Radiation treatment week 6 – A milestone and a realization

It’s week six of my radiation treatment. Twenty five sessions complete with only 13 remaining. That 25 done is a milestone. And right after it was done, I realized – or is it remembered – something from several years ago. Both feel like a gift from God.

Radiation treatment week 6 - A milestone and a realization is article #24 in the series: Do not waste your cancer. Click button to view titles for entire series

It was kind of a double-wow day.

More than two, really. But they came from two things. As the title shows, one was the milestone I reached. And the other was something I realized just after the treatment. Then, the remembrance happened after I got home.

Of course, those aren’t the big tbhings. The big thing is that they are a gift from God.

And as we’ll see, the gift giving started a number of years ago. It wasn’t good at the time. As often happens, we wonder why God does things/allows things to happen. Later, if we’re paying attention and listening, oftentimes we will find out why. And then come to understand that God can and does turn around bad events to be good for us.

Radiation treatment week 6 – A milestone

What was the milestone? Is there something magic about the 25th radiation treatment?

Well, it’s not the number 25. Rather, it’s a function of the treatment plan.

In an earlier segment of this series, I wrote about how I don’t like to know ahead of time what’s going to happen or all the various things that might go wrong or the side effects that might come up. As a Christian, I’ve come to appreciate the reality behind praying to God for something.

For instance, in this case, we pray for the doctors. That God will give them the wisdom to do the right things during the surgery and stuff like that. I always include the doctors, nurses and the rest of my care team.

After we do that, we should, emphasis on should turn those things over to God and trust Him. One example is the passage below.

Do Not Worry – Matthew

6:25-33 pp — Lk 12:22-31

Mt 6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Mt 6:28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

The key in there is verse 33.

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Prayer and trust

If you’ve read the earlier segments of this series, you know that healing/recovery is part of what I pray for. But it is only part. Since I don’t know what God has planned, I also have to pray that His will is going to be done. Which mostly means that I won’t get in His way, and try to force my will rather than His. That’s likely to only end in disappointment.

So that’s the prayer. And after that kind okf prayer, if we truly trust God, we should be somewhere close to being able to do verse 34, with the help of God’s Holy Spirit.

34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

So I pray. And try not to worry. However, I know myself enough to be aware that knowing too much about what’s to come, especially possible side effects, isn’t a good thing. I’ll spend way too much time and effort on worrying about whether things are going OK. Examining everything to see if any side effects are starting to appear. Worrying.

Therefore, when the Oncologist told me I reached a milestone in the treatment, it was a pleasant surprise.

The milestone, as I said, is related to my specific treatment plan. It may be different for you. And it may not even apply to you.

When I had surgery to remove the prostate, they did not take out the lymph nodes in that area. The expectation was that the cancer was only within the prostate. That turned out to be incorrect. The early biopsies also gave an indication that the cancer wasn’t all that aggressive. However, the biopsy on the removed tissue also showed that to be incorrect.

Try as they might, biopsies and MRIs don’t give the true picture of what’s going on. The realities of the cancer aren’t known until the prostate is removed. Then, they “section” and test the whole thing. In my case, it turned out to be an aggressive form of cancer. And there was evidence on both ends of what was removed to show the cancer did spread beyond both ends.

Taking all of this into consideration, the plan for me was 38 sessions. The first 25 targeted the areas of the lymph nodes and where the prostate was removed. Starting today, the radiation will be focused on only the prostate “bed” – the area where it used to be.

To the oncologist, that seems to be a big thing. To me, it means some side effects should lessen. That’s a good thing. Less diarrhea hopefully means I can start to get back to healthier food (more fiber, more veggies, etc.). Eating better hopefully also means I’ll have more energy. The lack of energy and increase in time needed to rest has definitely been increasing.

On the down side, there could be urinary implications, like pain and bleeding. So far, there has been none of either of them. I gather both are pretty normal, because the oncologist has seemed surprised the last couple weeks that I didn’t have either one.

Thank God for all of that!

Radiation treatment week 6 – A realization

After the treatment was over, I was talking to one of the radiation technicians. She had taken one of her dogs to the vet over the weekend. We were talking about the medical care for dogs – X-rays, blood tests, medicine and all that.

I mentioned that one of our (me and my wife) dogs had cancer. The quality of life questions came up. Some people, to me and apparently to her as well, take things too far. In an attempt to keep pets alive, people may or may not take the quality of life of the dog into consideration.

Dewey, our “4-legged kid” with cancer totally enjoyed the vast majority of his 8 months with cancer. We had discussions with the vets about his quality of life. Eventually, the cancer went to his brain – and that was the end. There’s zero quality at that point.

