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Cancer can be a funny thing. I got news last week of a brain tumor and its the best news I've heard all year. Let me explain (don't be alarmed, it is not malignant.)
I have had a tumultuous three months since my last appointment at MD Anderson. I had left that appointment looking forward to a three month doctor-free, news-free, worry-free break.
As the weeks went by, my fatigue did not get better. I have had a general feeling of malaise and I had expected to begin returning to full health. Upon my good wife's pleading, I reluctantly went to the doctor to discuss the fatigue. This led to some blood work that revealed a high calcium level. This is very uncommon - the body does a great job of keeping calcium levels normal. It could only be aa few things, one of which was not what I wanted to hear. High calcium is often a sign when someone's cancer spreads to the bones, which mine can do. The tumors can dissolve the calcium in the bones. After a long week, which included a full-body bone scan, I found out that there is not metastatic bone activity, but that my parathyroid is not regulating it correctly - a problem, but not a big problem.
Two weeks later, the doctors office calls and says that in blood work I had done during that scare, four hormone levels were far out of range: from 10x too low to 10x too high (not sure why they didn't call for two weeks!). This pointed to the pituitary gland - in the brain. Again, my heart sunk. It sunk down into my stomach, and down through my radiated, butchered intenstines, and I think it didn't stop until it was somewhere in what's left of my colon.
They wanted to do a brain MRI. All indications pointed to something physical going on up there between my eyes. It might explain the strength problems and malaise. But the possibilities were not many. The best it could be is a benign tumor in the brain - a "pituitary adenoma". The worst would be that the colon cancer had spread to the brain, as it does in 10% of stage IV colon cancer patients. The benign tumor could be removed surgically. Brain surgery. I can do that. No problem. Bring it on. Just don't say the C word.
Again, the long days. I had a brain MRI. I saw the technicians behind the glass intently pointing at the screen and talking (but they could tell me nothing). And for two days, a chill whenever the cell phone rang. The call came. The MRI clearly showed that I had the benign tumor in my brain. Relief and joy. Funny thing.
The news got better. The endocrinologist is going to attempt to treat it with medication instead of surgery. I didn't know that was even an option. A little pill two times a week. And it just might be the ticket to bring back my strength. I have had more than one occasion in this journey when things seem so dire, and the scope of the possible spans from bad to worse. And then, I find out they are better than what I could imagine. Eph 3:20-21 surely refers to more than mere MRI results, but I know it does not mean any less!
So here I am back in Houston after my three month "break". Two other times in the past four years I have had a three-month break and the break ended with new "spots" and more treatment. I get a full-torso CT scan today and meet with Dr. Eng Thursday. I am weary, but at rest. (Mt 11:28)