The beginning of the end of the cancer?

For most of the week since my last post, Daniel has been faithfully doing all he can to gain his strength back. He’s been sitting an hour or so at a time in his special wheelchair, using his walker either out to the hall or just to his door, and pulling himself up to a sitting position in bed – all things he couldn’t do not so long ago. He is working hard!

 

[If you have a low gross-out threshold, you might want to skip this next part…]

 

The main point of concern since last Friday was a redness that started to develop on the lower right of his chin, on the swollen oedema. The doctor monitored it, and since it was still there but slightly more spread out on Monday, she started Daniel on antibiotics. (Thus, I started him on probiotics). We were all wondering what it could be, and an infection was high on the list of possibilities, hence the antibiotics.

 

Yesterday, the redness had developed into a small roundish bump (one inch in diameter or so). Today, the bump had quadrupled in size to where it looks like a half a golf ball-sized mound on top of the already swollen oedema. It is officially an abscess. The skin had burst and is oozing (yuck, I know, but cancer in general isn’t pretty). So, clearly Daniel’s body is trying to expel something – something his primary med does a very good job at helping the body do. So, that’s why this wasn’t a surprise to me.

 

In fact, I view it as a very good thing. Why? Because Daniel’s oedema seems to be draining towards the abscess. That is the physical sense Daniel “said” he has; that starting from his jaw under his ears, he has the sense that the oedema is draining down towards his chin. If you’ll remember, oedema is inflammation, fluid retention, and possibly toxin storage as the body reacts to the cancer. It seems his body is finally ready to expel that junk, and is doing so aggressively.

 

So much so, the doctor asked a surgeon’s opinion, and he suggested an incision to drain it. From talking with another doctor, it sounds as if that option is actually a general anaesthetic surgery and comes with its own risks. So, I asked if I could treat Daniel more naturally first to see what happens, to try to avoid the surgery. So, please pray that a less aggressive treatment will be effective. I fully realize that the incision surgery might be best, because we all want to avoid sepsis (blood poisoning from the junk in the abscess that can be fatal). So, we’ll see what the next day or two brings.

 

Even with all of that, today was a very encouraging day of progress for Daniel. This morning he texted me that he was feeling encouraged. His tongue is smaller and he was able to clean underneath his tongue for the first time since March or April! That’s huge.

 

Plus, while Daniel and I were discussing his abscess with the doctor this afternoon, something extraordinary happened. The doctor had a look at his tongue, we kept talking, and Daniel was writing down answers to questions. The doctor asked him how his tongue felt. He wrote that it felt “soft and a mush ball.” And we were a little confused. He was working on feeling around with his tongue for a minute, holding up his hands to pause us as he assessed how his tongue felt. He then turned on his side, and then forward again with his eyes wide and a look of surprise and wrote this, “Free. I just swallowed a mass.” We were again confused, and after some clarification this is what had happened: Daniel had worked free from the back of his tongue a large mass of dead tumor! He wrote that he noticed a lot more room there now! The doctor was shocked and we were all amazed at what just happened.

 

[Okay, the squeamish can start reading here again…]

 

This is a direct answer to prayer. Since the beginning of this week, I have been praying specifically and fervently about this very thing – that we would see encouraging progress regarding the size of Daniel’s tongue tumor. The reason is, my research has told me that, once you see the size of the main tumor getting smaller, that marks the beginning of the end of the cancer.

 

This is extremely encouraging and God gets all the glory for that encouragement! He knows every cell in Daniel’s body, and is able to orchestrate His purposes at the sub-atomic level. What a mighty God we have the privilege of serving!

 

Seeing this progress is also all the more reason to keep praying that God would continue to glorify Himself by eradicating all the cancer in Daniel’s body and strengthening Daniel more and more, returning him to full health. We long to see God glorified in this way, knowing that He ultimately knows best. We are trusting Him in everything and certainly not presuming we know what will happen. Only God knows, and while that remains hard, it is for our good.

 

And so, we press on in faith, exalting God for the strength and encouragement He gives us, and humbly requesting that God would choose to glorify Himself by restoring Daniel’s health and our family so that together we may continue to make known His power and wonders.

 

He is able and He is sovereign.

Tuesday morning: some cuddle time with daddy. 

Wednesday's visit: playing 3D chutes and ladders!