Update (1/19/2015) - 行過水火 (開始服新藥第七天)

你從水中經過，我必與你同在； 你(走昜)過江河，水必不漫過你； 你從火中行過，必不被燒， 火焰也不着在你身上。 (以賽亞書 43:2)

1/13 開始服用新藥CO-1686, 到了第三天 (1/15日晚), 麗芳的疼痛已急遽減輕. 當晚, 她沒有服用任何止痛劑, 一覺到天亮. 從那天直到今天, 麗芳沒有再吃任何止痛劑, 包括Advil. 哈利路亞! 再一次的， 我們經歷神做事的奇妙!

從起初, 神就對麗芳說" 你會走過來, 並且繼續往前." 然而, 回想這一段旅程中, 我們的信心曾經過三次極大的考驗.
【不誤時, 不誤事的神】當2013年9月, 診斷出來是肺癌4期, 我們切切的禱告, 求神讓擴散不要到腦. 結果呢? MRI檢驗出來不只已經到腦, 而且是十分嚴重. 當時, 我們絕望了, 到了腦子, 豈不是等死嗎? 我們不禁問神說- 【你真的知道你在做什麼嗎? 你聽禱告嗎?】可是, 神好像不慌不忙, 像在拉撒路的事上, 他又拖了兩天 (約翰福音 11:6). 然而, 吃了 Tarceva 兩個月後, 再檢驗 , 腦子完全乾淨, 2013年12月一直到今天, 腦子一直是乾淨的. 所有的禱告神都聽了. 神是信實的! 榮耀歸神!

在2013年底, 神就賜下以賽亞書 43:2給麗芳:我們卻不曾想到, 在2014年等著我們 的就是水與火的試煉!
【水的試煉】2014二月, 胸腔積水來勢汹汹, 抽了又回來. 六月中, 麗芳前胸裝了一根引流管. 在家中, 我們自己抽水. 那日子好像沒完沒了般的絕望. 我們不禁再次問神說- 【你真的知道你在做什麼嗎? 你聽禱告嗎?】 可是, 到七月底, 胸腔積水居然奇蹟似的無聲無息的乾了, 至今醫生也沒有好的解釋. 八月中, 在化療前, 引流管被移除了! 水的試煉過去了. 火的試驗接連而來!
【火的試煉】2014年九月開始化療, 11月正式宣告化療失敗. 在其間, 癌細胞在麗芳的骨頭上迅速蔓延, 疼痛如同火燒. 半夜常疼醒. 止痛藥也不太管用, 還有讓麗芳嘔吐的副作用. 在疼痛與虛弱中, 好多次, 麗芳問我- "孝棟, 你覺得我能撐得下去嗎?" 我不太有底氣的給她打氣:"神說能走過來就一定能!" 然後我趕緊下樓, 在神面前哭訴- "夫子, 我們喪命啦, 你不顧嗎?" (馬可 4:38) 然而, 化療的失敗卻讓我們因此符合這新藥實驗的要求. 只是轉眼(三天) 之間, 那種痛不欲生的火的試煉又過去了,一切好像是一場夢.


因著神的信實與你們的代禱, 我們平安走過2014那水與火的試煉. 明天如何? 我們不知道, 但知道祂掌管明天! 過了紅海, 還有許多的挑戰在前方.

- 請為藥持續有效, 且最小副作用禱告.

- 請為麗芳的身體能恢復健康禱告!

過了紅海, 2015, 求神帶我們不停在曠野, 直入迦南!



Donald & Sue

Update (1/12/2015) - 海中乾地

親們,

在以色列人過紅海的前夜, 大東風吹了一夜, 紅海才成為乾地. 然而, 在那一夜的驚恐等待中, 我不知道摩西和以色列人是如何過的?! 這一陣子, 麗芳的情形惡化的蠻快的. 從11月中到如今, 將近兩個月沒有治療性藥物. 她骨頭疼痛的部位及程度都在快速加增. 止痛劑的副作用(頭暈,嘔吐) 也使身體更為虛弱. 昨天, 我倆一起禱告時, 我們向神說- 我們已經沒力氣了, 求神憐憫.
自從12/29 做了活檢 (biopsy) , 一直在等待結果. 1/6 檢驗結果提前出來(原來要10個工作天的), 感謝主, 麗芳的固態腫瘤有他們所要的T790 m 抗藥基因. 但仍需做血液, 心臟等檢驗. 1/8 我們做了系列檢查.今天(1/12)早上, 正式通知我們進入了這個新藥的研究計畫. 這新藥(Clovis 的 CO-1686 ) 是標靶式的服用藥. 明天早上(1/13) 會上 Irvine, 再抽血, 然後服下第一顆藥,兩小時候, 做心臟檢查. 哈利路亞, 一條乾地終於出現在紅海中! 求神給麗芳力量能走過這神為我們在海中開闢的乾地!

