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At first, we weren't sure if we "should" even share about this week's hospitalization. On Monday morning we thought, "Maybe this hospitalization will be so short, we'll just not have to tell people about it!!" Chester was feeling so much stronger last week and was planning to both hike and preach this week. (Both plans looking very unlikely, although Toby and Pastor Klug have Youth and church service covered.) It seems like such a random medical detour to deal with intestin

Before getting to yesterday's oncology appointment, one bible story about trusting "the God we serve" under duress keeps popping up in my head. It's the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Maybe you'll see why it seems relevant. The King of Babylon is about to throw three guys in a giant oven for not discarding their faith in God publicly. They refuse one last time, and they say... “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we

A beautiful day (8/31) in Calgary overlooking the Bow with the kids We got the results of the surgical biopsy today, and the results of an MRI yesterday. We are still waiting for official "staging" (between stage 3 or 4), and treatment plan recommendations from oncology at the cancer centre. We expect both chemotherapy and immunotherapy to be recommended soon. We will meet with oncology next Tuesday and will update after that appointment. From our upbeat and friendly surge

This week's sermon at our church will be on Luke 19:41-48. The theme is "What's going to bring you Peace?" We thank Pastor Dan Spaude from Red Deer who had planned to come preach months ago on this topic. Being at home after a stay in a hospital is peaceful. The last night of Chester's stay in the hospital, he was moved to a "hallway room" which meant the lights didn't turn off, and there was only a curtain between him and nurses walking by through the night. He had a friend

It looks like Chester will be discharged tomorrow from Rockyview. His hospital stay has had some ups and downs, as is normal for major abdominal surgery. First he had to recovery from the effects of anethesia, which incuded some nausea and after-effects of having a catheter in for the surgery. Then his goal was to get walking and get his bowels moving again. (For the many who have asked if he has a "bag" now; No, he has some of his colon left and no external "poop bag.") The

Chester's surgery went well. He's resting now, very tired. Anna was able to spend the morning and the evening at the hospital, staying busy cooking "clear broth" during the hours of the surgery. Thank God the first big step to wellness (surgery to remove the mass in the colon) is done. We got some preliminary biopsy results last night, and we are still waiting on more results. It will be about 2 weeks before we have any more news, including staging. We won't share any of th

We have no new news. This week has been a hard one. Nothing's happening, but there have been lots of discussions and decisions and emotions about what's coming. We had our annual church leadership team meeting on Tuesday this week. It was good to gather and be guided first by God's Word with the team, and then make a solid plan, (with a bit of plan B and plan C) for the coming months for the church to continue on with its mission while Chester is in treatment. Thank you to J

Today (August 6th) we met with Pastor Chester's surgeon, Dr. Ryan Rochan. You can start praying for that guy, but we're already thankful for him - he seemed very competent and patient. We asked lots of questions. He even drew a picture of the surgery for us: That little bullseye in the colon represents Chester's cancer. He explained that he'll be removing the part of Chester's colon affected by cancer, and attaching what's left of it to his small intestine. It will end up be

It's been one week since Chester went to the ER. In a way, we know more than we'd like - he has colon cancer, he has a possibility that spots in his lungs that are involved somehow (or those spots could be nothing). Some things we know are helpful: We've seen a hospital dietician, so we know how to implement a low-fibre diet pre-surgery. He has seen our family doctor, so we know how to support his pain management. He has an appointment this Thursday to discuss surgical optio

One of the first things Chester said to me on Saturday when I came to see him in the hospital was "It's a good thing I prayed the Resiliency prayer this morning." The prayer has come up a lot this week. We taped it onto his hospital room door as a reminder that God is in control. We are so thankful that Chester was discharged from the hospital today, off all pain meds and drove himself home. (He's back on some pain meds today, July 31st, but we're thankful for our family doc

Pastor has been in the hospital for a few days. It looks like discharge may be tomorrow afternoon. On Friday night, we called 811 (Triage nurse hotline) to talk through some abdominal pain he was experiencing. He'd been feeling pain on and off for weeks, and already seen our family doctor about it. The 811 nurse set up a virtual doctors appointment for us that evening, and we were told to get to the ER in the morning. Chester couldn't sleep due to the pain, so he left for eme