October 26th - Breaking Some Rules

When my friend, Hal Christensen, proposed creating this blog as a sort of clearinghouse of information about my status with aggressively growing melanoma tumors I said it was a great idea provided he keep it brief, keep it as positive as possible, and don’t let it become a memorial

I'm about to break the first two rules, but for a purpose.

I do this as a tip of the hat to my friends who are praying for me.  As I've said, it’s enabled me to attend work.  But now, it has worked on circumstance.  I’ve learned a lot about evangelicals in the last weeks.  They don’t pray solo or in families.  They recruit their entire congregation.  Baptist buddies get their congregation to send cards listing all their names.  I have emails, voicemails, and cards from friends telling me I'm on the prayer list for their church.  I knew to expect great support from my Mormon friends, and the additional support from other faiths has been touching. 

Back to my story.  Each weekday I have radiation with technicians.  Once each week I meet with the radiation MD.  Wednesday the radiation MD said “You’ve lost 5% of your body weight in one week. [10% over three weeks.] You need to start gaining weight.”

Mark    “I have no appetite, dry mouth, and nausea.”

MD      “What nausea medication are you taking.”

Mark    “I don’t know the name.  It was prescribed by the surgeon two weeks ago.  I will call you with the name.”

I left a message later with the name, ate a big dinner, and lost it all by 9 PM.

I awakened hungry at 2 AM Thursday and ate tangerines and yogurt.  It all came up before leaving for work in the morning.

I took my nausea medication to my radiation appointment, left it with the nurse, and asked her to track down the MD and get an alternate prescription while I was in radiation.  After my treatment, the nurse said she had conveyed the prescription and they would get back to me. 

I got back to work and drank my usual 32-ounce anti-cancer green smoothie.  When my nausea hits, it is immediate. This time it hit during a speaker-phone call.  After the cleanup, I left for home quite discouraged.

On the drive home, I called my brother, an MD, and a close friend, a dentist,, and asked them both to bring me alternate nausea prescriptions Thursday night. 

When I pulled into our driveway, I saw a car out front and thought we might have guests.  Feeling too fragile to chat, I went up the back stairs to go straight to my bed.  As I passed our entry, I heard Porter, my son, say “Thank you Brother Whipple!”.  I quickly called Porter “Was that Gary Whipple?”  “Yes.” he said.  “Please go ask him to come back.”  Porter ran down the street in bare feet to bring Gary back. 

Gary is a friend from church that I only see every few weeks.  But Gary is the only Radiation Oncologist I know personally.  He is the one person who “happened” to come by my house at the very instant I desperately needed his specialized advice.

Within five minutes, Gary said, “Mark, no alternative nausea medication will help you.  Your brain is swollen from radiation.  In some, brain swelling triggers vomiting.  I will prescribe a steroid for you and you tell your attending Radiation MD what I've done.”

Within an hour I had taken the steroid.  In the past 22-hours I've packed down five calorie-laden meals without losing any.  I disclosed the steroid use today at radiation and they encouraged me to keep taking as needed.

My secular friends will see this series of events as a happy coincidence that (a) the one person I know personally equipped to help me, (b) happened to think the Sykes might like some ice cream, and (c) chanced to be within earshot during a 30-second window when I might have heard his name.  I hope my praying friends will take this as a confirmation to keep praying.