Dave MacDonald

Dave called me at work on Monday, July 25th and told me to meet him at the hospital.  He was experiencing sharp abdominal pains and decided to leave work and drive himself there.  When I entered the waiting room, I saw him hunched over in pain.  The hospital did blood work and scans to find the cause. We both were trying to decide if it could be gallstones, kidney stones, or something similar.  Around 9:00 pm, a doctor came in the room and broke the news to us.  "You have masses on both your pancreas and liver that we believe is cancer."    How could this be???  It's only supposed to be a gallstone...

Dave was admitted that night and here we are 5 days later still in the hospital.  A liver biopsy confirmed that it is pancreatic cancer that has also spread to the liver,  He was in such pain (due to the affected liver), that they immediately put him on pretty heavy pain medication.   We have been trying to balance the pain management where he is not in pain, but can still function and not be "out of it".   During this week, Dave developed a fever, his white blood cell count increased, and it was determined that he had a little pneumonia in his lungs.  Since he needed antibiotics, we are still here.  Hopefully we can come home tomorrow.

Our next step is an appointment on Tuesday, August 2nd at UW Madison.  We are meeting with one of the directors of the Cancer Research Clinical Trials, hoping to be accepted into the one trial closest matching the type of pancreatic cancer Dave has.  We have had assistance from the Oncology Team here at Rockford Memorial Hospital to search the country for the best trial available for Dave.  Based on several we looked at in different locations, the one at UW seemed to be the best match with the most success.  Please pray that he is accepted and this new drug is available for him.  

To say that this is a test of faith is an understatement.  We are still in shock ourselves waiting to wake up from a bad dream.  However, God is faithful. He loves us and will walk with us down this path wherever it leads.  Please pray that we are not fearful and only look UP - not forward, keeping our eyes on Jesus.