Port, Round 1, & Real Prayer - Wait...I think I have those backwards.

James 5:16 says, “Confess your faults (sins) one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

I memorized part of this verse years ago - the part that says, “the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”  What I left out was the entire first sentence.  The instruction to confess your sins and pray for one another must happen SO THAT...any time there is a “so” or “that” we best pay attention...you may be healed.  I most definitely want Tim to be healed and SO now it’s confession time.

I came home after learning of Tim’s diagnosis and laid out on the floor and pleaded with God to heal Tim - to take the cancer from his body. In the midst of my ranting I explained to God that He couldn’t take Tim because he was my everything.  Immediately, the Holy Spirit subtly reminded me that there was my problem. Tim should not be my everything, my Heavenly Father wants to be. My sin was putting my kids and Tim before my relationship with the Lord.

So on to that part of the verse I had memorized. Did you notice I left out the word “effectual” in my memorized version? Hmmmm. My idea of fervent prayer was passionate, vehement.  I have that down! No doubt I can be vehement, but what was missing was the “effectual” part. My impassioned begging was probably just a bunch of gibberish and may even have grieved the Spirit. My relationship with the Father was taking a back seat to my desire for Him to do what I wanted still want Him to do.  I can’t say I have given this up 100%, but rather am in process.  It’s an everyday trial for me.

Now that I’ve confessed where I’ve been (and yes it’s going to be scary to click the publish button), let me catch you up to where we are now.

Tim’s port was installed on Thursday morning, 9/28, and he had his first chemo infusion on Friday, 9/29.  He’s currently scheduled for a three-drug regimen every other Friday.  He receives  some supplemental drugs with two of the chemo drugs and iron in clinic.  It takes about 7 1/2 hours.  When leaving the infusion center, the nurse starts the third drug through a pump for a 48-Hour intermittent drip.  This means that because he finishes this infusion early Sunday evening, we either have to drive to MD Anderson in the medical center or I get trained to disconnect the pump, flush his lines, and remove the needle.  Guess what! We aren’t driving to Houston on Sundays for a 10 minute procedure.     I must say, I did pretty good the first time.  I’m pretty sure Tim was more nervous than I was.

He then returns to the infusion center on Mondays to return the pump and get a booster for his white blood cells.  The first round went fairly well. He was weak and tired very quickly, but was beginning to feel better by Wednesday and Thursday.  We knew side effects would rear their ugly head and by Friday Tim was back to feeling bad.  He was able to see Cooper play football Saturday morning and worked part of the day today, so we are celebrating the small things.  We know rough days are ahead, but will continue to practice James 5:16.

What’s next? We return to the doctor this Thursday to check in and get the results of the PET Scan and round two of chemo on Friday.  Please pray with us that this cancer be contained and respond to the chemo.

I’m thinking a post on my binder comes next! It’s definitely my sanity right now.