It seems that every time we make a post here, there are reasons to praise God. We do so again, amazed at His love, having seen it at work on completion of Fiona`s 6 cycles of Chemotherapy and her post-Chemo CT scan.The final of the 6 sessions of Chemotherapy went very well. Other than a few false starts setting the needle, Fiona`s veins held strong throughout. After the session, she promptly got up and walked out of the Chemo clinic at UH, strong and healthy. Amazing, especially after hearing stories from others of their traumatic experiences after each Chemo session, ranging from aches to ulcers to all sorts of terrible side effects.
"O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!"
Following from that final chemo session, Fiona did a CT scan just this Monday. While we weren`t given the report (normal procedure at UH - only doctors get the reports), Prof Yip was wonderful enough to call us afterwards with the results.
The patch of fibrous tissue, or fibrosis, in the right lung has shrunk. The fluid level in the lung which was there before remains very minimal. The indication is that the patch is likely not cancerous, consistent with the previous finding.
The damage in the bones caused by the cancer is still visible. This is to be expected because bone damage takes a very long time to heal, especially since Chemotherapy and the induced menopausal state that comes with it actually weakens the bones.
However, Prof Yip says that there is no way to be certain if there are still active cancer cells in the bones at this stage, but there is no sign of spread since the very first CT scan. At best, the cancer has been removed entirely, and at worst, it is under control.
A way to potentially check for the presence of active cancer cells would be to do a PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scan, but that is very costly, in excess of RM6,000 in Malaysia, and possibly more expensive elsewhere. Another but much less accurate way would be to do a simple blood test for cancer markers. This rarely is useful unless there is a significant amount of cancer cells in the body. But more to the point, Prof Yip`s rationale is that, regardless of what a PET scan might find, the treatment methods moving forward would still be the same, so why do it?
There will always be arguments for and against such "pro/active scanning" and even doctors will debate among themselves about this. At the end of the day, this is what we believe: The God of all creation has blessed Fiona with much healing and protection from the very first Chemo session. Her recovery from her earlier symptoms were nothing short of miraculous, so much so that the doctors could not explain her virtually immediate recovery from pain and other symptoms, nor could they explain her lack of side-effects from the Chemotherapy.
So whatever we choose to do from here onward, what matters most is that we continue to put our trust in God. And whatever we do will be with the expectation to see good things because our God has proven Himself to be so good. We have seen His mercies with our own eyes and testified them to you here. And so we move forward, continuing to trust in Him, and giving Him all the glory for all He has already done.
"Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky!"
All glory to Him, for His steadfast love endures forever!
