There are good days and bad days, but Clay has learned to manage many of the side effects effectively. It has been very helpful to be near family so that when he does have a bad day, I am able to take the kids there and let him get the rest he needs. We are so grateful for that! He has been able to preach multiple weeks at a local church, and it is a blessing to my soul to hear him preaching again and see the commitment he has to serve the church even while going through cancer treatment.
Today (2/27) we are at UAMS getting ready to have his second treatment here. He seemed to handle the first one relatively well, so we are hopeful that the time off of treatment gave his body the rest it needed to be able to handle the immunotherapy better this time around.
Clay's case has now been reviewed by three tumor boards-all three have been quite perplexed by the presentation of his tumor. This type of tumor is rarely malignant, let alone aggressively spreading to other parts of the body. However, we really like the team we are working with in Little Rock. Since this treatment plan is producing good results, we will stay with it until that is no longer the case. The doctor did say that he feels very good about a plan B and C if it comes to that.
In a strange way, it feels like there is little to report. We are nine months into this journey and the shock of the cancer diagnosis has begun to wear off (and simultaneously still feels surreal many days). We are doing the normal things: working, homeschooling, going to church, taking family walks, going to ball games, trouble-shooting parenting issues....but there remains a layer of heaviness that wasn't there a year ago.
One area we feel this heaviness in is in making decisions about where to live. We are extremely blessed to be in a great place as we transition back to Arkansas, but it is temporary. The many unknowns of our future do make it difficult to make decisions on what is the best next step for our family. We are confident the Lord will show us what is best in his timing, but at the same time we are actively looking into all of our options.
Prayer requests:
-Cancer to continue to shrink - the next round of scans will be in April
-Wisdom for us in the housing decision
-Better management of the side effects
Ready, break!
