FOLFIRI preparation

Here are the items we've secured for DJ, my love, in preparation for what might be when he begins chemotherapy treatment in approximately 12 hours.  Pobrecito :-(.  I continue to pray courage, grace, strength, and healing for DJ and his body; and that Jesus will be seen by all who look at us.  Aaaaaa-men!

I see that the date stamp on my camera is a little off; on February 4, 2006, DJ was attending the police academy.  Ha!

Thank you for praying for us!   The end, for now.

Galatians 6:2 and the Eye in the Middle

Hello, friends and family!  Thank you for loving us!

This photo shows a collection of greeting cards lined up along my window sill that we have received from ya'll recently, expressing your love and concern and prayers and support.  Thank you very much for bearing our burdens!  Everytime that someone telephones or writes or in some way extends grace and kindness and compassion to our family, I feel as if you are writing a check to me and depositing it into my account at Bank of America!  It brings to my mind Galatians 6:2 - "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."  I am oh so grateful for the ways that you are fulfilling the law of love of Jesus Christ by carrying our burdens!  Muchas, muchas gracias :-)

Now that the news of DJ's cancer has become the new normal for us; and now that the questions of employment, income, and insurance as well as the decisions about treatment for DJ's body have been answered but his chemotherapy has not yet begun, I feel as if we are experiencing an eye in the middle of the storm.  There is laughter and love and life in our home, and the usual bickering among siblings and other issues of parenting.  "Normal"!  :-) 

New Insight and Understanding, and February 27th

On Wednesday last, DJ and I consulted with Dr. Howard Hayashi in the lovely town of San Luis Obispo, California; and we left with a better understanding of the reason that Dr. Spillane cancelled the Cyber Knife and is sending DJ immediately to chemotherapy.  According to what I understand from Dr. Hayashi, and later that day when I also spoke with Dr. Spillane,  the problem is not the tumors in DJ's lung - those are symptoms of the problem.  The cancer in DJ's body is systematically and microscopically throughout his body - THAT is the problem.  So, if the tumors are left in place for the time being, and a chemotherapy regimen is begun, and DJ is re-scanned in a matter of time (say, perhaps, 3 months), and the tumors have shrunk, then we would know that that particular concoction of chemotherapy is working.  If after 3-ish-or-so months of chemotherapy the tumors have grown or have not responded well, then perhaps that would be indication that the particular chemotherapy cocktail is not effective.  I hope I've done justice to what Drs. Howard Hayashi and Spillane explained to us.  When we heard that information, it was as if a light bulb had been lit in our minds - "Ooooooh!  Now I get it!", we said (more or less).

And so DJ is scheduled to begin chemotherapy treatment on Monday, February 27, 2012.  Please pray for courage and grace and strength and healing.  Thank you!  And since he's been reinstated with the Paso Robles Police Department, he plans to go to work the week before treatment begins.  We are blessed beyond measure with employment and a source of income and insurance.

This is not a picture of Dr. Howard Hayshi, or of DJ.  It is a photo of myself, the judge, and Alexandra Bigelow, taken on January 31, 2012; the occasion was the Mock Trial competition in which Alexandra and her GATE English class took part.  She had studied long and hard for her part as one of the prosecuting attorneys, and it was an interesting and fun occasion.  The judge was a very funny and informative gentleman, and so I begged for a picture to be taken with him.  I only wish that I had brought along my camera and also begged of Dr. Howard Hayashi two days ago when DJ and I met with him, because he is a totally groovy dude!  I love him.  His bedside manner, or his office consultation manner, is lovely: very personable and informative and down to earth and patient.  I felt as if I were a friend of the family.  If you need surgery on the central coast of California, I suggest Dr. Howard Hayashi!  :-)  (Alexandra asked me, "Why do you call him Dr. HOWARD Hayashi?".  The reason is 2-fold: first, it is because when we began to chitchat on Wednesday, and I addressed him as "Dr. Hayashi", he told me to please, call him Howard.  And the second reason is that he has a brother that practices surgical medicine in the same office whose name is also "Dr. Hayashi", so I differentiate between Howard and Edwin, and still give him his props, by referring to him as Dr. Howard Hayashi.) 

The end, for now.  Happy weekend!  May the LORD bless you indeed!  Thanks for loving us!  :-)

Mercy, Provision, Reinstatement

Today I am humbled and grateful for the mercy that God has granted to us : an income, insurance, all of the accrued sick time he gave up when he resigned, and other blessings of provision - as DJ has been reinstated with the City of Paso Robles (as of February 20, 2012).  I am so grateful to those in positions of authority who are treating us graciously and compassionately - in both cities, as far as that goes: the Pacific Grove Police Department as well as Paso Robles have been so, so good to us.  I am humbled and grateful.

DJ's swearing this morning in was a little less ceremonious than in times past; but it is still imperative for him to solemnly swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, and to faithfully discharge his duties.  He solemnly swore. 

