April 27, 2012

Today has been four weeks since last radiation treatment! At some point soon, I’d like to transition from talking about me (the temporary) to getting back to writing about the eternal “business” of God for which He has put us on the earth.  Nevertheless, I am dependent upon your prayers and want to keep you informed so you can pray more powerfully and I owe it to many people to also keep them informed about my ongoing doctor’s visits because so many have invested so much in my recovery and in the end, we will all be talking about what great things God has done!

I have gained back almost ten of the 32 pounds I had lost (five this week). I’ve been working out regularly at home with bands and floor exercises but it’s time to get back in the gym. One day I even ran about half of the two mile route Kim and I usually walk.  My walking times for this course are improving from the 40-45 minutes during treatment to last week’s 28:30.  The time I ran wasn’t much faster. Lol!

About the only difficulty I am experiencing is a tear that has developed on the top in the middle of the non-surgical side of my tongue which is kinda sensitive to talking or eating.  I think it’s because all the skin is so new that it’s tender and I must have been a little over-eager in eating. Scheduled to go out for Mexican food with Kim’s work tonight! Lol!

I’ll be preaching this weekend and next with three doctor visits in between. The surgeon, the radiation oncologist and the chemo oncologist will all be keeping close eyes on me (and maybe each other Lol!) for awhile.

By the way, the passage of scripture I am teaching on this week, reminds me of the great value God places on a RELATIONSHIP with each one of us as well as everyone we come into contact with.  When you read it, do you see relationships too?  How does God speak to you through these verses?  What stands out to you?

¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  2 Corinthians 5:16-21 (NIV)

Blessings,

Randy

April 19, 2012

What a month it’s been!  My faith has been stretched as I’ve attempted things I didn’t think I could do and watched God do them through me!

Opening Day 2012 at Chase Field!

Praises (chronological order)

1. Made it to the baseball game on Opening Day in Phoenix and even ate a big hotdog!   Enjoyed the day with my daughter Carissa and her fiance Zach!  A couple of things I was nervous about were parking and exiting the stadium (the game was a sellout).  In a full parking lot, God saved us a place two spots from the street which also allowed us to exit quickly as well.  Within thirty minutes of the conclusion of the game, we were not only out of the stadium but on the interstate!
2. God gave me a clear strong voice and a message for the community Sunrise Service on Easter Sunday!  What a joy to be used to speak again!
3. We met with Dr. Phillips so he could look at the sores in my mouth that had surfaced and he was very encouraging!. He explained how radiation caused delayed symptoms and why things were getting worse before they began to get better.  This was especially comforting because of how the new sores had similarities with the old cancer.
4. My first day preaching back at TMCC was on April 15.  I didn’t know how my tongue would hold up for three services and the guys did a video recording of the first service in case it was needed but I made it!  I felt that my speech wasn’t quite as clear the third time because of dryness in my mouth but praise God because His strength matched the task!
5. I’ve been able to exercise at home and speed up my walks with Kim.
6. I’ve been able to go into the office for increasing periods of time.
7. My appetite is increasing!
8. My tastes for sweets is returning already!  Cookies and ice cream taste good again!
9. Oh, a final praise is that I got our taxes done . . . a day early! Lol!

Challenges

1. It’s embarrassing to me that I get tired so easily. I was in the office one afternoon and then paid a visit at the hospital. Being out of the house from 1:00 to 5:30 exhausted me.
2. I am eating a lot more but my weight is still hovering around 170 each morning.  Overall I had lost 32 pounds and have gained back five.
3. I have set a goal to be back in my daily routine during the second week of May!
4. My ears still ring quite loudly but the time I don’t notice is increasing.
5. Eating still takes a lot of time and energy partly because my mouth is a little drier now.  It is difficult to talk during a meal and lunch appointments were an important part of my schedule prior to surgery.   Also, since my tongue is so short, I can’t keep my teeth clean when I eat and I feel self-conscious of the appearance.  Pray that I can stretch out my tongue and not feel so gross when I eat. My mouth is too dry to eat things like bread but I think I’ll try donuts tomorrow!

