Psalms 30:2-3 “O Lord
my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. O Lord, you brought me up from the grave; you
spared me from going down into the pit.”
Praise God! He has
healed my husband and he is now considered cancer free!!!
A week ago today Justin went in for his 3 month body scan
and MRI to see if the cancer was gone completely or if it had spread. Statistically it was to be expected to most
likely have spread to another location in his brain. We were both prepared to hear the worst. But yet we both had peace about it. So even though we were going in with high
hopes, we also were prepared to be told that it had spread and that he’d be
going back under the knife for more brain surgery. But God is good!
First of all his body scans came back clear! His MRI of where they surgically removed the
tumor 3 months ago came back clear! And
the other tumor that they did radiosurgery on was still there and had grown a
tiny tiny bit but the doctor was positively certain that the tumor was dead
(meaning it was cancer free) and the size increase were only a result of the
brain still swelling from surgery and radiation. So completely normal. Some people have asked how can Justin be
cancer free if that tumor is still showing that it’s there??? Well the best way I can describe it is, think
of if an animal was shot and killed with a gun.
Yes the animals’ body would still be there even though the animal was
dead. So same thing with the tumor; the
tumor is still there but its dead, meaning it’s cancer free and not growing
anymore.
Can you believe this???
I still feel as if we are living a dream. This miracle is sometimes too much to wrap my
mind around at times. We were so use to
constantly receiving bad news at every appointment and every previous scan that
it was almost becoming the “norm”. I’ve
had tears of joy on a few occasions this past week. My God has healed my husband. We both have a breath of fresh air, almost
the feeling as if he’s had a second chance at life. We both have learned so much this past year
about ourselves and our walks and faith.
And even though you might think this is crazy, if we both had the chance
to not go through this trial the last year and a half I know we both would
choose to face it all over again. There’s
a sense of joy to know that God has used you to be part of his miracle.
Praise God! My
husband is cancer free!!!
So what’s next??.......This past Monday we were at Moffitt
and Justin was getting screened, more test ran, blood work, and consent papers
to sign for the trial drug that he will be on for the next 2-3 years at
least. This is basically our only option
right now and it’s either this drug or do nothing. Well we chose to take this preventative drug
in hopes that the cancer doesn’t return.
Justin’s oncologist thinks very highly of this trial drug. It’s only been out for 2.5 years and in the
words of Justin’s oncologist, he said “before this drug I’d give Justin 2-3
months”. So in other words this drug is
going to be the miracle drug. But we
know the miracle healer is God!
Praise God for working another miracle and healing my
husband!
So what is this trial drug???.......It’s a Phase 1 trial of
a vaccine combining multiple class I Peptides and montanide ISA 51 VG with
escalating doses of Anti-PD-2 Antibody BMS-936558 for patients with resected
Stage IV Melanoma, NCI protocol P-8316.
For those of you who understand what that means; Great! For those of you like me who don’t understand
that, than just know that it’s a trial drug that Moffitt is doing to see if
they can prove that this medication will prolong or prevent Melanoma from
coming back. Right now it has not been
proven but they are having a great success rate at about 30%. However Justin should feel privileged,
because he is 1 of the 30 people in the whole world who have ever been treated
with this drug. Up until now there have
only been 29 people who have taken this drug.
So he’s the lucky 30th person. So with only 30 people it’s hard to have too
many factual statistics just yet. But
the good news is, since it’s only a Phase 1 trial he will have the actual drug
and NOT the placebo.
Side effects…….Well the paperwork says that there may be
side effects that aren’t known yet just because the drug is so new. But some of the likely ones so far have been
nausea or urge to vomit, fevers and chills, fatigue or tiredness, headache,
joint pains, diarrhea, abnormal function of the thyroid gland, inflammation or damage
to the tissue surrounding where the drug is injected. Itching, Skin rash with presence of macules
and papules. And then the less likely side
effects are; well let’s just not even mention them because we hope he doesn’t
experience any of them. And then of
course there are always those couple people who don’t have any side
effects. And we are hoping for that!
His treatment schedule will be…….For the first 6 months he
will go once every two weeks for a 90 minute injection and then 6 shots in his
leg. These will be about 5 hour days at
Moffitt. Than after those first 6 months
assuming everything is going good he’ll than only go once every 3 months for
the next 2 years. If not longer. One of the questions we had was what happens
when he stops taking this drug? Will the
cancer come back immediately or not at all?
The doctor couldn’t answer that because he said it’s so new they haven’t
had anyone come off the drug yet so he’s not sure what will happen. He actually said the next question he has for
the drug company is how long can a patient stay on this drug. If it prevents it from coming back can he
stay on it for life? We don’t have an
answer to that yet. Right now he’s just
the 30th ginny pig to take this and we are hoping he’s the 30th
miracle story that the cancer is gone for good!
So our journey isn’t over yet. We still have a lot ahead of us. But that’s not stopping us from rejoicing and
praising our heavenly father that he has cleared his body of the cancer
completely right now even though statistically it shouldn’t be.
Did I say Praise the Lord my hubby is cancer free!!!!!
I don’t think I mentioned yet but his treatments start
tomorrow. We will be arriving at Moffitt
bright and early at 7:30am.
I can’t thank you all enough for your prayers and support
throughout this last year and a half.
Justin made a comment the other day, he said, “I wonder how many people
have prayed for me?” It’s actually an
overwhelming thought when you think about it because we’ve had people in other
states that we don’t even know contact us and say they’ve been praying. God says where two or more are gathered in
his name…..Well I think it’s been more like hundreds or thousands or more for
Justin. He is truly a miracle in the
making.
My hubby is cancer free!!!!
I’ll be driving down the road and I’ll just get goose bumps
and a big smile across my face when I think about it. God is good and we are to praise him in the
storms but boy is it so much easier to praise him in the glory times!
But I encourage each of you to NOT stop praying. God answers our prayers. May not be in our timing or with what we
think is best but he does answer them in his perfect timing with his perfect
answer for our lives. God heard our
pleas….. I thank you all! I just wish you all could see our hearts and
the gratitude we have for each and every one of you because your prayers were heard
by God which in result YOU were part of the miracle!
And I just want to say one last thing. My husband is awesome!!! We were having lunch the other day
together. Just the two of us. I looked across the table at his handsome
face and all the outwardly scares that this battle of cancer has left him. Some are permanent scares and others will
fade with time. But they are all a
reminder of what he’s been through. He’s
been through hell. A hell that most
people including myself would probably just give up and say I’m done! But he hasn’t done that. He has been so strong and positive throughout
this whole process. He has woken up and
gone to work to provide for his family on days were he probably just wanted to
stay in bed because he felt so sick. He’s
pulled himself together and attended family functions for the kids and I when
he probably would rather not leave the house.
He has put a smile on his face and spoke positive words when others
would only see the negative. He jokes
and makes light of his outwardly scares and if it weren’t for those scares
people wouldn’t even know he is sick because he handles it so well and looks so
great. He has faced this tough battle, the past year
and a half, head on with the best attitude that just leaves me amazed that
someone can handle such a tough time so great! I am so proud of him! And with that I pray that he has no negative
side effects from this drug.
Here’s to the next chapter of our life…….The next 3 years of
Justin’s treatment.
Luke 18:27 “What is impossible with men is possible with
God.”
