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Kyun and I are off to China! Please visit the following blog site while we are away (we will redirect you back here when we return):
http://macktinalin.blog.com

We will be in Beijing for part of the trip to visit some specialist doctors there. The doctors want to do multiple days worth of tests on my dad.

Surprised Doctors

The doctors at the hospital were surprised by the results of my dad's CT-PET scans. Going into it, they told us the goal was to get the tumor smaller, and long-term wise, gene therapy is just supposed to stabilize the cancer. You learn to "live with cancer", meaning it isn't totally gone, but it's not actively growing or spreading. They don't advertise gene therapy as a cancer-cure.

My dad's doctors said they've never seen these results before in a stage 3 or 4 cancer patient.

A number of people were praying with us for my dad's complete healing, and I truly was praying it with faith that God could do it. I knew He could. Yet, when it happened, there's still this surprise, like "WOA, seriously God?" I don't know why I was so shocked, I shouldn't be! About the next thing that came into my mind was "Alright, gotta keep praying for mom".

On Sunday, my dad will be speaking at a fellowship in ShenZhen. He's getting more of his strength back, after having a fever again and having less of an appetite. The next steps are still uncertain, since the results just came back. There is the option to continue with more treatments, or possibly return home earlier. We will keep people posted. In the meantime, Kyun and I are still scheduled to leave for China early next week.

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.