Gone fishing

It hardly seems possible, but nearly a month has slipped past since Drew’s final chemo and my last post. There has been news to report, but we’ve simply been too busy living life… and man does it ever feel good!

Here is the cliff-notes version of the craziness that has happened since my last post: Danielle graduated from the University of Washington (I’m super proud of her!). I officiated another wedding which Kathy helped coordinate. Drew had a post-chemo follow up with his oncologist, which went well resulting in him immediately departing for Canada to see Rachelyn – his travel ban has been lifted. Work went totally off the chain and I only narrowly escaped having to travel to Zurich. Our church held its annual VBS, which Kathy, Drew Amanda and I all helped with to varying degrees. Work stayed crazy and I barely dodged a trip to Panama. Then we left for Anvil Island in British Columbia where Drew, Amanda, Kathy and I all helped to staff a Bible camp for co-ed teens. It’s been nuts, but it’s also been a fantastic month.

The breathtaking setting of Daybreak Point Bible Camp on Anvil Island

Drew is doing very well. He is now almost a month past his final chemotherapy treatment and he is working hard to recover strength and stamina lost during the six months of treatment. He played a very active role at the camp on Anvil Island, but I could see the long and busy days wear on him over the course of the week. Most accounts I’ve read say it takes about as long as your treatments lasted for the body to fully recover, so Drew is likely looking at another 5 months to really feel like his old self again.

Drew was full throttle at Anvil Camp 1

On this coming Tuesday, Drew will have a PET scan. Originally he had been told this would be just a CT scan (no radioactive sugar in the blood), but the oncologist decided to proceed with the full PET scan in order to get one more look for metabolic activity over Drew’s entire body. Since this will be a full month past his final chemo, this scan offers the benefit of catching any recurrence right away. The results of this scan will also be used to make a final determination regarding Drew receiving radiation therapy. Under normal circumstances, Drew would be receiving radiation as a follow up to chemotherapy. For Drew, there are some increased risks associated with using radiation in the area where he had the bulky lymph node. They will not likely proceed with the radiation unless they determine the bulky node has shrunk so significantly that the risk to adjacent areas is minimal. We will get the results of the scan on Thursday, and hopefully a decision regarding radiation on the same day.

We’re trying to cram a lot into this next week, as we’re pressed for time… Drew and I are making good on a promise made on January 1, 2014… we’re going fishing! Barring an unexpected diversion for radiation therapy, Drew and I plan to spend the rest of July in Idaho and Montana tossing a line and hoping for lunkers.

A nice brown trout caught on the Galatin River in Montana