Jay Ayers

1118 Conifer Court
jayers55@gmail.com
Jenison MI 49428
(316) 323-9107

April 15, 2024

Dear Friends –

I’m now about ten weeks past the last infusion of chemotherapy, and feeling generally better. As I mentioned last month, I’ve had three scans – a blood test, a CT scan, and a colonoscopy – and all three reported no evidence of cancer cells. Since then I’ve had a pulmonary function test, on which I scored (ahem) 102%. The extra points are because they calculate what your lung capacity should be based on your gender, height, and age: and mine turns out to be slightly more than that. So, being a preacher full of hot air has paid off! I’ve also seen the cardiologist, who is quite happy with my progress.

I asked the guy at the local computer shop if he had any keyboards designed for neuropathy patients. I explained that I couldn’t reliably feel the raised dots on the F and J keys, so I ended up with my hands in the wrong place. He didn’t have any. He spent a few minutes browsing the internet, to see if he could find something; but similarly to what I had found, most of the helper keyboards are designed for people who have visual issues. But he did have a useful suggestion. “Buy a velcro strip,” he said. “Cut little squares out of it, and glue them to the F and J. That will give your fingertips something much more substantial to feel.”

So I went home and told Micaela about this, and she reached into her sewing supplies and pulled out a page of velcro circles. I cut one of them up to make little squares, and stuck them on the F and J keys. They are actually a little uncomfortable, but that turns out to be a good thing: my index fingers definitely know when they’re in the proper position. So I am typing much more happily.

Still doing physical therapy twice a week, and making good progress there as well. Regularly walking laps in their small gymnasium: 70 laps is a mile, and I did 50 laps today, 10 of which were jogging rather than walking. Plus 100 chair squats (10 sets of 10) and 120 diagonal pushups (4 sets of 30), along with a number of exercises to improve balance. I think I’ll end up with four more weeks at Advent PT, and then I’ll be switching over to Snap Fitness, continuing to do the exercises I’ve learned from the therapists at Advent.

So Jesus is healing me, allowing me to get stronger day by day, in answer to so many prayers that have been lifted up on my behalf. It will be most of a year before I’ll know whether the neuropathy will go away: nerves heal very slowly, and sometimes not at all. But however that may turn out, I am so grateful for all the love and support of dear people like you.

Thanks for all your prayers –

blog: james-ayers.com