Glad that’s over with…

I wanted to get through the worst of it before blogging. Does it seem less like I am complaining if I wait until I am feeling better before letting the reader know what I have gone through? Well, let me just say, “Chemotherapy is not a nice guy.” There, I said it. Wow, I didn’t mince words either. Probably the only thing worse than Chemotherapy is the Cancer itself. One tries to take your life, the other only makes life more miserable.

My second treatment was Tuesday/Wednesday. Rituxan/Bendamustine on Tuesday and more Bendamustine on Wednesday. This time I tolerated both a lot better than the first time. However, the after-results were much worse. I suppose I was okay the first two days with the steroids flowing through my body, keeping me feeling up, up, up. But on Thursday I came down from the steroids and the Chemo took over. I felt like a truck had hit me. And I know what a truck hitting me really feels like too. Even worse was Friday. Remember the two possibilities of side effects with the Chemo? Constipation and Diarrhea? Well, the first side-effect makes you feel like you will never live again, and the second makes you feel like you do not even want to live again. I really did not think I was going to survive this one. I missed church service on Thursday night simply because I could not wake up enough to realize what was going on around me.

Now, I’m pretty sure this week will be a cake-walk compared to this past week. At least I am looking forward to it being better. On a sad note, I will have to preach a funeral of a dear friend and church member this Friday. He was an inspiration to me over the past twenty years I have known him and his wife. He died of Cancer also. It was Lymphoma. He had been treated for the past twenty years for this disease, beating back each time. He even had a stem-cell transplant and lived to tell about it. Knowing he is in heaven makes a world of difference. We will celebrate his life, remembering all the good times. I had the great privilege as his pastor of baptizing him in the Manistee river in accordance with his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That was a highlight of my pastorate.

Cancer, like life itself, is a series of ups and downs. Good times followed by bad times followed by good times. Seems like you go two steps forward and sometimes two steps back. It is the battle every Cancer patient tells you it is. A real battle. Each day. Every day. I may not overcome the Cancer, but I have overcome my sinful nature through the blood of Jesus Christ. Therefore, I am an overcomer, because Christ overcame the world, and I am in Christ. I made it through a rough week. Now with Christ’s help and strength I will make it through another week.