Miracles Happen!

My dad had a CT and PET scan done two days ago, and he just got the results - the doctor can't see the tumor! It's gone! And in the PET scan, previously it "lit up" where the cancer had spread...but this time there were absolutely no places were the cancer lit up! The doctor said he has never seen this happen before.

I'm in shock, basically my mind isn't able to process it all right now. Praise the LORD!

Gene Therapy Side Effects

One indicator that the gene therapy is working well is that the patient gets a high fever soon after the treatment. In the first treatment my dad had, he did not have a very high temperature. This second time, he had a 40 degree C fever, which is very high. The doctors were very happy with the results this time (how often can you be thankful for a fever?). For my dad, this means he is extremely uncomfortable for 3-4 days. He basically doesn't eat for 2 days, and immediately after the procedure he has to lay still in bed for 8 hours, causing him to feel very restless, and his muscles to ache a lot. Besides the fever, he also vomitted. He is recovering now, though. Compared to the side effects from chemo, my dad prefers this, since the most painful/uncomfortable period is only a few days long.

Just as in the past, when my parents were sick, I have again been reminded how beautiful it is to be in the body of Christ. So many brothers and sisters, from kids in elementary school to the folks who are my grandparents' age, are praying daily for my parents. People from the ShenZhen fellowship who didn't know my parents before are visiting my parents in the hospital.

We just read Titus 3 at Bible Study last week, and it ends with "Everyone with me sends you greetings. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all." There is truly a sense of love among brothers and sisters, and we so appreciate it. My parents send everyone their greetings from China also.

ShenZhen Update

Thanks for all those who suggested ideas for us to keep up the blog while in China. We've found a few options, and will let you know what we end up deciding on.

My dad is getting another gene therapy treatment tomorrow. Besides treatments, my parents have had quite a few visitors, they've been exercising and walking outside every day despite the heat, and have made a couple trips to the local Wal-Mart.

Take a guess, what's the fate of these animals?

Visitors from the ShenZhen area church:

Some Seattlelites visited - the Ma family:

My Uncle Phil from L.A. and Uncle Gary from Germany visited for an evening while on a business trip:

The Great Firewall

One difficulty from being in China is that many sites which we take for granted in accessing in the US are blocked! My parents cannot view this blog (all blogspots are blocked), and also cannot view facebook, picasa, youtube, yahoo messenger, etc. Please do not take it personally if they are not responding to you while they are away - just assume it's the great firewall in full force.

In the meantime, in preparation for us being in China for one month with my parents, I've been trying to figure out some alternatives for keeping people posted about everything. I think I might've found a blog site that is still open in China...I will let you know when it comes closer to that time.

Therapy Photos

Here are some pictures from my dad's first treatment. He had two heat treatments.

He had his gene therapy which was 6 small tubes of the p-53 gene.
My dad had a fever after the gene therapy treatment, which is supposed to happen. After two days of feeling very fatigued, he is all back to normal, and feels pretty good. Each day he is getting lots of IV fluids still - today he is having 4 bags pumped in.

And, this is how we've been keeping in touch - skype!

Kyun and I purchased our tickets to go visit my parents in China, and we will be there for 4 weeks.

Gene Therapy - First Session!

My dad's first gene therapy session will begin in a couple hours (Friday 9am their time, Thursday 6pm PST). It entails shots of the following into the artery which feeds the largest tumor he has:
-4 gene injections (not exactly sure what that means)
-A light chemo dosage of 5FU and cisplatin

He will be awake during the one hour procedure, and will be able to watch the process on the monitor. He then needs to stay in bed for 8 hours for the injection spot at his artery to heal (similar to the healing needed for an angiogram).

Week One in ShenZhen

My parents held their first English Bible Study at the hospital yesterday - 12 people attended. They read from Isaiah and sang some hymns. Cool huh?

Everyone in the family has been able to skype with my parents (even my grandfather, who is so excited about the fact that it's free, and my parents can see us and we can see them!) My parents have quick access to different foods/restaurants, there's a nearby Wal-Mart, and a stadium/field next door, where they exercise in the mornings.

My dad has been going through all sorts of tests, every day. The 11th will be the first dosage of gene therapy. Praying that all goes smoothly!

Some brothers and sisters have taken 1.5 hour bus rides to go see my parents in the hospital, and some of them never even met my parents before! Every one is so kind and loving. It makes me realize my own shortcomings - for the friends/family who have gone through difficult times before my parents, I didn't do a good enough job trying to show my concern, help, prayers, etc. Being on the receiving end, it's really easy to see that some people really are especially gifted in this manner. Thank you!

Busy in ShenZhen!

My parents' first few days in ShenZhen have been busy! My dad's been getting all sorts of basic tests done, to get a baseline picture of his health. His first gene therapy treatment will be on June 11th, and it takes less than one hour - my dad will be awake the whole time. Most of his lab results are coming out as expected, except one - neutrophile. When it is under 1.0, he gets booster shots at SCCA. He is pretty far under right now, at 0.4, which can be dangerous so he'll be getting 3 booster shots the next 3 days.

They've had brothers and sisters from the area visit them at the hospital, and Silas and Sophie (used to attend SCA) also visited them. My parents had a desire before they left to start an English Bible Study at the hospital (targeting the nurses and doctors there), so they spoke to their doctor about it. Apparently the doctor has already sent a hospital-wide email announcement about this, so please keep them in your prayers as they try to reach out to the folks there through this Bible study.

Arrived Safely in ShenZhen

My parents arrived in ShenZhen. They will begin w/some basic blood work, other lab tests, and a CT scan the first couple days. Check out their hospital room - it's a "VIP" room, with a separate sitting area, and most importantly, functioning AC and internet access.

Learning to Pray for Healing

Throughout the past few years, people have asked "can your mom play piano yet?" numerous times and I scoff and think "are you kidding me? you have no clue what you're talking about" because my mom is far from being able to have that kind of control over her left hand. It actually almost makes me angry that people would dare think it's that easy and fast for my mom to recover, when they don't see the her persistence and the struggles she goes through to get to where she is even now (which already seems like a miracle - I still remember the first night in the hospital, when she could move absolutely nothing on her left side, and thinking she was going to be bed-ridden for the rest of her life). I just figured people asked questions like that because a) they didn't know what else to say, or b) because they were naive.

I'm starting to be more aware of a third option though - c) some people pray for miraculous healing. It's not like I've ever thought that God can't do something - I know in my head He can do anything, and He still performs miracles to this day. I really believe He can if He wants to.

Some people have been emailing and saying they're "praying for healing" now that my dad's cancer has returned. And I just kept thinking "yea yea, sure, that's good positive thinking, they don't know what else to say so they're trying to be encouraging". But it's time for me to learn to pray this for my dad and mom too, so I started this morning. I don't really know why I didn't seriously pray that before...I guess I'm too "practical" of a person. I accept the lot the Lord has given us in our life, and just figured that He signed off on my mom having a stroke, and He signed off on my dad having cancer. So, just accept it and roll with it. I think that is ok too - it doesn't mean that if you accept it, you have less faith. Cause you still are having faith in Him that He is watching over everything and has everything planned perfectly, according to His good and pleasing will.

But it also means I might not be experiencing all of God and His power, and what He has in store. There's another aspect of faith that I've never experienced/understood. Maybe it is His desire to heal one/both of my parents! That would be so cool. So, if that is the case, I should start praying for it. And if that is not in His will, well, I accept that too.