I’m planning to preach April 29 and May 6 and teach during Stephen Ministry training on April 25.  I work at home but try to go into the office every day to increase my stamina (I love people but it takes a lot of energy to be around them! Lol!).

My first follow up appointments with three different doctors will be April 30 and May 2.  They will watch me very closely for the first year and keep an eye on my for five years.  If nothing shows up by then, I will be declared cancer free!

Thank you again for your life-giving prayers!

Sincerely,

Randy

P.S. Kim and I registered today for the Global Leadership Summit that will be hosted by TMCC on August 9-10!  Look in the upcoming newsletter for details.

Part of "Team Youngblood" who came for my last radiation treatment (Kim, myself, Carissa, and her fiance Zach Plumb).

April 5, 2012

Two of the three ladies who administered my 30 radiation treatments declaring me the "winner" after last treatment on March 30.

Last Friday (March 30) was my 30th and last radiation treatment!  Next up will be follow-up appointments with three different doctors in one month. They will keep a close eye on my for a year and the surgeon will follow me for five years before declaring me “cancer free”.

I was telling people Sunday that my appetite was returning and I had started gaining weight again but this week I have been experiencing more effects from last week’s radiation than I expected. My skin is fine but my mouth has been dry and crusty and swallowing is sometimes difficult (but not as bad as it was!).  My weight has been hovering around 165 (down 32 lbs).  Since my mouth isn’t producing enough saliva (because of radiation and my struggles to drink enough liquids) I have to eat things with moisture (soups and things with gravy).

Easter is this weekend and I will be speaking at the Community Sunrise Service in Veterans’ Memorial Park at 6:00 a.m.  (For more information see svpastors.org).  I am excited for the opportunity to thank many of the people from several different churches who have been praying for me through this trial! I am also thankful that Philip will still be teaching at our three services at TMCC!

My first sermon back at TMCC will be on April 15.  I’m a little nervous about my mental and physical stamina but I am determined to give it a shot!  We will video record the first message in case I am unable to make it at either of the next two. I’m thankful for the confidence that people will understand if the message at their service would have to be video.

Each of the last two days, I’ve spent a couple of hours at the church office and discovered that is my limit right now.  My goal is to be able to get back to regular office hours in May.  I’m finding that when I push myself too far, I feel sick rather than just tired and I really appreciate everyone’s encouragement to “take it easy”.  Honestly, part of the reason I have always worked long hours is because I want people to see me as hard working and not a “lazy preacher”. I don’t know where that came from but it is humbling to accept the reality of my limits right now.

One thing I did that may be dumb was several weeks ago I bought baseball tickets for the Diamondbacks opening day on Friday because it’s something I’ve always wanted to do and I’ve never done it before.  Originally it was supposed to be more than two weeks after my last treatment but things had to be delayed eleven days when my skin blistered.  I have to keep a drink with me wherever I go and since I won’t be driving, I can rest enough in the car.  I think I’ll have to try to eat a hot dog! :p

Sunday’s coming! We celebrate the resurrection and the promises it contains every week but THE DAY at this time for me is very special!  The certainty of the resurrection has certainly been the basis of my courage and hope!

Blessings,

Randy

I am pictured with my radiation oncologist Dr. Desai and Dr. Phillips.

March 27, 2012

Today (Tuesday) marked my 27 radiation treatment which means only three remain! After drinking water all day, I feel better this evening than I did this morning.

The past two weeks were very difficult! Kim and I were blessed to have planned to have my mom (a retired RN) come stay with during those two weeks! She returned home last Saturday and we all rejoiced over what God had done during that time!

My appetite is returning and my weight has not dropped below 167 (down from 197 at the time of surgery and 187 at the start of treatments).  It’s funny that from the beginning of treatments, I “knew” 168 would be about the “bottom”. This week I have prayed before each meal, “Lord, please give me an appetite for the food set before me” and He has!!!  I look forward to hopefully being able to do some real “body building” in the gym beginning next month!

