Mostly good news at 1-year followup visit

Today was Jim's one-year follow-up visit with cancer surgeon, Dr. Parekh, at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.

Although the news was not completely 100 percent great, for the most part it was.

His weight has gone up and down in the past six months. Currently it is 133 pounds fully dressed. On his last visit to Dr. Parekh in November of last year, he weighed a couple of pounds less.

Blood pressure is up some at 92 /51.

Results of CT scan of his chest shows some patchiness on his left lung. The doctor thinks it could be aspiration where food or drink goes down the wrong tube. He wants another CT scan done in three months. Jim will have that done in August at St. Luke's Hospital here in Cedar Rapids.

If the second CT scan shows improvement then Jim will come back in a year for continual followup. If the CT scan shows infection or inflammation a PET scan will be scheduled.

We are reminded to run the race with endurance with our focus on Jesus. If we keep our thoughts on Him and thank Him for what comes, then we cannot feel sorry for ourselves.  We covet your prayers to achive that.

One-year anniversary May 12 / followup visit with surgeon May 25

The last time I updated The Race was 3 months ago, on Feb. 15. At that time, Jim had gained a little weight at 138 pounds, blood pressure was on the low side at 80/54 and he was slightly anemic. He was to come back in April to see his primary care doctor, but because of other things, the appointment was rescheduled for June 6.

The only doctors he has seen in the past 3 months are the dentist and the podiatrist. A year has passed since his esophageal cancer surgery May 12, 2015. He will have a one-year follow-up on May 25 - a chest CT scan and then a visit with Dr. Parekh at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

The days since have been busy and for the most part Jim has been feeling good. Tiredness sets in after doing too much, but then that's a common complaint for all of us. He continues to take Midodrine to increase his blood pressure. Sometimes he gets a little light-headed and I attribute it to not taking the medicine regularly. He is doing better at remembering to take it three times a day.

He continues to serve as interim pastor at Wilton Baptist Church, fulfilling pastoral duties there three times a week. He and I enjoy serving there, being among the members, visiting and working to meet their needs and finding ways to enable church growth. At the beginning of March we started recording his sermons and putting them on the church website (www.wbc2002.com). You can access them there under sermons or go to http://www.podcasts.com/wilton-iowa-baptist-church-8cb59301a which should give you multiple sermon links too.

We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary April 27 with a reception open house on the 30th at Immanuel Baptist. Outdoors it was cold and rainy, but fortunately, we were inside. It was nice to see family and friends old and new, but was sorry for those unable to come.  God answered our prayer for the lilacs to be in bloom, so that was a nice touch. Artificial flowers just aren’t near as pretty and definitely not fraqrant.

On May 7, when I was reviewing "The Race" events of the past year, I wrote the following article.

"Be a glimmer"

 The Scripture for "The Race" was taken from Hebrews 12:1-2a, which says, "Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith."

I was thinking about The Race To Run With Endurance.

It's not just about health, but also our whole life is a race. Keep going. Persevere. Push past every pain, every struggle.

God set us apart to be different, to show the world His Way, His Truth, His Life.

If we're not showing His Way and delivering His Truth, then we most certainly are not living as He.

We have succumbed to a lower power to whom we have bestowed more greatness than the God of the universe and The Son who died to set us all free. We have given Satan free reign over our lives and he will never bring us to gloryland. He will control us. We will hear and believe every negative. We will live and die in bondage. We will forget to whom we truly belong. We will think the lust of the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of our thoughts and wants and desires are what is important; are all that matters.

Satan is the destroyer - one person at a time. He has destroyed many.

Will he, is he destroying you too?

God allows events to unfold. God gives us each free will. The choices we make now will determine the outcome of future events.

Remember His love
Turn Back - Turn Around
Before the hour gets later
Before there is no time

Don't be a statistic ...

Be a glimmer
a glimmer of light amidst the darkness

"To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet unto the way of peace." ~ Luke 1:79 NKJV