But up till that point, he was so popular at both the vet’s offices we went to. He totally loved it. We’d drive for almost an hour, mostly on surface streets, so he could stand at the open car window and stick his head out to smell and feel the breeze. Then he’d get some treats while waiting to be called back. Dewey would go back for his low-dose chemo and not even look back.

I asked a few times, and was finally able to see what the big attraction was that he was so eager to get to. Dewey was on a table covered with plush warm towels. Three people were scratching him and giving tummy rubs. The fourth was holding the IV needle with the chemo. This usually went on for 30 to 45 minutes.

I get a warm blanket for my treatment. But no tummy rubs.

It’s important to enjoy the sessions

No tummy rubs. But they have to leave the room, so I guess that’s out. Seriously though, I wrote earlier about how much I enjoyed the time with the radiation techs during the first month. I’ve made the effort to try to talk to the people in the second group, here in April. Obviously, different people are different. It started off very quiet and subdued in April. But now, six days in, it’s noticeably different.

I was surprised, shocked even, at how much it affected me when there was so little conversation those first couple days in April. But now, once again, I look forward to going in to see them.

If you read the earlier segments, you know that I took the initiative to begin the conversations because of something said at the small group I’m in at church. You also know it’s not something I’m even a little comfortable doing.

Radiation treatment week 6 – Remembering

But I did. And I’m glad I did. And then, I remembered something about Dewey. Did you happen to read the inset box above? The one with the picture of Dewey? It said:

The little guy above has cancer.  Came within a week or so of dying.  Three weeks later, he was given an 80% chance of remission.  And his attitude is one I hope I have – should something like that happen to me.

Well, it did happen to me. But, it wasn’t until I got home that I made a connection between the conversations and joking with the techs and Dewey.

Of course, Dewey loved attention. Tummy rub attention was especially good.

I don’t really like that much attention. I’m usually very quiet. When I told my wife about the conversation stuff, she told me how great it was that I’m becoming “relational”. My first response to her was, “Oh no! What’s happening to me?”

But then, maybe that’s also an answer to my prayer. Not my will, which would have been to quietly go through this. But God’s will, which is apparently to not be so quiet. But also to enjoy the process. Further, as one of the radiation techs put it, it helped brighten their day as well.

So eventually, I began to realize, from remembering Dewey and remembering my prayer, that this is all good. Feeling better mentally and spiritually has to be better for my physical recovery than being either down or feeling nothing.

Conclusion – Radiation treatment week 6 – A milestone and a realization

As if all that you just read wasn’t good enough, there’s one more thing.

We often wonder, why do bad things happen. It took a long time for me to learn the difference between God doing bad things to us – versus God allowing bad things to happen to us. If we believe God actually does bad things to us, then we’re essentially making Him evil.

On the other hand, if we see the fine line between making something happen and allowing something to happen, then we no longer make God evil. Further, then we can acknowledge, without making God evil in the process, that God can use bad things to help us. Make bad things turn out for good.

I have a whole series based on the various dogs we’ve had. It’s called learning from a dog. I supposed I should rename it to learning from dogs. Even learning about God from dogs. But that was the original title – and I’ve kept it. Even though we’re now on dog number six.

It’s been almost two years since we had to put Donnie to sleep, after a battle with kidney failure. He’s another one that totally enjoyed his almost celebrity status at the vet’s office. We’d walk in the door and the receptionist would call out to everyone in the back who could hear – “Donnie’s here!” I still haven’t been able to write about his passing. I still miss him so much.

But we do have Mikey. We love him completely as we have with all of them. Mikey’ like to polar opposite of what Donnie turned into. Both had tough beginnings. Donnie came to be with us because he bit someone in his first rescue home. Mikey took nine months to even get adopted because he bit everyone. My wife and I had to go through a 2-hour interview to prove we knew what we were getting into and could likely handle it.

Mikey’s a total couch potato and lap dog at home. Especially with me.

And that gets to my point. We had to very carefully reach out to Mikey, understanding his personality and fears as we went along.

Now, talking to techs in the treatment room isn’t as dangerous as trying to get to know Mikey. At least, I don’t think they’d bite. But for some of us, who are afraid of people, it takes effort. And it takes trust.

But now, after looking back on so many things, I can see how, even something like 17 years ago, God brought Donnie into my life. And then after Donnie, brought Mikey into my life. And how both of them, not to mention the huge part played by my wife, got me ready to deal with my own cancer.

God does so many things for us. But do we even notice? And when we do, do we remember to give Him thanks?

I certainly think God for everything He did, and is still doing, to help me get through this.

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WOW Image by S K from Pixabay

Pix of Dewey and Donnie by me

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