I’ve had three radiation treatments since they resumed last Friday (March 23) and I’m feeling some side affects but I know I’ll be able to finish this week!  The skin is blistering again but just a little. Swallowing is uncomfortable again but not as bad like it was before.  Sleeping is difficult but when I wake up I always seem to eventually go back to sleep.

The local paper (Sierra Vista Herald) did a story on me last Friday and it’s on pages 13, 16, 20 of this link: http://www.svherald.com/content/daily-edition/255450

I will speak at the Community Sunrise Easter Service (6:00 a.m. at Veteran’s Memorial Park on April 8th) and preaching at TMCC on April 15, 29, and May 6, so I am preparing to “get back in the saddle”.  I have concerns about stamina and memory but I am excited about getting back to serving again. Philip Engle has been preaching the past four months and has done a fantastic job! We’ve been so rewarded for the regular preaching time he’s been given since he became the Associate Minister 3 1/2 years ago. The blessing of “growing people” has never been more evident!

God has been blessing me through my reading of Experiencing God and my studies in the gospels (it’s nice to be able to concentrate enough to read again!).

Another blessing I need to declare is that I have literally gotten at least one “get-well card” in the mail every day for the past three months!  I can’t tell you how important each card and each Facebook posting have been in my recovery!  There have even been gifts and all have been very special!  Many of the gifts have been from out of state or other churches in town! Of course, I am very grateful for the people in the congregation of Thunder Mountain Community Church! I love you all very much and look forward to getting back after what God has in store for us! Yet, with all of the prayers from the entire Christian community, I feel like we are truly now a “community” church because of the ways so many other congregations have invested in us through their prayers and encouragement! Because God gave me a heart for the entire Body of Christ, I feel that the entire Body of Christ has love me in return but I also believe I have received far more than I ever gave!

My next posting will be after I’ve crossed the “finish line” of radiation treatments!

Blessings

Randy

My radiation doctor said that he could see signs of healing of radiation burns inside my mouth and he also said he saw evidence of healing on my face and neck.  I still have six treatments to go and have been on hold since Monday, March 12.  Dr. Philips is going to resume radiation for me this Friday (March 23) and I will be finished on March 30.  He feels that I will continue to heal and the six treatments would not reverse that process at this point.  Things are painful but getting better. Kim thought you’d like to see my gross pictures.  I’ve lost 30 pounds through the process too but don’t recommend this as a diet plan. The best news is that I have been able to avoid the feeding tube!  Funny how the doctor reporting that he saw progress gave me hope!

March 15, 2012

Things are changing so quickly, it’s hard to keep up!  Officially I have six radiation and ZERO chemo treatments remaining!

Background on Radiation

I had all sorts of prayer requests and visions for how this would go!  The first week was a charm, the second week went well until the Thrush hit on the weekend. At that point I had 9 treatments down and 24 to go and I had already lost the ability to chew or swallow?!?!  I had visions of feeding tubes dancing in my head!  Learning about the Thrush gave them something to treat but as it cleared up, I has serious inflammation (anyway) in the back of my throat and along my gum lines. Partly because I was losing so much weight, they had to make a new mask, retool my treatment plan, and as a result my total radiation was reduced by three.  After three weeks I was sitting on 14 down and 16 to go! Ugh! I felt I was dying and each treatment represented had an accumulative effect rather than just another 6 minutes in the tanning booth!

A change in strategy turned out to be what I needed. Instead of focusing on managing my “symptoms”, we chose to manage my pain. This wasn’t as obvious as it sounded because I hurt relatively little (only hurt when I ate).

I had been prescribed liquid morphine, several anti-nausea meds, hydrocordone, a laxative, “magic mouthwash” and had been told about creating a baking soda/salt rinse too.  Somewhere last week it feel into place!  We bought a cool-mist vaporizer and began to see large amounts of mucus being discharged (instead of remaining inside and making me sick).  Eating became less painful, more consistent and the feeding tube became a distant memory!