謝謝大家與我們一同走過這一個一個的深淵, 低谷. 神是信實的, 我們所受的不會過於我們所能承受的. 你們不離不棄, 在愛中的禱告及各樣的幫助, 我們都銘刻在心. 與你們在主裡相約, 好好愛祂, 趁著有力量的時候服事祂; 等麗芳好起來, 我們再一同在主裡同工!

孝棟/麗芳

Update 1/2/2015

Happy New Year to all of you, our family in the Lord!

2014 had not been an easy year for us. Yet, as we looked back and counted our blessings on the New Year's eve, we are surprised by God's love through all of you. Thank you! Without your supports (prayers and many other practical caring acts), we couldn't have made it.

As you may have known, towards the end of the 2014, Sue has developed drug resistance for the targeting cancer drug Tarceva, and she did not respond well to the chemo treatment either. Thus, we are currently applying for a clinical trial program at U. C. Irvine. The program uses a new targeting drug developing by the Clovis company. Sue's cancer cells need to have a certain genetic structure (T790m mutation) for her to be qualified. She had completed the biopsy on 12/29/14. It will take about 10 business days before we know the results.

Waiting is the most difficult lesson for us to learn; especially when the situation is critically urgent. As I described in my previous update (in Chinese), we are like the ancient Israelites, trapped between the Red Sea and the enemy's army. All we can do is to stretch our hand of faith over the Red Sea, and wait patiently. The rest is all God's work. In those days, HE caused the Great East wind to blow whole night to open the way in the Red Sea. HE caused the pillars of fire (cloud) moved to hinder the enemy's army all night long. So, we are waiting for His mercy!

Despite all the struggles, we did not turn in a blank exam paper in 2014.

We learned that the church is God's since the Central Campus are doing well despite our inadequacies.

We learned to admit our needs and to ask for helps. We learned to receive helps graciously and ask God's blessings for the providers.

We are learning to fight the spiritual battles with prayers, and are still learning!

Donald is also proud to inform you that he received a high score from Sue in serving her in the past year. (What a rewarding experience!)

We are standing firm and waiting to see what God has prepared for us in 2015. We do not know what tomorrow may bring, but we know who holds the future! We covet for your continue prayer supports.



Donald & Sue

Update 12/18/2014 - 大東風之夜

親們,

在以色列人過紅海的前夜, 大東風吹了一夜, 紅海才成為乾地. 然而, 在那一夜的驚恐等待中, 我不知道摩西和以色列人是如何過的?!

紅海邊, 眾多弟兄姊妹與我們同心向海伸杖, 只聽大東風呼呼吹起, 然而前行的路還是泥濘. 昨天, 上去 Irvine 見到了 Dr. Ou. 他的手上有好幾個Clinical Trials.  他也很幫忙的 Order 了緊急的檢驗, 希望在一, 兩周內可以完成採樣(biopsy). 但因為馬上就是聖誕假期, 他也不知會多快. 

麗芳的癌細胞現在主要在骨頭擴散, 每一天的拖延都不好, 而疼痛時好像火在骨頭裡燒. 神曾賜下以賽亞書 43:1-2

雅各啊，創造你的耶和華，以色列啊，造成你的那位， 現在如此說： 你不要害怕！因為我救贖了你。 我曾提你的名召你，你是屬我的。 你從水中經過，我必與你同在； 你(走昜)過江河，水必不漫過你； 你從火中行過，必不被燒，

水的試驗(肺積水), 神信實的帶過了; 如今火的試煉, 還能嗎?

保羅曾說,有時- "連活命的指望都絕了!" (林後1:8) 求神在檢驗的事上給我們通達的道路, 並在這等候的期間, 求神加力剛強, 並那雲柱/火柱挪移, 為我們阻擋癌細胞的繼續擴散! 

Donald & Sue

Update 12/8/2014 - 在紅海邊

親們,

記得以色列人出埃及後來到紅海邊的故事嗎? 前面是大浪翻騰的紅海, 後面是法老的追兵.

現在我們的境遇就像是以色列人當年一樣. 今天見到癌症醫生, 她第一句話就是 "化療無效". 麗芳做了四次化療, 然而PET 掃描發現癌細胞的活動在多處增加, 腎上腺體及肺的腫瘤增長, 多處淋巴感染, 骨頭也多處長出腫瘤 (所以造成麗芳的疼痛). 口服的靶向治療的藥有了抗藥性, 化療又無效, 情形不樂觀.!

