Medical Update

Mary and I finally arrived home on Tuesday. We have discovered, though no surprise, that God has answered many prayers. You have overwhelmed us with your prayers and words of encouragement. I cannot imagine going through the challenges of life without a church family. God has directed our steps as we have walked this journey of being a cancer patient. There have been moments of questions; moments of uncertainty; even moments of nervousness. But at each of those moments, God’s presence and peace was overwhelming. There was always calmness.

I spent the morning reading through each prayer note and email that I have received the past two weeks. I was overwhelmed with gratitude.

Here are some highlights of my surgery:

• The surgery itself went very well. No complications. Dr. Patel said that my surgery was his most difficult case of that day. (A guy likes to be first in something)
• He was able to completely remove the prostate and save all of my nerve bundles. He was the only surgeon who told me he felt confident that he could accomplish this.
• I had some infection from one of the incisions, but it was quickly cleared with antibiotics.
• The tumor involved 25% of the prostate.
• He removed two lymph nodes for pathology as a precaution because of the size of my tumor. Both were clear of any cancer.
• There are five patterns of prostate cancer. My biopsy showed that I had patterns three and four. The pathology report of my prostate showed that I actually had pattern five as well. Pattern five is the nasty cancer. It is the most aggressive and deadly form of prostate cancer.
• A major God praise is that if I had chosen radiation as my first treatment, radiation cannot kill pattern five cancer when it is in the prostate. Therefore I would have still had cancer growing in my body. When you have radiation as your first form of treatment it is nearly impossible to surgically remove the prostate.
• Clean margins are what you want to have in the pathology. That means all of the cancer is contained within the prostate. There was one area that the pathologist could not say for certain that I had clean margins. Cancer cells were on the edge but he was not sure if any had escaped the gland. This will be my faith journey… trusting that there is no cancer left.
• My surgeon does not want to do any other treatments at this point. I will have PSA testing done every six weeks for awhile, then every three months. When the prostate is removed, the PSA testing is more reliable. This will determine if any cancer was left behind and is growing.
• If that does occur, then I would most likely have radiation treatment. The good news is that pattern five cancer can be destroyed by radiation if it is not within the prostate gland.
  

For right now I have another five weeks to full recovery from the surgery. I can return to work at the end of next week and then return to full activities in five weeks. God has directed every step in our journey. Dr. Patel is literally the best in the world in the robotic prostate surgery. I am thankful that God opened that door.

My focus is now fully on being the pastor of Gateway. Many people of prayer at Gateway have been saying the same thing… “God is doing something at Gateway.” I believe this is true. He is going to do many things that will amaze us. So get ready!!!

Thank you for loving Mary and me with your prayers, notes, words of encouragement.

Not the kind of Doctors that can fix you

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. (Heb. 10:24-25)

I am constantly reminded of how important family is. We must not be flippant about our personal family or our church family. We must nurture, encourage, care for, pray for and build up our family at every opportunity. I am a blessed man in my personal family and I am a blessed pastor in my church family.

The Gateway family has gone overboard in praying for and encouraging me. Your sensitivity and tenderness towards Mary and me has been beyond words. I love you deeply. It's hard to believe I have been your pastor eighteen years this month.

I am also blessed by my immediate family. Mary is the love of my life. She has been the biggest blessing the Lord has granted to me. As anyone who has met her knows, Mary is not the typical pastor's wife. She is a very unique individual who I have always appreciated for her fearless spirit. She is not afraid of tackling the largest mountain. I use to be wound very tight - too tight. God used Mary to loosen me up!

God has blessed us with two wonderful kids, Katie and Mack. And then he gave us a second daughter with Meredith.

Today, Monday, August 9th, we are celebrating our daughter, Katie. Mary and I are at Auburn University for her graduation with her Ph.D. Like her mother, Katie is an amazing person. She has such an adventurous spirit. As a 29 year old, she has completed two undergraduate degrees from Clemson in Bio-chemistry and Visual Arts; completed two master's degrees from Auburn one in Fashion and the other in Business Administration; and now she has completed her Doctor of Philosophy. She was a finalist for the Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships. She is currently the Director of Operations and Admissions for the MBA degree program at Auburn while teaching undergrad and graduate classes. I have to give a big thanks to District Five and Dutch Fork High School for doing a great job preparing Katie for college.

But with all of these accomplishments, without a doubt the biggest day of her life was the day she adopted Caleb from Ethiopia. He is now a year old and the joy of our family. He is the happiest kid you will ever meet. People tell us, "Caleb is a blessed kid to be adopted into your family." Our response is always, "We are the ones who are blessed!"

In addition, Katie is the evangelist in the family. She loves engaging college students who are seeking spiritual truth. One time she had a group meeting in her home called the Heathen Bible Study. Only non-believers could attend.

Over the years, there have been many key individuals that God has used to influence Katie's life. One specific individual was her small group leader as a youth at Gateway. Cynthia Johnson lived out Hebrews 10:24-25 with Katie by motivating and encouraging her. She has been a faithful friend of prayer; a person who personally lives out her faith. Katie still uses the lessons and insights Cynthia bestowed upon her during her youth.

Thanks Cynthia for investing in my little girl.

By the way... whose life are you investing in? Have you considered being a LIFE group leader? You never know how God will multiply your investment in others.