Background on Chemo

This has been Dr. Linda Garland’s department. As stated previously, because I “am so young and in such great health” she decided to get out the “big guns” of chemo but Cisplatin has considerable side affects upon the nervous system; most noticeably would be ringing in the ears! I was scheduled for three treatments of Cisplatain three weeks a part. However, when the ringing started, the plan was to go with weekly doses of “Erbitux”. The strength of this form of chemo is that it works to maximize the effectiveness of radiation (we like “team players”). So the week I would have received my second chemo, I received the second drug and was told to watch for acne in places I didn’t expect.   This, I was told, would be a cause for celebration as a sign it would be working! Week one came and went; no acne just the usual nausea! The second week however was a different story!

Instead of pimples, I got blisters on my neck and face. The doctors were excited because they could SEE their plan working! On Tuesday, they were confident that I could be given a break the rest of the week from radiation to allow my skin to recover, without compromising the war against cancer cells!

Future

On Monday (March 19), radiation will resume and the last treatment will be Monday, March 26. THEN the healing inside my mouth can begin.

THANK YOU for your faithfulness in prayer!  We didn’t really know how to pray yet we received wisdom beyond our expectations!

I have lost 30 pounds and still struggle in many ways but I appear to be their first patient who will still be eating “real” food even through it looked to be on a very different path three weeks ago!

I have been lifted from my despair and have been refilled with hope!  I must admit that my mind works very slowly and it will be a long year regaining strength (mentally and physically) BUT IT WILL ALSO BE A YEAR OF SIGNIFICANT MINISTRY THAT EVERY ONE OF YOU HAS PLAYED A ROLE IN CREATING!

PRAYERS OF BLESSING UPON YOU!

Randy

Twenty-two radiation treatments down and eight to go!  After today’s treatment, I will be thinking eight but feeling twenty-two!  Before we go there, here are some photos:

Notice the ‘tube” I will be entering and the laser marks to guide the accuracy of my treatment.

These masks are molded to the individual to prevent ANY movement inside.  They work hard to get within the 1 MM margin of error.

My beard was falling out so I shaved it off but it is growing back in a few places with barren skin in others.

Painful places are in the back of my throat (inflamed uvula) and inside of both lips.  Ears still ring but the intensity varies. It had pretty much stopped until I tried a new anti-nausea med then it kicked it up several notches. Stopped taking that and things are tolerable.

Each day, God is gracious and gives me an appetite for something that I am able to consume well. Liquids can only be taken in by little sips.  Right now, things hitting my gag-reflex are a larger problem than nausea.  My weight is threatening to dip below 170 for the first time since I was probably 15. Hey, being at your high school weight isn’t ALL bad is it? Lol!

Everyday I am reminded of my utter dependency upon Jesus Christ! I see more clearly than ever the real essence of life! I pray for years to live with the urgency I now feel but regardless of the time that is actually left, I want to live according to the reality of God!

¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV)

Praying for each of us to experience the joy and reality of these verses!

Randy

February 13, 2012: The Week Ahead

Beginning week two of treatment! Soooo enjoyed weekend at home!  Can’t think about how many more weeks to go, can only think about THIS week!  Last week FELT longer than the week of surgery but I KNOW it wasn’t the case.

Missing church Sunday was hard!  The people there have been a big part of my healing process; like walking in the hospital, being around people gets my mind off myself.  It’s been helpful each weekend to touch lives, practice talking, and experience people’s excitement over the progress they can see.  I slept ¾ of Saturday and ended the day battling a fever that I had been warned could signal a drop in my immunity system.  I felt I had to stay home and sleep. Played praise music all morning and had a good time in the Word but it wasn’t the same as being with the body.  Going to listen to Phil’s message and take my “Next Steps”. What a delight to walk with Kim that afternoon and hear the joy of church through her!

