Overdue Update

 It's been a while since either of us wrote anything here. Bekah is way better at these than I am but now she's working at the church full time, taking care of 4 kids full time, and taking care of me full time. So she's a little busy. I have few excuses other than just not making time for it. So many of you are extremely faithful to pray for us and look for the updates so I need to just do it.

One problem is I just don't have much to say. For the most part, "this" has just become our lives now. Our lives didn't seem interesting enough to start a blog before all of this so it feels presumptuous to think anyone wants to read about them now. But several people have called and texted lately so I guess I have to get over that and tell y'all thanks again for choosing to follow along still. I'll try to cover topics that most people inquire about here.

As for the health update: I had my chest/abdomen CT scan last week. Three months ago, this scan found some spots on my lungs and liver that looked problematic. As of last week, those are cleared up and were likely the result of some infection at the time. The amount of relief that brought was significant. The main tumor in my kidney is essentially unchanged. That has been the case for a while now and we choose to be thankful that it's not growing. It also has not spread to anywhere else, which is obviously a large praise. The bone mets are harder to tell if they are improving but there are some signs that some of them are improving. And they haven't spread anywhere else either. I have my next brain MRI on 10/1 so we'll see what it reveals. Last month was the first "clean" scan I've had in, what seems like, forever. "Clean" meaning no new spots or growth from existing spots so I didn't have to do any radiation to treat anything. Certainly praying for that again this time around.

My treatment remains the same for now, too. Immunotherapy infusion every 4 weeks and an oral pill I take every morning. I have had 3 rounds of the infusions now and, so far, haven't had any of the issues I dealt with the first time I did immunotherapy. Thankful for that. My oncologist is a kind man who worked at MD Anderson for a number of years and uses his connections there to see if there's any new treatments or combinations of treatments that we should try. He seems genuine in his desire to get me better.

Day-to-day health is not drastically different at this point either. My right hip continues to hurt (though a little less these last few days than others). Both knees feel stiff and swollen most days, too. My eye has been my main source of pain and discomfort the past week or so, though.  In the midst of my brutal summer last year, I came down with uveitis (you all have Google so I won't make myself look like a fool trying to explain what it is). Apparently, it can last for years and just flares up from time to time. It chose last week to flare up in the most painful of ways. If you thought you hated watching the Hogs crumble in Memphis last weekend, just know that it was even less enjoyable for me. I have a steroid drop that I'm using to treat that but mostly just walking around the house winking all day.

Family is doing okay, I think Eli told Bekah he actually likes school this year and I was as shocked as anyone to hear that report. Bekah continues to do great things for the FBC Russellville women as we come to the end of her first year here. Eden and Lydia are great, as usual too. They are very sweet and love their daddy more than I deserve. And Judson keeps us all laughing. Watch out for #4.

Prayer requests:

- Certainly praying for the brain MRI next week. Any pain in my head is scarier than it used to be and I've had too much of that lately.

- It would be nice for this uveitis infection to go away and let me see again. My vision isn't trustworthy enough to drive or play catch or do much of anything these days.

- Please pray for Bekah's stamina. I halfway joked about her having 3 full time jobs earlier but really, she does. It doesn't seem all that sustainable for her even though she makes it look easy.

Thanks again for following along.

Ready, break.