Cancer Treatment

This past week has mainly been a week of making decisions. On Monday I went to MD Anderson and had an initial consultation with them to determine what their recommended plan forward is. From my understanding, MD Anderson is the top location for Sarcomas in the nation. While their recommended plan was essentially the same as Brooke Army Medical Center’s (BAMC), knowing that the plan is coming from a doctor who has seen my type of cancer many times and works at the top Sarcoma center in the nation brings a lot of peace of mind. It is a huge blessing that MD Anderson is now only 3-hours away and that some key people on my Air Force team worked a lot of things in the background to get me in. One thing I appreciated about MD Anderson was their understanding of how aspects like nutrition and exercise can positively affect your treatment which was something that BAMC was initially less inclined to explore.

On Tuesday I met again with my Oncologist at BAMC. It was a mentally exhausting 2.5 hour meeting with him, but by the end, we had the basis of a working plan that would include both natural and conventional approaches to heal the cancer, includes oversight from both MD Anderson and BAMC, and allows me to be local to BAMC where the treatment will be taking place. The final plan is:

• 5 Weeks of radiation to my bicep. This would have considerably less side effects and fatigue since it’s just my arm and not anywhere near critical organs.
• Surgery to remove the mass from my arm as well as a considerably portion of my bicep.
• 6-8 Weeks of recovery from the surgery and physical therapy.
• 6-12 months of ensuring the cancer is fully eradicated with the potential of going on a drug to slow the spread of the cancer.
• A bicep reconstruction surgery if needed to rebuild my bicep from another muscle in my body.

Another added benefit of being moved to San Antonio is the ability to work with a local integrative oncology center called Root Cause. While I will have to cover all of my treatments there out of pocket, they have an extensive set of natural therapies they provide and are led by someone with an extensive background in natural and traditional cancer treatments. My Oncologist at BAMC doesn’t expect to see any results from the natural therapies, but he has still been fantastic and has been reviewing the therapies himself to ensure they won’t cause any negative effects and is understanding of me wanting to try them.

I found out this week that my cancer is not the more common Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma type 1, but is instead type 2. This makes my already rare cancer even rarer and means that the immunotherapy drug that has had success for some people is no longer an option for me. The only drug based options available would be utilized to extend my life, not heal the cancer, and come with some pretty serious side effects. It appears conventional oncology can address the tumor in my bicep, but when it comes to the nodules in my lungs, they don’t have many options. While it’s difficult to determine exactly what value I should place on the natural therapies, learning this made me much more willing to spend the money to pursue whatever natural treatments I can.

There have been some rough days this week and fitful nights of sleep as I’ve had to weigh decisions such as:

• “Do I accept the long term risks of radiation or have even more of my bicep removed?”
• “Are these natural therapies worth pursing or are they just a hoax? How much am I willing to spend?”
• “Is BAMC or MD Anderson the best place to pursue treatment?”
• “Do I risk doing the radiation to save more bicep with the consequence that the cancer could continue to spread in the meantime?”
• “Is the radiation worth the risk that it will cause wound healing complications?”

While I am still constantly doubting my path forward, I am forcing myself to trust that the Lord has provided all the information that I need to make the decision and that I have made the best decisions possible. At this point I am very grateful to have a full understanding of where all the cancer is in my body and have a plan which includes both a traditional and natural oncologist providing guidance.

My New Life

This week I moved from my hotel room to the Solider Recovery Unit (SRU) on Fort Sam Houston. It’s a 3-minute drive to BAMC and is a clean and basic room which includes a full kitchen. I am still TDY out here, but once they PCS me here, I’ll have the rest of my things shipped from MS and will be more comfortable. I am currently assigned to the Medical Transition Unit (MTU) where my sole mission is to get treated. They also have a program where I can work for a local unit while I’m here. This week has been busy with moving-in and all the appointments, but I’m looking forward to being able to focus just on my conventional and natural treatments while potentially working part-time somewhere.

San Antonio has a lot of different churches so I’ve been showing up to a few different young adult groups and bible studies. I hope to get plugged into a good church soon and start building a good community for however long I’m in San Antonio.

While I was in Houston at MD Anderson, I also had the chance to get dinner with some friends at church in Pensacola. The Lord lined it up so we had appointments which were only 1-hour apart. It was really good to see a familiar face and to talk about something that’s completely new to both of us but such a big aspect of our lives currently.

I also met a fellow believer who is temporarily in the SRU with me. Him and I were able to go on a 6-mile hike about an hour outside of San Antonio today. It was really good to talk to someone whose having the same long-term health and future Air Force career thoughts as me, but is also processing it with the understanding that the Lord is in complete control.

The Lord Working

I’ve been thinking this week about the Philippians 4:21 “to live is Christ, to die is gain”. While I haven’t been in a real operational Air Force role yet, one of the benefits of signing up for an operational military role, is that it forces you to consider your perspective on death more than you would outside of that role. Over the last 4-years as I’ve prepared for my role in the military, I had to decide whether a job which puts my life at risk is one that I was willing to take. After lots of time thinking and praying about it, I eventually decided that it was worth the risk and Philippians 4:21 was an easy way to summarize that decision. However, one thing that I had failed to really consider was what Paul meant by ‘live’. I had always assumed that if I didn’t die in a sudden tragic situation, I would continue to pursue God while living my dream. This week however has forced me to realize that living might realistically mean living with substantial limitations in my arm or on a drug which is extending my life for an undetermined amount of time. While I truly believe that God can heal this cancer from me in the blink of an eye and it’s hard to think about these things, I now have so much more appreciation for what Paul meant when he wrote these words. A lot has changed about my life recently, but whether I return to flight school in the coming years or a medically discharged, my living will be for Christ.

Please continue to pray that the Lord would heal me. I’ve talked to someone who has a pretty amazing story of God healing him naturally and allowing him to return to flying has said “carrots or chemo, God’s the one that does the healing.” Ultimately God is the one who knows whether or not this cancer is going to go away and what kind of effect it will have on my future. Please also pray that I would get plugged in to a church out here soon and would be confident in my decisions as I start the different treatments.

Here’s some fun this about this week.

• Since this cancer is primarily seen in infants through about 25 years old, they classify it as a pediatric cancer and it gets treated in the pediatric oncologist department. This means that I have access to the great oncologist I’ve been working with, but also means that before every appointment, I sit in the waiting room with Paw Patrol on the walls and fill out a form that asks if my “child has had any of the following symptoms”.
• I got my first permanent tattoo this week. It’s a tiny dot on my arm which helps them position the radiation machine. I’m such a rebel.