have received a lot of personal messages from people that have been a huge source of encouragement. Lots of people are praying for me and my family, and we so appreciate that, because that's where the power is!
Several kids from the Kids Club at our daughter Holly's church in Iowa made cards for her letting her know that they are praying for "her and her mom." They were so sweet and touching! Holly sent me some photos of the cards and of the kids.
"Jenna" got Holly's curly hair right. Holly's favorite because "it is obviously
beans wearing sombreros." :)
Finally, I'm going to include a photo of some of Rose's driveway chalk art. She didn't say anything about what she had made, but when I saw it this morning, it lifted my heart. It also reminded me of what I mentioned in an earlier post about knowing that my kids aren't expressing out loud everything that they are thinking.
"There are many who say, 'Who will show us some good?
Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!'
You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their
grain and wine abound.
In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety."
Psalm 4:6-8
No comments:
Post a Comment