Cancer Update

Let me start by saying ‘Thank You’ to all of you who have prayed for me and my family, and for your interest in seeing what is happening each month to the Moses clan.  I continue to be amazed that, not only am I still here, but I have yet to experience any major symptoms during the past year.  Other than occasional nausea and weakness, I feel pretty good most days.  In fact, I had planned to travel with David and his family this week to Sequoia National Park in southern California.  But the Park (as well as most national parks and forests in California) are now closed due to forest fires.  So, instead, we are planning a trip to Smokey Mountain National Park the last week of October in hopes of seeing some fall foliage. 

Tomorrow I will be driving to Marble Falls in central Texas to help Hannah and Daniel move out of their temporary trailer accommodations and into a rental house that they were finally able to find.  Barely within their budget, the rent costs for housing and apartments have risen dramatically in the hill country of Texas due to a huge influx of people moving to Texas from out-of-state, especially from California.  We are just happy that Hannah and Daniel will have a better place to welcome Nathaniel into the world when he makes his appearance sometime during the first week of November.  Nurse Martha is planning to fly in from Richmond to be with Hannah during the birth and during the days following.

I picked up my PET scan results the first week of September and it basically shows that I have two sizable tumors and multiple cancerous nodules.  The largest tumor is in and around my pancreas, but is composed of renal (kidney) cancer cells and not pancreatic cells.  The tumor now measures 4.5 x 9.1 cm, about 2/3 the size of my pancreas.  But since my pancreas is still partially functioning, the tumor must also be invading other tissue outside the pancreas.  The second tumor is along my abdominal wall and measures 3.4 x 5.5 cm.  I also have several growing nodules, some of which are in my lungs, the largest measuring about 2 cm.  The tumors and nodules have doubled in size during the past year and a half.

I had a visit with my oncologist on Sept. 10.  The thing I dreaded most was getting on the weighing scale.  I’ve gained about 15 pounds during the past year!  Because of my glucose intolerance condition (sometimes called insulin resistance), I kept myself on a fairly strict low-carb diet for 40 years, with my weight averaging about 170 pounds.  I didn’t want to be an overweight American ministering to poor Filipinos.  Also, with a history of diabetes in my family, I needed to limit my carbohydrate intake.  But now that my missionary career appears to be over, and I no longer have to worry about my long-term health, then I have gladly given up on dieting, as the doctor’s weighing scale will testify.

My oncologist said that I should begin to experience increase discomfort and pain during the coming months and that my switching over to hospice care will be at my discretion.  She once again suggested treatment, but I repeated that it didn’t make sense to me to spend tens of thousands of dollars just to keep me out of heaven a little longer, especially when that money could better be used to support mission work.  (The IMB self-funds all medical care for its missionaries.)  I remain joyful at the anticipation of all that I will experience when the Lord calls me home.  My days are in His hands and I’m happy to leave them there.