但詭異的是我們卻因此有機會可能參與 clinical trials (包括 Clovis 的三代藥. 麗芳經由血液篩檢, 有 T790m mutation. 還須重做 biopsy 證實, 以及 PDL-1 的免疫療法試驗- 還需做biopsy 看是否有那種蛋白). 沒有一個是確定的, 還要做許多檢測. 但又是充滿盼望的!

神的道在海中. 神分開紅海, 以色列人走乾地過去. 求神今日也為我們分開這似乎沒有路的境遇. 神哪, 我們向海伸出信心的杖! 麗芳近日身體極端虛弱也需你們的代禱托住!

Donald & Sue

Update (11/20): Day 3 after the 4th Chemo- Life is tough, but God is good!

Dear Family,

Sue was in a bad shape on 11/16 (Sunday) , the day before the 4th chemo. When I came home from church, I found her lying at the bottom of the stairs, vomited all over. She seemed fainted when she tried to walk up the stairs. Fortunately, she was not hurt in any way. Yet, my heart was aching to see her suffer like that. We asked a Chinese medicine doctor to check on Sue. He concluded that Sue was just too weak. He prescribed a few herb medicines to broil in water. Sue drank and fell asleep immediately. Praise God! She woke up next morning with a very stable condition. The blood work before the chemo also showed acceptable condition. Thus, we completed the chemo treatment smoothly.

What's next? Our doctor said that a latest study showed that chemo + Tarceva (the targeting drug we use) will not make the patient live longer. Thus, she would like to reconsider Sue's treatment plan. We will do a PET scan on 12/4. Then-

If the results is stable, the doctor will stop the chemo and put her back on Tarceva.

If the results is not good, she may stop the Trarceva and put her on other types of chemo or the clinical trial of PD- 1 (the new immune treatment, if Sue's cancer cell has the necessary PD-1 proteinexpression).

Thus, the future treatment plan is totally unknown for now, but Sue is doing pretty good after this chemo.

The doctor has also ordered radiation treatment to address Sue's bone pains. Sue has two tumor lumps: one is around the right side of the cervical vertebrae (top of the spine), which may have caused her neck pain and dizziness. The other is in the left side of scapula (肩胛骨) area, which may have caused her pain on the left shoulder and left upper-arm. There are also some active cancer areas in the pelvis on both sides. We will begin a low dosage radiation treatment for consecutive 5 days (12/1-5) to control the cancer in those areas.


Thus, please pray for (1) God's guidance in the direction of the future treatment. (2) Max effect of radiation in reducing Sue's neck, shoulder, and other bone pains with min side effects.
Despite all these unknowns and new challenges, we are experiencing joy and peace. (Strange, isn't it?) We pray together every night for ourselves and for the other suffering brothers and sisters. We gave thanks for all the prayers, food supplies, advises, financial supports, friendships and gifts we have received. We are not worthy, but we felt so blessed to be in this big family!

May God bless you and your family according to His promise-

... whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. (Matthew 25:40)

Donald & Sue

Day 1 after the 3rd chemo (update on 10/28/2014)

Dear Family,

Sue has gone through the 3rd chemo smoothly. The blood test before the 3rd chemo was OK. The white blood cell count and platelet count are still within the normal range, but the red blood cell count has dropped out of the normal range, although not by too much. Usually, the first week after the chemo will be tough, loaded with side effects plus weakness. We covet for your prayers. Please pray for the maximum effectiveness and minimum side effects.

How effective was the previous two treatments? The CT taken last week shows that the nodules (all are < 5 mm in Sue's case) in the lung areas are stable, a few are even shrinking slightly. The single swollen lymph node has also shrunk from 2 cm to 1.5 cm. The Adriano gland (腎上腺) seems also responded to the treatment and become smaller (Needs to be verified using PET). Thus, the doctor gave a "stable" mark. Thank you Lord!

However, Sue has been experiencing more bone pain in the shoulder and pelvic areas. Doctor will order low dosage local radiations (10 times in 10 days, a few minutes each time) for the pelvic area. We will see how it goes. Although it began as a lung cancer, but looks like bone (bone metastasis) will be the major battle field in the future treatment.

Several brothers and sisters, in our campus and in others campuses, were diagnosed with various cancers in the past month. We pray that they will all experience God in a rich way just like us, but in a better condition without this much sufferings (Acts 26:20- except for these chains). Lord, have mercy on us!

Donald & Sue