Paul Eckmier's Journey

Paul has been doing well this month. At the 2 week mark with the new meds he had some really high fevers (39.9) and uncontrollable shaking several times over a weekend. It was kind of scary while we were living through those few days, but he has not had any of that for over 2 weeks. They just took him off the meds until those expected side effects calmed and then put him back on the meds. The Dr. said that should be the worst of those fevers. His appetite has come back, his energy level is not quite as good as it used to be, but he's not having side effects from the medicine at this point. His back is sore from time to time - we have to watch not to do too much in one day. We had a chance to get away to a friends cottage for a couple of days (it was so beautiful!) and we canoed around the small bay on McKellar lake - He felt pretty good :-) And we've had a couple of really long drives in the car - a short rest - change of position - helps. He finds it hard to stand for a lo...

Well it's been a MONTH! Busy - sometimes fun, sometimes really scary! And I've been procrastinating writing this... Since the July 20th appointment there have been some major things to update. After the PET scan, Paul had an MRI. Again, not good news. The MRI showed the cancer is in all the bones in his spine, his pelvis and sacro joint. Definitely not what we wanted to hear. The Dr. encouraged us to go to Banff to see Tim and also for a holiday which might be difficult to take later on if the side effects of the next drug treatment are bad. Paul had to be off the immunotherapy for a month before he could start the next drug. So we enjoyed a VERY hot day at the Calgary Stampede and a day in Calgary. A friend from youth group days blessed us with the use of her car for the whole time we were in Banff which was SO good ! We got to see things and didn't have to depend on catching tourist buses to get around. We did some travelling to new places that we hadn't see...

Needless to say we are having ‘moments’ over here - pretty weepy times – saying what needs to be said and trying to encourage and bolster each other’s faith – and dealing with the varied emotions and realizations that come along with hearing all this. Fighting the good fight of faith! The worship team on last Thursday night prayed for me and for us when I told them what was going on.  I confess that at times I've been overwhelmed by fear and at other times full of faith that God can and will intervene on our behalf. Emotions - quite the roller coaster...And church worship was A-MA-ZING on Sunday morning!!!! The team was fighting in the Spirit for us and for others facing dire circumstances in the church. Paul has had times where the gravity of this medical condition has hit him, and times of concern for me. I've been doing all I can to encourage him. He is thinking of all the things to do. When you get news like this is pulls the rug out from under you for a couple of days ...

We got some not so nice news last week and on Monday the 18th . Paul recently had a CT scan which was done routinely every 3 months while on immunotherapy. It showed  that the nodules (very small) in his lungs – some had grown and there were new ones. While they didn’t confirm those were cancerous they are suspicious. Also he has had some pain in the muscles on his upper right chest – it started when he was on his canoe trip about 5 weeks ago – we thought he had pulled muscles or the rib was out of place or even a cracked rib – but they said they saw something suspicious on the chest wall. Late last week, Paul said his back was sore in that same rib area – which also could have been because of pulled muscles or the rib being out of whack. When the Dr talked to Paul on the phone about these CT results and about the further PET scan he mentioned possible surgery. They decided he needed a PET scan. So they did one last Thursday June 14. A PET scan is where they inject radioacti...

I'm writing this blog (Debbie) to share with our prayer warriors the journey Paul and I are on. We will give the medical report but we will also share our specific prayer requests for you to be praying about. We have a LOT of friends who we know are praying and believing God with us. I don't know who I've told and who I haven't told and it's kind of hard to keep telling the story over and over - and keeping track of who knows what. So I thought this might be a way you who are interested can keep up to date with the latest - and the simplest way to give you information so you can support us - because we know you are praying and believing God with us! Many of you have heard about Paul's journey over the last year. It started with a prostate problem and a scope to correct that. Uncomfortable for sure...and inconvenient. When he took his first shower after all that, a mole on his back that had been there for quite a long time and had recently started to grow - st...