My ears started ringing last night (common side-affect) but they have not stopped.  When trying to sleep, it’s like an alarm clock you can’t turn off or muffle inside your head. Told it could be temp or permanent. Need to target prayers on this one but the real answer may be weeks away.

Additional appointments this week:

• Tuesday go in early for lab work to test blood counts (see how low immunity system has fallen).
• Wednesday see surgeon about wrist (healing has stalled). It could be a long afternoon; God bless George McGuire for driving on this day.
• Thursday is always the day I will meet with my radiation oncologist Dr. Phillips who by the way is the ONLY doctor at UMC older than me! Well, he may not be the ONLY one buy of the dozen or so of my precious doctors . . . ok, my dentist has me by a few years too but thankfully he’s not at UMC!

Something resonating this weekend has been Mercy Me’s song “Bring me anything that brings you glory.” I pray that God will be genuinely glorified through the trials Lindsey and I are facing (She is never far from my thoughts and prayers). Trials come and go but unless they result in the character of God bring developed and revealed in us, they are wasted.

I don’t trust Him FOR this life; I trust God WITH this life realizing that nothing here (except people) will matter in eternity. Since eternity is forever in both directions, it has already begun so decide in which reality you want to live! Live it for Jesus!

February 12, 2012

Chemo consists of three, three-week cycles.  A dose is given and then recovery begins.  All I can speak about from experience is the first week.  What they tell me about weeks two and three are how low my immunity system will drop as healthy cells die along with unhealthy ones (Should we hope unhealthy ones are there? If so, Jesus kill them off because He’s my healer!)

Each subsequent cycle is supposed to be less pleasant than the one(s) preceding it. Chemo comes on Feb 6, 27, and March 19.  Since the completion of the last cycle will be Easter weekend, I’ve put Philip on notice that he should plan to preach that weekend and, Lord willing, I will preach the following week. This may depend on being able to keep my weight up and avoid the feeding tube.

My surgeon cautioned me in January to not to expect to be “normal” for a year (If you heard my sermon last week, you know I don’t want to be “normal” again. Lol!).

Prayer Concerns:

1. Appetite.  Maintaining weight is probably the most critical figure in determining when I’ll be able to preach again.
2. Affects of radiation (especially ringing in ears or loss of hearing). The thickening of saliva is due to radiation and it triggers my gag-reflex.
3. God’s grace upon the staff (paid and unpaid people) of TMCC as we continue to grow during my recovery!
4. We will all become “Fully Engaged” with our faith! Living as though this life is of little concern when compared with eternal life!

Church Business

A third service is being added at TMCC in March.  Please note that all times will change: 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00 (all Sunday morning).  The only difference in format will be that children’s classes will not be offered during the first service but the nursery will be staffed.

A Saturday service is something we plan to do again someday but it would be too much for the staff at this time.  We are even considering two Saturday services for reasons we’ll discuss later.

Architects will return to work on updating our site plan although building is being postponed until we get past my health situation.

Building allowed us the privilege to touch many more lives every weekend and God appears to be challenging us to do it again.  We found a bank willing to give us a much better interest rate but they will only loan based on actual cash given (rather than “commitments” to give like last time).

Thankfully,

Randy

February 6, 2012

Kim and Randy at UMC (taken by Carissa)

Today went SO much better than I expected (even leaving home at 5:30 a.m. and returning after 9:00 p.m.)! I felt so blessed in so many ways. I am very thankful for all of the prayer and the beaucoup anti-nausea meds given to me today. Getting started with radiation was two hours and chemo took another seven hours.

I didn’t hit it off with my radiation nurse on Monday but instead of seeing it as me being assigned to her, I choose to see it as God assigned her to me!

Part of the reason radiation took so long today (other than an extra procedure on the first day) was that another man was “flying stand-by”.  He and I were sitting together in the waiting room wearing our lovely, pinkly decorated gowns! So I engaged him in conversation only to learn that his radiation would have ended on Friday if the machine hadn’t broken and today was it but congratulations weren’t in order because he was dying.

