Decent News

I apologize for taking so long to update this. I have been "snowed under" in June and July with work. In the past week I had trouble getting into the blog. Any way....

Right after my last post, Debbie fainted at the ocologist's office while a new inexperienced tech was trying to take a blood sample in late June. That revealed a very slow pulse, 48, which was apparently a side effect of the Revlimid. She is case # 17 with that side effect. (It is a very new drug.) So he took her off it. A cardiologist checked her 3 weeks ago and said no major problems, thankfully. In the 5 weeks she has been off the Revlimid, her pain diminished and has now disappeared and her pulse rate is close to back to normal now. The oncologist has been on vacation and we see him tomorrow, expecting him to put her back on the Revlimid at a reduced dosage. He says the Revlimid is the main fighter of the Myeloma. Since being off it for 5 weeks, there was little improvement in her M Protein marker number coming down (from 0.6 to 0.5). Also, we assume the pain she felt back in June was due to the Revlimid attacking hot spots. She is feeling much better now. We were a little disappointed in such minor improvement showing up in the blood work yesterday, but we rejoice that it was improvement. She has resumed all her normal household duties, and was able to maintain her discipling studies thru the summer and hosting 2 small groups. So that was a blessing.

Thanks for your prayers.

Good News!

Since my last writing, God has been answering the prayers of the army He's raised up to pray for Debbie. Thank you to each of you who are keeping her/us in your prayers. There are not sufficient words to thank you adequately.

I'm now realizing that what I thought was very active Myeloma over the last 6 months apparently was imperceptable.....the MRI and X-rays show "stable." There were no new Myeloma spots, cracks or fractures. Though Debbie has/is experiencing some pain, I no longer look at it as loss of improvement, but rather her body responding to the Revlimid and Decadron that she is currently taking.

Another great praise is that the M-Protein marker has dropped from 1.8 to .9 in about 3 weeks time. This is the first time it has dropped in 11 months. Two years ago at diagnosis, the M-Protein was at 4.8. This is an amazing improvement for which we thank God and recognize He's heard the cries of His children! Thank you again for your prayer support! While this is somewhat elevated, it's not bad.....that's where she was in December when the oncologist was unconcerned and not ready to take action. She started her second round of the drugs yesterday......we pray this brings the count to 0.

I thought her stamina had dropped, but it hasn't. She continues to do the things she has been doing (minus lifting). She walks almost every day.....sometimes twice a day. Her energy level is good.

I realize now that writing what I did at 3:30a.m. probably didn't give me a very clear perspective on things. We are greatly encouraged and want to ask you to join us in praising God for what He has done. Please continue to pray IN FAITH!

Blessings,
Duane

How to pray for Debbie

In the space of a week, Debbie has lost at least a year’s worth of steady improvement. A week ago, on June 1, a vertebra between her shoulder blades began to hurt and has gotten progressively worse. June third she suffered a cracked rib. June fifth she realized that she was digressing daily and we noticed a drop in her stamina when we went to walk our two miles - she made it one and three quarters miles. Tuesday evening, on the fifth, the vertebras in her lower back began to hurt and worsened yesterday. If you sense a note of concern in my words, you are discerning correctly. Thankfully the staff prayed over us Tuesday, and the elders did so last night. So what do you do when pain, problems, and concern come knocking at your door? You pray! Here are some suggestions from God’s word about how to pray for Debbie.

Lord God, Jesus told us that if we have faith as small as a mustard seed, we can say to this mountain of a disease, move out from her body, and it will be cast out. NOTHING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU. (Mt. 17:20,21)

Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet your love, O God, your unfailing love for Debbie Jenks will not be shaken nor your covenant of peace be removed because you have compassion on her. (Isa. 54:10)

Lord, you have said, “…whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. (Mark 11:24) Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Mt. 7:7)

So, Father God, we come in faith, trusting in your words and your power, doing what you have commanded: We are asking you for healing, we are seeking the prayers of believers and all the healing powers of medicines that you have given us, and we knock on heaven’s door asking that you throw open a door of your healing power upon Debbie Jenks. We ask for it in prayer believing that we have received it. We believe, help thou our unbelief (Mk 9:24), for all things are possible for you, O God!

“Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. NOTHING IS TOO HARD FOR YOU” (Jer. 32:17) – not even healing Multiple Myeloma is impossible for you! – your will be done in all things. “For nothing is impossible with God.” (Lk. 1:37)

“Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.” (Psa. 103:2-3) Lord, your Word says ALL diseases can be healed by your power, so we ask for Debbie’s healing from MM.

“Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isa. 53:4-5) Because of the cross, God, we ask Jesus to take Debbie’s Multiple Myeloma upon himself and allow his painand his wounds to afford healing for her because…“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (I Peter 2:24)

Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. (James 5:14-6)

Psa. 103:1-5 –“Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfied your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Lord, redeem her life from the pit of disease and despair, and crown her with your love and compassion, and renew her youth again, as You have for the past 22 months, for she shall not die but live, so she may proclaim what wonders You, Lord, have done in her life. Psa. 118:17 – “I will not die, but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done.”

Mt. 18:19 – “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name there am I with them.” Father, almost two years ago, believers united in prayer for Debbie and you miraculously gave her a strong remission at the end of July ‘05. Lord, we boldly ask for complete healing this time, because we are children of the King of Heaven, who loves to give His children what they ask for so that you are glorified, and so that her life will be a testimony to your power and goodness.

Isa. 41:10- So, because of this promise, and our previous experiences with it, we do not fear, for You are with us; we will not be dismayed, for You are our God, You will strengthen us and help us; You will uphold us with your righteous right hand.

I Peter 5:10- “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” Lord, you have done this before for Debbie, and we ask You to do it again, to your glory, in the powerful name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Duane and Debbie Jenks

Treatment Time Again

After watching the main marker for Myeloma (M Protein spike) remain at 0.1 for a year (which is great, but absolute 0 is best), it began creeping up last August and increased a tenth of a point each month through December to 0.6. Then in February it jumped to 0.9 and then up to 1.4 in April and 1.6 in May. It became obvious that the myeloma was active and messing with the other blood counts, which had remained in normal ranges until April. So Debbie has made the decision to treat it again with the steroid Decadron and a new drug, Revlimid, which is an improved, cleaned up and improved drug that is 100 times more powerful than Thalidimide which she took almost two years ago for 3 months. Because it so powerful she takes a tenth as much as before so that in reality it is only 10 times more powerful. She took her first doses on May 20, praying for the side effects to be minimal, but that the desired effect of repressing the myeloma would be maximized.

When she got the news of the continued rise in the marker on Wednesday the 16^th, she was discouraged, but God in His providence sent two angels of mercy to encourage her at church that night. One introduced herself and told Deb that she was praying for her, though they’d never met. The other loaned her a wonderful little book about healing which buoyed her faith again on Thursday. Then she found out Thursday evening that our friend and naturopath, Dr. Carr, had spent an hour praying specifically for her that morning. Friday we saw the oncologist. He was relieved that she was finally ready to treat it again with pharmaceutical drugs. He was cute as he left the room saying in essence and with a smile that if he had another patient as tough and independent minded as Deb, it would be too much and he would have to retire (smile)!

We pray for a great response to the prayers on her behalf and to the treatment so that healing will occur. Fortunately, she feels good and strong, and she has minimal pain. So we rest in God’s sweet peace trusting in His power and grace.

Duane

Africa trip

We decided not to write anything until after the fact, but Deb and I just spent three weeks in March in Africa traveling with one of our elders and another staff couple! She has had a burden for Africa for several years now, and my recent job change to Minister of Missions necessitated a visit to five of our missionaries in order to acquaint me with their work and to communicate to them about recent changes at RHCC. It was obvious that the Enemy did not want us to go, as we had several health issues/obstacles to overcome the week before our trip, and at times thought that Deb would not be allowed to go due to vaccination requirements and dangers for her, but God saw us through all that and made sure that she got to go and that was good, because she had some important touches to make with some women along the way. Halfway through the trip, we parted ways with our wives, they to help lead the Come Before Winter Women's Retreat for 60 African missonary wives held in Kenya while we three men went to South Africa and Zambia. It was an amazing experience for all of us and a blessed one.

