Wiles' Miles: May 22, 2012

Hebrews 12: 1-2 ...and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Well normally when you run a marathon, the race is clearly marked and you generally know what is ahead of you. At least you should know where to go right? Our marathon as you have seen is anything but, so we will continue to focus on what is in front of us each day and not be anxious for tomorrow (Matthew 6:34). As that is what God expects from us, one day at a time, only he knows what the future holds. So we approach Him daily and embrace the little things and allow Him to shape us through those daily. We were clearly reminded of this again when one of our pastors preached on Romans 8:28-29 this weekend. Does that verse sound familiar? haha. What perfect timing God employs through a pastor on a verse we've been embracing this past year through these two cancer trials.

Here is the link to the sermon if you are interested in listening to: http://www.fcfchurch.com/media.php?pageID=29&itemID=210 (Copy and paste into your browser. Then scroll up to the 5/20/12 - The Little Things sermon.) We have also attached a link to the sermon in the Resources section on the right hand side of our blog titled The Little Things - 5/20. You will have to go to wilestrials.blogspot.com to find this link. We would highly recommend you take the time to watch it.

So a quick update from Meg's last post. I finally got out of the hospital on 5/3/12, and of course I got to bring home my new best friend....Mr. Chest Tube. After another hospital stay, it felt weird walking out of that place. As in the past, I got to leave but with restrictions in eating, continuing on a clear liquid diet with the prospects of increasing to full liquid and solid foods. While I was still in the hospital our mom's switched coverage here at home. Meg's mom headed back to Ohio and my mom flew in before I was released. We were so incredibly grateful that both were able to stay 2 weeks to help out so we had live in help for a month.

It felt great to be at home again, to have my mom here helping out and to get to see Taylor for more than just a few hours every few days. My mom continued what Meg's mom started, which was getting up in the mornings with Taylor so we could sleep in as long as needed to continue in the recovery process. That first night Megs and I slept almost 12 hrs straight through. I can say I have never slept that much at one time. Guess it shows what poking and prodding every four hours for 2 weeks straight does to one's sleep cycle.

Well that weekend was nice, got to relax, rest up and go to a comedy show that Megs had set up months ago. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to attend until the day of, but it was nice to go out to dinner (I got to have broth soup of course) and catch up with our amazing friends and then attend a great show together by comedian Tim Hawkins. Very talented guy and family friendly! Check out his youtube videos at some point, he'll have you cracking up. Which by the way, might not have been the best thing for me at that point, as it did hurt. But hey, if a Dr can cause me pain, self inflicted discomfort I guess is good for the soul, and it was nice to do that, just laugh.

Night out with our awesome friends who have loved us through this past year in so many amazing ways!

Then after the weekend they allowed me to pick up my eating to a full liquid diet. Gradually, I could start to feel the energy start to come back. Then on 5/11/12 we went back to University of Maryland Medical Center for another CT and consult with the surgeon. The CT looked good, but I still maintained an air leak in the abscess, so we decided to leave the chest tube in another couple weeks to see if the body would naturally seal off the leak with no adverse effects. They also opened up eating to solids, which was nice, but I will say after being through this cycle a number of times now, it wasn't quite as exciting as it was before. So after a good weekend, my mom flew out and we welcomed in my sister-in-law, Aunt Jode, from Colorado aka Taylor's new best friend for the next handful of days. We sure did appreciate all the effort that Jode & Matt put into arranging schedules so that Jode could come help us! It meant so much to us and I know that Megs loved having her sister around, who she typically only gets to see twice a year now. God continues to bless us with help when we need it and we are so grateful.

Then on 5/14/12, let the detour in the race begin again. Just as we thought we were maintaining a good pace I started having trouble swallowing with pain in my throat, as well as increased pain in my chest and drainage out of my chest tube. I thought the wheels might be coming off again, but the symptoms have stabilized. So after consulting the Thoracic team all week, they backed me off solid foods again to a full liquid diet to see if that improved any of the symptoms over the weekend. Soups and Smoothies welcome back full time! Then after talking to the Dr. this past Monday with no change in side effects between being on liquids vs. solid food, we decided to go ahead and get another scope done next week (the Dr is out this week, so it's scheduled on next Tues. 5/29/12), to see what is going down there. We are not sure if the stent has moved or dropped out of the esophagus or what could be causing the pain. That of course means they will keep the chest tube in to make sure they don't do too many changes at once. So me and my little buddy will get some more quality time together. We will see what comes of the scope next week. Stay tuned.

So, in the hustle of these last few weeks, we were able to get a check up appointment with Dr Aboulafia, my Orthopedic from my first cancer. During one of the many rounds with one of the Drs, while we were in the hospital for my esophageal cancer treatment, one of them had asked me how my first cancer was coming along...Megs and I chuckled and said, "You know Doc, we haven't really thought about it much lately." Shoot, it has been 9 months since the surgery and a year since it was diagnosed. That accompanied with a call to my cell phone from Dr A to just check in to see how I was doing, we thought we should get in for a check up. After some deliberation on whether I could get an MRI done with a stent (part of which is metal) in my esophagus...I didn't want to my stent to come flying out when they turned the machine on...I got it done and got in to see Dr A. PRAISE GOD! Everything came back clear and no signs of recurrence in my leg. It was also really good to chat with Dr A, he was his normal jovial exuberant self and we laughed and joked about a number of different things. We congratulated him on receiving an award at the recent Esophageal Cancer Action Network's annual fundraiser, in which he used to sit on the board of directors. His eyes then caught Megs Philippians 4:13 bracelet...it not the first time he's seen that verse...but he read the whole thing out loud. That brought a smile to our faces. Overall, we came out of that meeting relieved, encouraged, strengthened and blessed that God continues to use us and shape us through all this.

So hopefully that catches everybody up, and thank you for your continued prayers and support. Speaking of support, we are looking forward to the Mile4Wiles event on June 2nd. As long as I feel well, I will be there and hopefully walking with you all who are able to make it. We look forward to seeing those who will be in attendance and send a huge Thank You to all those who are supporting the event. We are blessed by your overwhelming generosity!

Thought I would end on what keeps me going each day. Taylor! I know my ugly mug doesn't bring the smiles that her's do. So enjoy, I know she has enjoyed having visitors and getting to do special things with them.

Trust in Him
God Bless!
Jason