Had a similar situation when the chemo nurse failed on her first attempt to insert my IV into my right forearm.   Here’s the context: I have world-class veins and the RN was the trainer NOT the “inserter”. The non-RN nurse then began to get very nervous, staring at my arm, rubbing and patting it to take a “stab” at another vein. She then announced that she was going to try a SMALL vein instead of the very large one next to it!

My nervous eyes met the RN and she gladly stepped in to do a little more training BUT I had to decide if I really believed in growing people (or could only the “Sr. Nurse” work on me? LOL!) AND my heart went out to her as she was on the verge of tears. Seeing her heart and hearing the remorse in her voice, caused me to respond with kindness and compassion. Once again, I chose to look at it as God had assigned her to me and me being faithful involved a willingness to not get mad when someone botched up my arm with the easy veins God had given me!

I feel pretty good but I’m aware that about a half-gallon of poison was put into by body today.  I feel the need for those prayers and those pain meds! I’m taking this one day at a time and praying I can avoid a feeding tube at the end!

Regardless of the outcome, life isn’t about what happens to me; it’s about how faith in the love and power of God would respond in my circumstances!  I state the reality of convictions and then “take thoughts (feelings) captive”  to conform to that reality never forgetting that God IS great and worthy of MY praise!

Sincerely,

Randy

P.S. I so appreciate the love and sacrifices Kim makes in so many ways! It was very hard for her to have to leave Carissa and I in Tucson to fly to Ft. Hood for work again this week. I am well-cared for and a big part of that is the excellent medical insurance that is available to us through Kim’s work for the government. We’d like her to be able to keep her job but we know that God is our ultimate provider (a big reason Kim works is that she has the gift of giving!) and we thank Him for how well He provides for us in spite of the challenges brought by her travel schedule the past two weeks.

What a weekend!

1. I was blessed to be able to preach on Sunday
2. Carissa and Zach became engaged on Saturday
3. Super Bowl was an exciting game
4. Family picture to include Cara and Luis via Skype
5. Radiation and chemo start Monday.

What a joy to be able to preach today and the response (as posted by many on Facebook) indicated that my main prayer was answered: that God would speak clearly  (http://thundermountain.org/messages/).  I pray that the urgency I feel right now never wanes! I’ve been praying for years that Acts 2:47 will become reality at TMCC (The Lord will add daily to those who are being saved.) and I believe He is using the current events to transform me into the leader TMCC needs to become that kind of church!

Below is our family picture from church on Sunday.  Can you see Cara and Luis (via Skype on the computer) in there too from Germany?  They asked us to Skype the sermon to tbem but we must have had some bandwidth trouble because they could only hear it (couldn’t do audio and video at the same time).   The young man on the left is Zach Plumb is now officially our future son-in-law!  We are thrilled! Plans for a Summer wedding are now underway.

Pictured: Zach Plumb, Carissa, Cara, Luis, Kim, and Randy

Monday starts chemo and radiation!  Here are my prayer requests:

1. I guess we shouldn’t forget to pray for the success of the treatments huh? Lol!
2. Pray that God protects my kidneys and hearing since they are at risk with the type of chemo (Cisplatin) I will be given.  Another rare side effect is listed as cancer. Lol!
3. My dentist is very concerned that my salivary glands survive radiation.
4. Safety on the road. I have joked that the key to surviving cancer is avoiding accidents while driving to treatment!
5. Pray that God’s blessings will flow back on the multitudes of people and churches who have prayed so faithfully and with so much love through this process!

January 23, 2012

Praises & Struggles

On my walk last Thursday, there were many tears. Not the kind however that you or I would have expected. My walking path is about two miles and takes me around two busy streets (one a highway) and I face traffic, bringing me eye-to-eye- with people unknown to me. Well, I guess not completely unknown because this much I THINK I know: they wouldn’t trade places with me.  I mean who would? A deliveryman came by our house on Wednesday and when he saw my arm, he asked if I had surgery.  I joked about a preacher having tongue cancer but as I began to explain what happened and how my arm got involved, a look of pity came over his face and in an almost staccato pulse came this question: “Will you ever be able to speak normally again?”