How does one summarize a three week trip to visit: five African nations; five outstanding missionary families; meeting scores of African church planters; witnessing the birth of a church with 14 baptisms and true celebratory worship; experiencing poverty and famine in the African bush while eating the best they had to offer; seeing the ravages of AIDS through the eyes of orphaned children and their impoverished caretakers; being amazed at how much missionaries can accomplish with such limited resources at their disposal; catching the vision of a Christian university in Africa; seeing the power of the spoken word of God transform lives; feeling loved and accepted while preaching in 3 prison churches; preaching multiple times (until midnight) during a four hour worship service with 200 brethren praising God; seeing the wonderful impact that interns (like Laura Beth Chapman) have on a great mission effort; seeing Jacob mentor and train orphans to be evangelists; getting to teach a group of Mozambican preachers for a week while brushing up on my Portuguese; all this while experiencing another part of God’s creative genius in flora, fauna, fellow man, beautiful water falls (including Victoria Falls) and the source of the Nile River? We stayed in tents at a lodge on the Zambeze River near Victoria Falls and one morning watched an elephant swim across the river! That was incredible.

Suffice it to say that I return to the USA a changed man. I am more grateful for what we have and more determined to lay up treasure in heaven by sharing what we have here with the less fortunate. I am humbled by the high quality of the five missionary families who are all superb and doing great works for Jesus Christ by impacting their respective nations with the gospel. They are making amazing differences in those diverse cultures. RHCC is blessed to have great missionaries in the field. We were blessed by being with them. They are lights in a dark world who give a new zest for life to those who know them or are impacted indirectly through those whom they train for ministry. They truly shine like stars in a dark sky.

We will see Deb's oncologist Thursday the 5th for the latest on her condition.

Mostly Good News

Over the Christmas holidays, Deb began to have pain in her hip and pelvis bone around the hip such that it hurt with every step, so we called to move up her tests and appointment by a week to the 5th and asked for an x-ray of that hip and pelvis. We were fighting for faith and trying not to be too concerned and jump to conclusions again. But by the time of the x-ray on the 5th of January, it had stopped hurting. Otherwise she felt fine.

She went in to see her oncologist on the 12th and received mostly good news. The x-ray showed no reason for her pain and no difference from the last time it was x-rayed. Wonderful! Her red and white cells were in normal ranges along with platelets. Good! Tthe refined test for MM showed her to be in the normal range - meaning no measurable activity. Fantastic! But that pesky M protein marker that had been increasing a tenth of a point per month had jumped .3 of a point to 0.9. No one can figure out why it is doing this. So that is a concern and something to watch. The oncologist is baffled by it and is going to consult others for ideas. He is being patient with us and is not recommending his treatment yet. So, our take is that any time you go to the oncolgist ,and he says all of the most important tests show normalcy, and he does not recommend his treatments, then that is good news! We will go back the end of February for tests and see him March 2 for another checkup. Hopefully that M protein will begin to decrease by then.

It was a very good visit. We had never seen such humility from him as he answered our probing questions with "we don't know" over and over and tried to explain the very limited knowledge medical science has of the human body and its operation. For the first time he also mentioned two retired medical doctors who have MM. One is eleven years out with only two relapses. the other is three years out and was treated with the stem cell transplant approach. He thinks Deb's MM is a slow acting type. Hopefully he is right.

Our Sovereign God is good all the time. We continue to enjoy good health and are grateful for it and of course desire more of it.

Resveratrol Research Info

I have been too busy to look at the blog for the past couple of months due to a change in my ministry. I apologize for not responding to the questions in the Comments section sooner.

The brand of Resveratrol that Deb has used is Resveratrol by Pure Encapsulations. She took a therapeutic dosage of 2 capsules by mouth, 4 times a day for the past year and still takes it. You can order it at www.thegreenpharmacy.com for $29.50 plus shipping. I would suggest ordering at least 4 bottles (a month's supply) to make the $7.50 shipping cost more reasonable.

Here is a research website to read about research on MM with Resveratrol haing very positive results. The Intro. and then the discussion are most helpful for us laymen, especially the final paragraph that begins, In conclusion...

http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/full/65/21/9943

I thought our out of pocket $700 a month expenses for several supplements was expensive until I found out just one treatment of Aredia at the oncologist's office last year cost $2200. Fortunately for us, insurance paid that. Another drug she took for two months cost $4100 for a month's supply, fortunately, again covered by insurance. For those wondering why she only took it for two months, she began having neuropathy in her face from it (a side effect) and decided to quit it in Sept. of 05 before damage was done. She has since gone totally natural in treating and trying to kill out this monster disease. We don't recommend this for anyone else. But she is very disciplined in her diet and in her supplement treatment. It is practically a full-time job to treat MM this way, but the benefits of great improvement and no side effects from drugs is worth it to us.

Duane