Opportunities Abound

Greetings everyone,

I’m sorry I know it’s been a while. This last chemo treatment has been a rough one. The oral medication I’ve been taking built up a toxicity in my body that caused major problems to the point last Tuesday evening I was taken to the ER after collapsing into my youngest sons arms. Thankfully he’s 6’2” and strong. We were admitted and found out that my kidneys had shut down and my BP was 61 / 35. By Wednesday morning that was all corrected and I was taking massive amount of fluids to re-hydrate. I was discharged Friday and I feel great. GOD IS GOOD.

I begin a new regimen tomorrow. I have IV chemo tomorrow and then will be fitted for a pump to administer chemo for an additional 46 hours. The pump is about the size of a Cracker Jack box. My oncologist is very confident that this will go well. He reminded me that we’re going 6 months and then were done and he doesn’t want to see me for a year. I’ve said it before...if this is the worst it gets I am luckier than most.

In all seriousness the coolest things are happening because of this. God has opened so many opportunities to share my (it’s not my story it’s HIS) story with so many people. In fact during the hospital stay I was able to share with all the nurses on my floor and the lab techs as well. In fact one nurse was so intrigued by the book I was reading (Beth Moore’s “Praying God’s Word”) she started to ask questions about “this Jesus stuff”. How great is that, at 4:00 am while I’m having blood draws & vitals taken, God is at work.

So thanks again for all your prayers, notes, calls and cards. It is greatly appreciated. Please keep me in your prayers as we begin this new phase of treatment. We’ve got July 1 as our target stop date.

One more thing, a very dear friend is running the Inaugural ING Georgia Marathon/Half Marathon on March 25th. It will benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation on behalf of Cancer Research at Vanderbilt University Hospital and myself. A half marathon is 13.1 miles and we’re asking for people to please contribute at least $1 a mile if you are stretched for money and at least $2 a mile if you feel that you can afford to donate more. Here is the secure link to do that. http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots/cliffphillips?faf=1&e=940464633 If you can participate we would greatly appreciate it.

God’s peace to all. Until next time.

-- Scott

We can only LIVESTRONG if we’re GODSTRONG.