Nobody I saw on my walk would want to trade places with me but neither would I trade with any of them!  Most look at me as having an uncertain future but that couldn’t be further from the truth! What I saw on my walk were people who looked stressed and impatient with others, appearing to be consumed with cares of living in this world!

Like fellow pastor and cancer-survivor Jorge Villavaszo expressed to me when he and his family came by the house Christmas-caroling, he almost misses the cancer because it was such a rich time with God!

Sure, I feel discouraged sometimes about needing an hour to eat a bowl of oatmeal or couple of pieces of pizza BUT I can eat and enjoy food!  Sometimes I get frustrated by my inability to speak clearly and feeling that only those who already love me will ever be able to listen to me again BUT I can talk as so many of you faithfully remind me!

My future on earth may be uncertain BUT my confidence in the eternal power of the resurrection is unshakeable! I KNOW I will live on earth until God’s purposes for my life are fulfilled and I will be able to speak well enough so that “those who have ears will be able to hear”.

Every time any of you have told me “you are doing so well”, you help me to see and rejoice in the work of God in my life and fill me with confidence that He is not finished with me yet! Yet, I rejoice in knowing that my name is written in the Book of Life because of the finished work of Jesus and that is enough for me! I wouldn’t trade THAT for ANYTHING!

Chemo and Radiation Update.

Initially we had hoped to have radiology administered in Sierra Vista both for convenience and because we had heard good things about the services provided down here.  There are only three of these super-duper machines in Arizona (Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, UMC, and here). However, when Dr. Gernon heard about our plans, he called to make the point that my type of cancer is rare, we get one chance to beat it, and I need to be working with the doctor whom he feels has the most experience in treating it.  He said it was our decision but, “I’m investing my heart and soul into you” and if you cut corners on your treatment because of convenience “all bets are off on keeping you alive.” Lol! God gave us a doctor with great attention to details and we will trust him but it will mean five trips a week to Tucson for 6 ½ weeks but twenty years from now it might seem like a small sacrifice!

Treatments Begin February 6 (I requested the day after the Super Bowl).

We were told that because two lymph nodes were cancerous, radiation was essential and chemo was recommended.

• Chemo will be very three weeks (February 6, 27, and March 19).  Dr. Garland said that BECAUSE I am so young, otherwise healthy, and have the potential for so many years ahead of me they are going to get out the “BIG GUNS” (chemo-wise) to kill any little cancer cells floating around my body (Radiation will kill the localized cells). Parents of young children’s know the importance of watching out for “floaties”! Lol!
• Radiation: Daily M-F for 6 ½ weeks. Of course there are a ton of side-affects but I choose not to think about them.  What I am still able to do and enjoy after all the treatments are completed, will be gifts from God.  Blessings that I may no longer be able to enjoy . . . were blessings from God while I enjoyed them but must never be considered “rights”.  It’s the only way to look at life on this earth.

Faith and Healing

God could have healed me at any point prior to surgery but for whatever reason, His will appears to be that I walk the entire length of this trial so that is what I will do. I could refuse chemo and/or radiation and justify it because of my faith in God, and for some people that might be considered “obedience” but I know that for me, obedience means surrender and persevere and trust God to get me through this trial by which he will grow me in maturity (James 1:2-4).

Three People to Pray For:

1. Dr. Linda Garland, Chemo Oncologist.
2. Dr. Philips, Radiation Oncologist.
3. Dr. T.J. Gernon, surgeon.

My Health

Praises:

• I can eat almost anything and things taste good!
• The decline in my weight has stopped
• No infection has gotten into any of my surgical areas!
• I am not only able to walk two miles for exercise but I ran ¼ mile this past weekend.
• The swelling of my tongue continues to subside and it’s been several days since I’ve bitten myself (hard) when eating.
• Many times I have prayed “Jesus, be my healer!”

