Jay Ayers

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

Dear Friends –

At my 12-months-past-chemotherapy scans in February, the blood assay showed no sign of cancer, but the CT scan showed that the spot in my left lung was larger by about 2.8 centimeters than it had been previously. This could be nothing more than scar tissue becoming more evident, but it could also be a recurrence of cancer. I detected a note of anxiety in my oncologist’s voice when he called me on the phone to deliver the report on the spot in my lung.

So I’m scheduled for a PET scan on Thursday, where they will inject me with radioactive glucose and watch what it does. Cancer cells are voracious, so they gobble up all the glucose they can find, and so that higher-than-normal uptake should show up clearly on the scan if there are live cancer cells there. Whatever the PET scan shows, I anticipate we will then schedule a needle biopsy, “just to make sure” about what we’re looking at. Then we’ll reach a decision as to what the next steps will be: further surgery, or radiation, or a new course of chemotherapy. Or maybe the test results will show that there’s nothing there but old scar tissue, so we can all relax and give thanks to God.

Meanwhile, my kidney function continues to be stable, with my eGFR ratio showing at 15 at the latest blood test. I’m feeling good. I walked 50 miles in January, and 49 miles in February. I’ve started going to one or another of our local shopping malls to walk some days. Micaela and I were there on a Sunday evening, and the place was crowded, with kids on dates, parents with children, family outings. A couple days later I was there at 10 am, and I estimate there were four shoppers present, and about fifty walkers. Most of the walkers were old people, and they all went charging right past me. I thought I was moving at a pretty good pace, striding right along, but everyone was passing me. Except there was a young mother walking with her little boy, who I guess was about 4 years old. They were walking, rather than shopping, and the woman was going at her son’s pace. I passed them. So all the 80-year-olds were outpacing me, and I tried to take comfort in the fact that at least I’m faster than a 4-year-old.

All in all, I’ve felt like I’ve been making good progress, rebuilding stamina in the aftermath of cancer treatments. I admit that I’m feeling a little shook by the report that the spot in my lung has grown, and it’s hard waiting for the tests and their results. I feel like the guy who’s waiting anxiously for his lab results, and he calls up the doctor and pleads, “Doc, can you tell me the test results? I’m dying of curiosity.” And the doctor replies, “And not just of curiosity … ”

The Apostle Paul wrote, “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” I have set that as my watchword through all of this, and I still hold fast to it. If by God’s grace I have many years to go in this earthly life, or if the cancer has recurred and my remaining days will be few, either way I will trust in the Lord.

I am so grateful for all of your prayers. The expressions of love and faith and caring that I have received since my first diagnosis have been such a blessing to me. May our Lord continue to sustain you all, in the good days and the hard days.

Thanks again for your prayers –

blog: james-ayers.com