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.  Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.  Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them.  And how much more valuable you are than birds!  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?  Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it.  But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.  Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom'." (Luke 12:22ff)

And the Plan Changes

Greetings, loved ones and friends and readers.  Happy Monday!  "This is the day the LORD has made; we will REJOICE and be glad in it!"  For what do you rejoice this day?  :-)

The plan for this week has changed: Dr. Spillane is more interested for DJ to begin chemotherapy as soon as possible than he is for the Cyber Knife to occur at this time, and Dr. Wong has agreed.  Therefore, at this moment we don't plan to travel to Fresno tomorrow and other days this week for that procedure; we are waiting for word as to when DJ is scheduled for chemotherapy - next week, we suspect.  Will you please pray that DJ's body and his soul and his mind and his spirit will be saturated with courage, grace, strength, and hope?  Chemotherapy can be so terribly difficult and painful and yucky.  I think that one of my calls to ministry is to sit in the chemotherapy administration room and to pray for each of the people there who are receiving treatment.  I pray that the chemotherapy will do all its work on the malignant cells in DJ's body, and leave the rest of his cells alone!  I pray that he will suffer less rather than more; I pray that DJ will sense the nearness and the goodness of God in all things.

Since "A picture's worth a thousand words", here is one taken last November when DJ and Caedmon and I gathered in the Seattle area with the McDonalds.  Thanks for reading!



DJ, LaRae, and Scott



This Just In - New Developments in our Family Adventure

Hello, there!

Well, our lives have taken a slightly different turn than we had anticipated.  The lumpy bump on the lower lobe of DJ's lung was re-scanned in late January, and we were informed that it has doubled in size since its discovery (it measured 1.0 centimeters in March 2011, 1.2 centimeters in May 2011, 1.3 centimeters in July 2011, and 2.2 centimeters in January 2012). In addition, another lumpy bump was detected on the upper lobe of DJ's lung, measuring 11 millimeters in size.  DJ's oncologist Dr. Spillane sent him a week later for a biopsy; and although it tested negative to cancer in May 2011, it has now tested positive.  The diagnosis is that the colon cancer has metastasized to the lung, and Dr. Spillane has a plan: he would like DJ to undergo surgery and then to begin a second line of chemotherapy, similar to the mFOLFOX 6 that DJ took in 2010 (with a slightly different change-out of one of the cocktail's drugs).  I believe that FOLFURI is the name of the particular concoction prescribed to DJ, and it will follow the pattern as before: 12 rounds, every other week, which will last for approximately 6 months. 

Wow.  Were you expecting all of that to issue forth in this post?  :-) 

This coming week is filled with appointments and consultations and treatments for DJ: a PET scan locally on Monday, scans and preparations for the Cyber Knife in Fresno on Tuesday; a consultation with local surgeon Dr. Hayashi on Wednesday; and treatments # 1 and # 2 of the Cyber Knife in Fresno on Thursday and Friday (not to mention Brooke's softball practice on Monday and Friday, Caedmon's karate on Tuesday and Thursday, and Alexandra's volleyball practice on Monday and Wednesday - but I digress! :-)

Initially, Dr. Spillane directed DJ to forego the Cyber Knife (a high-intensity, targeted radiation procedure: remember that the fiducials were implanted into DJ's tumor last May when he was biopsied? scroll back to posts in April and May of 2011, if you are so inclined); and to allow Dr. Hayashi to lobectomy the lumpy bump out of his lung.  Invasive surgery is not DJ's idea of a good time, so we are happy and hopeful that Dr. Wong's office called yesterday and has scheduled DJ for the Cyber Knife. 

In light of this new information, and considering DJ's barely-begun status with the Pacific Grove Police Department, it may be that we will pull back and remain for now here in Paso Robles.  That is yet to be revealed to us by the LORD, but I am confident that we will know what we need to know when God shows it to us.  I have been praying and will continue to do so, fervently, that God will be glorified by our lives, that Jesus Christ will be exalted in all we do, and that we will sense the direction of the Holy Spirit regarding all things (including, but not limited to, DJ's employment and insurance and income and provision for our family; treatment and healing and courage and grace and strength for DJ's body; faith and peace and hope and grace for each of the members of our family; et cetera.)

A few months ago, I began with a friend to memorize Psalm 91, which now is incredibly, intensely relevant and beautiful and peace-bringing and hopeful.  "Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  They say of the LORD, 'He is my refuge and my shelter, my God, in Whom I trust.'...'Because they love Me', says the LORD, 'I will rescue them; I will protect them, for they acknowledge My name.  They will call on Me, and I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will deliver them and honor them. With long life I will satisfy them and show them My salvation'."  Yahoo!  The promises of scripture fill me with hope and peace.  What a lovely place to be!

As for the Bigelow kidlets, you can see from their extra-curricular schedules noted 3 paragraphs ago that they are keeping well-occupied.  The general atmosphere of our home is "normal", filled with laughter and (frequent) instructions to "Clean your room!" and tickling and playing sports and doing what they each do.  No one seems to be particularly overwhelmed with stress or fear or doom or sadness, as far as I can tell.  I pray fervently that my children will come to know God personally, deeply, amazingly, in the every-day ness of life as well as through the cancer part of it. 

And there you have it: an update!  I will post to this blog as I am able to do so.  Thank you for loving us!  Read Psalm 91 :-).  (Written by HollyB)

Biopsy pre-procedure blood pressure check, 1-27-2012.
DJ said, "I dressed up" (see that cute t-shirt with the necktie imprinted?)