Steve Update February 14, 2024

Last week Steve started physical therapy to regain muscle strength in his weakened body. The first session was exhausting, but the inner athlete in Steve has shown up by being a compliant patient and doing the home exercises every day. He likes the structure of having a set of exercises and looking for progress. 

We hope you all gave and received love for Valentine’s Day. It’s the only gift that lasts into eternity, so it seems like a good idea to spread it around!

In the meantime, the work continues to bring health to Steve’s body. He had his third immunotherapy treatment on February 1, with the next one scheduled this month. A side effect of the treatment can be extreme itchiness, which unfortunately Steve experienced for weeks, disrupting his sleep and comfort. It has thankfully subsided now, and we hope he won’t have a renewed attack after the next treatment.

Steve’s oncologist told us he is “cautiously optimistic” that the treatment is working because Steve’s persistent fevers have subsided for the most part, his cough is much less, and his overnight glucose numbers are stable. This qualifies as good news, and we are very grateful! If immunotherapy is working it can be a potential home run against the cancer, but the oncologist cautioned that it will either work or it won’t, there’s no in-between. Join us in rooting for a home run - getting a base hit and trying to steal second won’t work with this cancer!

Next week Steve will begin the first of five high-dose radiation treatments over ten days. The hope is the radiation will zap the cancer cells while the immunotherapy continues to reveal more malignant cells for his immune system to attack. We won’t know for two to three months after radiation is complete if the treatments are successful.

Please pray with us for remission!

The man who used to carry huge rocks up and down this hill behind our house still lives inside Steve.