Medical Itinerary

When I hear the word "itinerary", I think of my flight or hotel itinerary for a trip to somewhere relaxing or fun. Unfortunately, this week I learned of another way to use this word. SCCA emailed "Mack's Medical Itinerary" - a listing of all the times my dad has to go in for different appointments. The following is his itinerary for this coming week, in preparation for chemo beginning 5/19:

M 5/10: 8:15am Blood draw, 9:30am patient education on port-care
T 5/11: 1:30pm Port prep, 2:30pm Port placement, 3:45pm recovery
F 5/14: 8:00am Heart scan, 9:30am patient education with GI oncologist, 10:30am patient education on chemo and side effects

Please pray especially for my dad's port placement on Tuesday. There is also a chemo drug that the oncologist has proposed which is extremely toxic and damaging to internal organs - my dad is seeking whether or not he should use this drug.

My dad went down to LA this weekend for just two days to see his family. He wanted to talk to his parents before his chemo treatments started up again, since they cannot easily travel. My dad also shared the gospel again with his parents, who are not yet believers. We are grateful that he had the time to make that trip, and also glad that all of his siblings will gather here in Seattle for a couple days in July.

Chemo Begins May 19th

Many appointments and doctor visits were made today, and we found out that my dad's chemo treatments will begin May 19th. Before then, there are all sorts of other things that need to happen, such as getting the port implanted in his chest, doing a heart scan, getting blood work done, and meeting with doctors and nurses to understand his new chemo regimen, along with all the potential side effects he will face.

Please keep my parents in prayers, to have physical and mental strength through all the visits, and new terms being thrown their way. Praise the Lord that I really see them having the spiritual peace that comes from God, which truly surpasses all understanding.

Family Photos

A long-time family friend, Phil, helped us take some pictures this past weekend. We had quite a fun photo shoot. Here are just a few:

More Treatment Details

Here are a few more details for those interested. Previously, when my dad did chemo, he took Xeloda, the oral version of a drug called 5FU. It was the most aggressive treatment possible at the time. The current plan is to have a port implanted in his chest, and start getting the 5FU chemo treatments soon.


There is a newer drug out now, Herceptin, which has been shown to help stomach cancer patients. The issue is that it only works for about 20% of stomach cancers, so we have 2 weeks to wait before finding out if Herceptin will work on my dad (tests are being run). Ideally, my dad would like to try Herceptin, since it tends to have less side effects. Also, since it's a new drug he hasn't tried, we hope the results will be better than just using the same drug (Xeloda/5FU) as before.

Treatment Decisions

The results of the PET scan were shared with my parents yesterday. Many lymphnodes "lit up", indicating the cancer has spread to those lymphnodes. The largest mass is still the one near his kidney. Please pray for my dad, as he has to decide in the near future which chemo treatment to do. He got one regimen from an oncologist of 2 months of a new chemo drug followed by radiation, but may try to find out if other local oncologists have different suggestions. This would also mean having to decide which oncologist and hospital to go to for all of his treatments.

Thirty Beautiful Years

Of all the couples I’ve ever met, my parents are the closest example I've found of having a marriage like how the Bible describes it. And I am not biased; I have had people tell me how it is almost sickening that my parents get along so well and love each other so much (I think they were all just jealous). My parents worked together for my entire childhood until I went to college, and then they worked together from home, and then they both got sick, and now spend every day together at home or traveling.

Today is their 30th wedding anniversary. I am thankful that I have my parents as such great role models. Happy Anniversary!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday, and all of us kids wrote poems for him.

Kyun:
Life of Devotion
To God, To Wife, To Children
Great Model for All

Connie:
My dad’s name is Mack,
His mind is sharp as a tack,
He fixes everything himself and is ever so handy,
He started wearing flannel long before it was trendy.

He loves to go fishing,
And also loves gardening,
He picked up woodworking,
And even acupuncturing.

I love, respect, and admire my dad,
I’m sorry I ever made him mad,
He loves the Lord dearly,
And he is my hero, clearly.

Gary:
My da is...
A farmer in the city,
A stargazer when its pretty,
A cyclist and a logger,
but flat-footed, definitely not a jogger.
He's the quiet disciplinarian
with a louder laugh in comparison,
to all the times I was beat.
My da loves me nonetheless, I know its not an easy feat.

My dieh is...
A fisherman and captain,
Even if we run aground in the Key or in the Sound,
a flashlight in the water, Oops there's the ground!
And when I was in a pinch,
by the claw of a crab, that grinch,
My dieh swooped to the rescue, for him, pft, such a cinch.
From that moment on I knew
my dieh would protect me, always,
It's true!

My father is...
A godly, well-respected man
He serves people by his hand
And through walk, not just talk,
A daily lesson is always taught
that more important than self or wealth
is reliance on God, for spiritual health.

So happy birthday to you, my da, dieh, and father.

Piper:
I was a little intimidated by him at first,
because he was so much quieter compared to mom,
and always so calm.

I was worried to offend him by saying anything wrong,
because he seemed so serious,
and I am often delirious.

But today, that is no longer the case.

I now know he likes sweet things like ice cream,
and building a log cabin is his dream

He prefers not having to dress up in formal wear,
comfort and baseball hats are his signature

He is smart and handy,
has drawers of oriental herbs and a garage full of nice tools

He's gone through books and books of sudoku,
is ever so patient as he claps his hands for his granddaughter, and feeds her when she's bawling out-of-control

He is my father-in-law,
a super cool grandfather
a man who is dedicated to the Lord.

We love you! K, C, G, & P