In my last parish I sent out a weekly prayer letter to everyone, asking people to pray regarding various local and global concerns. I stopped doing that when I stopped being the pastor there, with my retirement in October 2022. But when I received my cancer diagnosis, I started up again, updating people regarding my ongoing situation.
Dear Senior Sentinels,
Once again I am writing to you all, asking for your prayers. On Palm Sunday evening I felt quite ill, sending me to the emergency room, where they diagnosed a diverticulitis infection. They gave me some heavy duty antibiotics, and in a few days it was all cleared up. But at a follow-up colonoscopy on April 14, they found it was not diverticulitis: the infection was caused by a 5 centimeter cancer in my large intestine.
I’ve had some follow-up scans, and Micaela and I met with the surgeon this past Friday. This doctor is bright, articulate, and compassionate, and an expert in this kind of cancer. She said that one of the scans had revealed a spot in my lung which might be just old scar tissue, but it might be a sign that the cancer has spread. So she’s scheduled me for a PET scan on May 2 to check on that possibility. After that, surgery to remove the tumor and part of my large intestine is tentatively scheduled for May 16. I’ll need to come off my blood thinner medications five days before that, so that all the incisions will heal properly.
You all know about my stage 4 Chronic Kidney Disease, the anemia caused by the CKD, and the shortness of breath and general lack of stamina caused by the anemia. You know that shortly after we moved to Michigan they put a stent in one of my coronary arteries, which significantly improved my labored breathing. I had kind of thought that this was enough, and I wouldn’t really need any more medical issues. But here we are, with cancer added to the mix.
Right at the moment, we don’t know how this will turn out. This could be a straightforward surgery, with a cancer that has not spread and all of it completely removed. Or we may discover that it’s more complicated, with cancer having spread to the lungs and possibly other places, which will need radiation or chemotherapy. So, as happens so often in this life, we must simply entrust ourselves to the safekeeping of our God: we are all in the hands of Jesus, and “in life and in death, we belong to the Lord.”
I have believed this for a long time, and I still believe it: but these present circumstances do put that confidence to the test. I would be fibbing if I claimed not to feel any anxiety. So I ask for your prayers: for the skill of the surgeon and the rest of the medical team, for all the preparations that must take place between now and mid-May, for our hearts to be sustained by the grace of Jesus, and for a good outcome.
And please: Keep your own hearts strong in your faith, too, as you seek to live day by day as the steadfast disciples of our Lord. I am so grateful for you all.
Many, many blessings to you –
james-ayers.com 