Dan came out to my home today to enjoy the fresh air and watch as a directional drilling team replaced the main water line to the house! No matter what, Dan is still an inquisitive engineer and when I called to tell him of this amazing gadget, he came on out. These guys bored a hole 200 feet about 3 feet underground and missed their target by only 1 foot! Amidst the physical challenges that Dan is facing, it was a cherished time just to think about the progress of technology and how it is affecting everything these days.
Dan had a third set of biopsies on Tuesday. He was on the operating table about 4 hours with the “interventional radiologist” amazed that the operating room remained available for so long. Dan remembers 5 samples being taken, but Jan said it was many more than that. The desire is to obtain a clear diagnosis of the nature of what is in and around Dan’s pancrease. He rested most of Wednesday, but today (Thursday) he drove out to the house by himself and seemed to be on the mend from the recent diagnostics.
What’s next? If cancer is confirmed, ports for chemotherapy have been attached to Dan and that would be the course. If this set of biopsies do not conclusively reveal cancer, then there are two possible paths - do nothing and monitor or have surgery and try to remove the fiberous growth that is causing stomach and back pain. Right now, its just one faithful day at a time for Dan. He mentioned reading in John 15 this morning about God’s pruning. In keeping with his Bible memory abilities, he shared part of John 15:2 where the Word states that “while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful.“ Dan certainly is one who has borne fruit for the Kingdom. Perhaps this is a period of pruning to prepare for even greater fruit from his branch in the future.
Thanks for your prayer support. The prayer requests continue that this would not be cancer, that the doctors would determine a wise course of action, and that Dan’s faith and courage would not be shaken. Blessings to you all.