Some of you have noticed comments on Facebook about friends praying for Galen. We have not made an official announcement on Facebook about what has been going on, but feel that it is time to inform our Facebook family about the recent events in Galen’s life. We are not sure how long this has been going on, but at least throughout the summer, Galen has been having what we thought was issues with digestion. He was told that he probably had a milk allergy and we were watching dairy intake. At the beginning of August, we were together and a little nostalgic. We stopped at a malt shop and ordered a milkshake. This began a most memorable journey. We assumed that our inattention to a milk allergy caused Galen a lot of digestion problems and pain. We were in contact with the doctor and followed his advice but the problem did not correct itself. There was a lot happening in our family at the time, so we assumed that stress was contributing to the problem. Both of our children, now married, were expecting their first baby. At the end of August, our daughter-in-law went to the hospital with contractions. We begged God for protection, and Makala was able to go home without harm coming to the baby or the pregnancy. A week later, our daughter went to the doctor and was told to go straight to University Women’s Hospital because she was having contractions. The doctors told us that we were going to have a baby that day and, again, we begged God to intervene. The doctors were able to slow the contractions and in answer to prayer, we did not have a baby that day. Joy was admitted to the hospital and we were told that she would stay there until the baby was delivered. During this time, Galen’s mother had been very ill. We were watching her closely and staying overnight with her four nights a week to help out. On September 3, Galen’s mother went to heaven. Galen officiated her home-going service. The next day, our daughter, Joy began active labor again. We went to her and after several hours, Galen had to leave to prepare for a huge event at our church. The following day, Galen led the event at our church then left to join Joy, Shane, and myself back at the hospital. That evening Joy gave birth to our first grandson, Boaz Christopher Brown, at 25 weeks, on Grandparent’s Day! Boaz means “by God’s strength” and Christopher means “Christ bearer”. You can read their story on Facebook at Another Day~Another Miracle. All this time, Galen was still facing digestion issues. This led us to the end of September now and he had the responsibility of leading a Pastor and Spouse Retreat for all the pastor couples in our region. Galen, still having issues that zapped his energy and caused a great deal of discomfort, beautifully led the retreat. By the beginning of October, the discomfort and intermittent pain caused Galen to make an appointment to see the doctor. Again, he was told to correct his diet. The doctor said that if he had any pain, to call the office and he would order a CAT scan. That afternoon, Galen had moments of intense pain. He called the doctor and was told to go to the hospital for a CAT scan and not to leave until he was given the results. Galen was called to the phone in the waiting room and was told that he had a mass in his abdomen. The voice on the other end said that it was unclear what the mass was but that it had to come out. We now found ourselves waiting on a call from a surgeon to schedule an appointment. The following week was Pastor’s Orientation for our denomination, out of state. Galen decided that we should go. He shared the news we had received with the other pastors and they all gathered and prayed for him. It was such a blessing! God allowed us to attend the entire conference. We didn’t get a call from the surgeon until the last day of the conference. That Friday night and again on Sunday night, Galen performed his Gospel Elvis concert as a fund raiser for the expenses generated from the medical care for Boaz. God gave him strength and packed the house for both concerts. People were very generous and we were all blessed. The following day, we went to see the Canton surgeon and they told us that they don’t do surgery on the type of mass that Galen has and we would have to go to the Cleveland Clinic for that. They told us that the mass was in a difficult place for surgery - behind organs from the front, and close to the aorta if they were to go in from the back. We were able to see Dr. Wey in Cleveland who confirmed that this was not a good location for surgery and ordered a biopsy and a MRI be taken. Within the week the biopsy was taken. Because of the difficulty of the location they went in through the mouth, down through the stomach and out the small intestine. They called several specialists in for the biopsy and when they came to give a report on the procedure they told us that the tissue did not look good. Two days later Galen was in intense pain and called the elders of the church to pray for him. The next day, Galen had the MRI. It seemed a long time since this started, but on November 1, we got the report from Dr. Wey that the mass was B-Cell Lymphoma and that we must treat it with Chemotherapy. After we let this sink in a bit, we called the cancer answer line at the clinic. The nurse was very kind and answered any questions that we had. She asked if we wanted to make an appointment with an oncologist and we told her that we didn’t know who to make an appointment with. She told us that they were all good so we told her to just make the first available appointment. She gave us all the details and told us that we would be seeing Dr. Mitchell Smith ~ “and by the way, he is the head of the Lymphoma department.” God is SO good! That week, Galen had a fever and discomfort. We knew the symptoms were getting worse. The following Monday we met Dr. Smith and he told us that this cancer is a fast growing (aggressive) cancer. It is a cancer affecting the white blood cells. He then explained, and we understood a little better, why they do not want to do surgery on this particular mass. Since the cancer is in the blood, it is flows through the body. Removing the mass, will not remove the cancer. It is best treated with Chemo. He said that this is a curable cancer and it responds well to chemotherapy. As cancers go, lymphoma is a less common cancer. As I remember it, breast and lung cancers have 400 – 500 thousand cases a year, other cancers 160,000 cases a year, and lymphoma cancers 70,000 cases a year. We are blessed to have the expert of this less common cancer caring for us! Strangely enough, however less common lymphoma is, it has touch the two men I love most in the world – my father, with stage four mantle cell lymphoma, and my husband. Dr. Smith ordered three more tests: a bone marrow biopsy, an echocardiogram, and a PET scan. These three tests will enable him to stage the cancer and tell him how to dose the chemotherapy. So far, Galen has had two of the three tests. After the Bone Marrow draw, they told him that his bone marrow is beautiful. After the echocardiogram, they told him that his heart is good (but I could have told them that!) : ) The PET scan is Monday the 18th and he starts chemotherapy Thursday the 21st. So far, we have a CAT scan and a biopsy confirming a mass in his abdomen. It would be wonderful if the PET scan reveals that God has chosen to take this mass away without the use of chemotherapy. We anxiously await…
Posted on: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 01:49:43 +0000
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