Jay Ayers

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

Dear Friends –

As the old joke says, I’ve got good news and bad news.

Over the last two weeks I’ve had two six-months-past-chemotherapy scans: first a CT scan of my chest and abdomen on August 15, and then a blood DNA test on August 19. Both of them showed no sign of cancer. At the meeting with the oncologist this past Tuesday morning, he said we’d continue to run the blood test every three months, but we can reduce the CT scan schedule to twice a year.

But one of the other tests in the complete metabolic panel was not so encouraging. My egfr ratio has dropped again. It’s a mathematical formula that combines several measures to approximate the percent effectiveness of the kidneys. A normal reading is 50% or higher. When my Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD for short) was first diagnosed in 2012, my egfr was 32. The pattern since then has been for the number to remain stable for several years, and then drift down a little: to the high 20s for a while, to the low 20s for a while, and during chemotherapy down into the high teens. If it gets to 15 or below, it’s time to start dialysis. Yesterday’s blood test showed an egfr of 14. So the next step is to decide whether to go with peritoneal dialysis or hemodialysis. We have seen, by reading up on them online, that there are pros and cons in both directions. Over the next several weeks we’ll be discussing the options with the nephrologist and deciding which process will work the best for me.

Ever since I found out I have CKD, I’ve known that this would happen at some point. I would have preferred for it to wait a few more years, but as we can see, I am not in charge of the schedule. I’ll admit that my soul is a little ragged at this point. Physically I’ve been feeling fine, slowly gaining in strength and stamina, going to the gym two or three times a week, walking a mile most every day (2.75 miles last Friday). But yeah, I can tell I’m going to need some more time to process the emotions I’m feeling. I’d be grateful for your prayers.

Meanwhile, our little praise band played in church this past Sunday, with Heart of Worship and Trees of the Field. I’m playing guitar more reliably, with the neuropathy slowly fading away, but I still often fail to transition properly from one chord to another. We’ve got six of us singing, two on guitar, a bass player and a pianist, and two tambourines. It feels good to be part of this group.

I’m also scheduled to teach a couple of courses: one for the presbytery, “Jesus and the Pharisees: a study of Matthew 12;” and one for our church, “Beginners Bible Study.” Both classes will run for four sessions. I’m glad to have the opportunity to be of service this way, and to have recovered enough stamina to be confident that I can physically do this.

I am finding strength in these words, from Philippians 4: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” I pray that the peace of God will sustain you, and me, in all the days to come.

Thank you and bless you, for all your prayers –

blog: james-ayers.com