It Is Good To Get Good News
Family and Friends,
It is indeed good to get good news. We want to be diligent to share what the Lord has done in order that we may celebrate together and give Him all the glory He is due! We received the results of Sawyer’s CT scan yesterday. It showed that all of the cancer is shrinking, that the treatment is working to fight the cancer! The main tumor in his esophagus is smaller, which explains his improved ability to swallow. Likewise, the cancer nodules that had spread to his lungs are all shrinking. Praise God! We are rejoicing at the grace of the Lord to be working improvement in Sawyer’s cancer! Tumors don’t have to shrink, chemotherapy doesn’t have to work, cancers can progress in spite of treatment. We are grateful to the Lord that thus far, healing grace has been poured out upon us. This is the first big milestone in a race of an unknown distance, Sawyer still has cancer, and we’re not, “out of the woods” yet, but the past two days with this news have been good and have been a tremendous gift. They have been beautiful days to take some deep breaths, to shed tears of happiness and not fear or sorrow, to celebrate, and to thank God for this gift of improvement contrasting with the shock that all this has been.
Logistically, our next step is to repeat 8 weeks of the same treatment, with chemo/Nivolumab every two weeks, then we will get another scan to assess the response. At that point, pending the results of the next phase, we possibly would be pursuing radiation therapy. Thankfully, Sawyer has been tolerating the treatments very well. His main symptom with treatment is fatigue which is expected with chemo, but he has been spared of some of the more challenging side effects thus far. Last time we asked you all to pray against neuropathy which can set in after the 4th round chemo, and praise God none of that has started. This is a cumulative side effect, so it becomes more likely to occur as treatments continue. We ask that you continue to pray for the Lord’s protection from this and any other side effect which could force adjustments to the treatment that we know is working for us. We have been blessed to undergo this first phase at MD Anderson, which in its entirety has been amazing. However, our care team here isn’t making any changes for the next 8 weeks unless problems arise, so they are happy for us to transition back home to Huntsville for this next phase. We are so very excited to be closer to our loved ones and to be in more familiar places.
We have been immensely cognizant of how much help the Lord has given to us to get to this point. We have felt His love immeasurably by the Body of Christ through prayers, letters, FaceTime, texts, emails, cards, and phone calls. Thank you for praying with us and we praise God for His provision through you. We have and continue to be in a trying season, and through it all we have been borne up by our God and have all the more found Him to be a sure and steadfast anchor in the storm. It is a joy to have been helped in this way and to know that while our need persists, our God’s sufficiency persists all the more.
“I lift my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”
Psalm 121:1-2
May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus be upon you,
-Sawyer and Amy
Thumbnail image taken by Liz Allison Photography.
