The treatment approach prescribed by the doctors involves three stages. First, she will have nine weeks of chemotherapy. This will consist of three treatments, each followed by two to three weeks of rest. After this, she will then have a complete hysterectomy. Lastly, once she has recuperated from this surgery, she will undergo a second nine weeks of chemotherapy treatments mirroring the first.
The question has been asked as to why they would not go ahead and do the hysterectomy now. And the answer we have been given is that even though the PET Scan only showed the cancer present in her ovary and on her lung, it could still be present elsewhere in very miniscule amounts.
Apparently, the chemo is designed to seek out and kill any cancer cells loose in her body before they can lodge somewhere else and begin growing there as well. The logic is also that the same chemo finding and killing these cells is at the same time attacking the cancer inside her ovary. We further understand that the second round of chemo is designed to “mop up” after the first round and the hysterectomy.
According to the doctors, we have every reason to be hopeful. We are looking at around a twenty-four week process from start to finish. Given that her first round of chemo came this past Wednesday, we are thus shooting for a completion date of around the end of September.
To their everlasting credit, the medical professionals have loved us and coached us every step of the way. They have provided insight, encouragement, medical support, and many other things.
But more than just trusting in doctors, we are depending upon the Lord and His mercy to get us through this entire ordeal. For this reason, along with the Psalmist (138:3), we look up to Heaven and declare: “In the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul.”
In the meantime, dear friends, your prayers are also very much coveted. Please pray for my sister in the following ways:
-physically, as she endures her treatments (and all this entails), -emotionally, as she processes what has unfolded so quickly in her life,
-psychologically, as she struggles with what are so often unanswerable questions, and above all…
-spiritually, as she walks day by day in the power of God’s all-encompassing love.
Thank you.