Dear Praying Friends,
Thanks for your
continued prayers. Last Friday I spent most of the day at USC/Norris
Cancer Center in Los Angeles undergoing a series of diagnostic tests.
This consisted of blood tests, a CT scan, a bone scan and a brain MRI.
The good news is that the cancer has not further metastasized to my
bones, brain or other internal organs. We are dealing solely with the
8-9 lesions in both lungs that are inoperable and specifically it is
one larger lung tumor that is growing.
I will have final
screening tests at USC this Friday, June 14. This will qualify me for
a brand-new experimental drug designed specifically for kidney cancer
patients. I will be the first person at USC to try this. It is an out-patient
therapy I will begin June 18 and consists of a half-hour intravenous
infusion for 3 days in repeated cycles every 3 weeks. I will be staying
with dear friends in Los Angeles who live just 15 minutes away from
the hospital – they have graciously opened their home to us on
many of our trips there already (thank you Ron and Carole!). The side
effects are supposedly minimal so I will be traveling there by myself
for this.
This is a long
shot but it is the only option I have right now. Since my prognosis
is very poor I have asked for a 90-day official health leave from Christians
in Action’s board. They have graciously granted it. This will
give me the time I need to deal with this therapy as well as do some
serious writing as I have the strength.
We are excited
as June 15th our oldest son, Jeremy, will be graduating with a bachelor’s
degree in Physical Geography from the University of California –
Santa Barbara. We plan to be there for the weekend to celebrate this
occasion. Please pray that Jeremy can find a position in Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) – his specific interest and training.
I send these updates
to over 250 people. Many of you have stated that you forward them on
to many others. I’m curious as to how many that is. Could you
send a short message giving me a number? For those of you who are receiving
this as a forward I would be happy to send it directly to you. Simply
send me a short message stating that. We do not send or forward unsolicited
e-mail (SPAM) to anyone on our list.
Trusting Him in
this Journey,
Doug Sutherland
