December 13:  On Tuesday, December 11, my gastroenterologist met with the AMC Tumor Panel to review all the scientific information that had been gathered from various scans and other tests.  Their counsel is for me to undergo chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy to attempt a shrinkage of the tumor on my pancreas.  This protocol will include procedural assessments to determine whether progress is being made toward the goal of shrinking the tumor, and if so, to what extent will the achieved condition provide surgical resectability either in part, or complete removal of the pancreas.  Even if after chemotherapy, surgery may not be an option if particularly the intricate web of veins that intersect with the pancreas have been compromised by cancer cells.  So, each stage of the process has to have a reasonably good outcome before surgery may be feasible. A frightful reality!  The statistical data on the success of these procedures are small.  Yet, there are anecdotes of people who have been in my situation, submitted to chemo, radiation, surgery, and have come through the ordeal to live on, some for five to ten more years!  So, where am I in the process of deciding where to go with these options?  At this particular point in time I'm still bewildered by what has befallen me.  I'm in ongoing conversation and prayer with my family on a daily basis.  Diane will join the rest of the Portland-based family from December 18 onwards!  Your ongoing prayers for clarity and peace of mind for all of us as we counsel and pray together will be appreciated as always.

Thank you so much to the many of you who have remained in actual contact with us. We are overwhelmed by your love, encouragment, assurances of prayer, and even tangible tokens of care and concern for our spiritual, emotional, and physical wellbeing.  We also appreciate your understanding that it's well-nigh impossible for us to respond to everyone's kind overtures.  Hence this blog to do it in collective insallments.  Thanks again, then, for making this journey with me and the family, even if it may be marked at times for all of us by bouts of anxiety, fear, tears, hugs, expressions of love, and fortunately also - settled peace in God's will.  These are all responses to an assault on our mortality which we typically think of as a reality that can be postponed  to some distant future we cannot now see.  But no! When that reality shows up at your front door -everything changes.  I have a new appreciation for the Prayer of Moses the man of God: 'So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom'.  Psalm 90:12 NKJV.