Concerns:

• I have to eat very slowly which makes it difficult to gain weight (because I get tired of eating).
• My left forearm has been has been giving me some problems (but no infection!).

REMEMBER: Life is not about what happens to us; it’s about how faith responds to my circumstances!

Love,

Randy

January 13, 2012

I am well aware of everyone’s disappointment that my Ace blogging team AKA “Team Youngblood” has retired! Lol!  Maybe it was the intimidation of trying to fill their shoes, not feeling very well, and the fact that my best reporter “Starbucked” my MacBook which takes time to replace!  She is still worth every penny  (all 340,000 of them!).  Anyway, here I go!

First, I want you to know how grateful I am for the prayers and words of encouragement from more people and more churches than I can count!  In my most discouraging times, I would listen to my iTunes playlist called Randy2012 which is a collection of songs and scriptures given to me by you and by the Holy Spirit.  The power of the Word of God is amazing!  At other times, lying in ICU, I would ask the girls to read Facebook posts or other times, I would read and reread get-well cards.  They all had the same affect: my life was worth living and my feelings were worth overcoming!

People have been asking Kim for updates but first I wanted to share a few lessons I learned in the hospital.

1. Everybody kept telling me how great I was doing so I chose to believe them in spite of how I felt. For example, I probably wouldn’t have thought about coming to church last weekend if it hadn’t been for people who visited me in the hospital and told me how great I was speaking. I was able to see what  God had already done when all I could see at times was how much further I had to travel. Initially I was supposed to stay in until Monday and then go home with a tracheotomy and a feeding tube.  Because of the power of God, I was released on Friday with neither!
2. Every night was long and every morning was tough BUT as soon as I could, I got out of bed and started walking every morning.  By doing this I found that my focus would shift from me to others and I instantly began to feel better every day!
3. When you lay in a hospital bed, you observe TEAMWORK!  Every member of the team does something better than any body else on the team! A couple of guys from maintenance fixed a wiring problem and I wondered how long it would have taken Dr. Gernon or Dr. Erman to do that same task? When interviewed by a first year medical student, I made sure he knew that a wise doctor, understands and appreciates the contributions of each member of the team.

Wednesday’s Appointment with Dr. Gernon.

1. Dr. Gernon removed all staples and sutures from my arm, thigh, and neck. This was also the day, the hole for my trach had closed up and he removed the bandage.  Taping and retaping my neck twice a day had been the biggest pain (literally) and what a thrill to be relieved of that!
2. Dr. G also said that of the 30 lymph nodes he removed during surgery, only two had tested positive for cancer.
3. Because I had a tumor of at least 2 cm (2.2) and cancer had spread to two lymph nodes, my cancer had been stage 4.
4. Dr. G felt confident that he had gotten all visible cancer from my body.
5. Because we have no idea where my cancer came from, Dr. G strongly recommended that I go through both radiation and chemo. He said that patients like me “who are able to complete” radiation and chemo have an excellent survival rate.
6. The swelling in my tongue should continue to decrease and be near normal in about three more weeks.
7. He was pretty optimistic that I would start to feel normal again about a year from now but that I should expect a “pretty tough year”.

Upcoming Appointments

1. Tuesday, January 17 with radiation doctors
2. Tuesday, January 24 with chemo doctors
3. Wednesday, January 25 with Dr. Gernon.

Prayer Requests

1. Christ will shine through me, regardless of how I feel, to everyone whose life I have the privilege of touching!
2. Chemo and radiation will be able to be done in Sierra Vista with excellent results.
3. Every purpose for which God has me walking this path will be accomplished.
4. The wounds from surgery will continue to heal without any infection and nerves reconnect (experiencing minor numbness but thankfully only minor pain too).
5. My weight loss. I went into surgery at 197, came out at 187, and currently weigh 183. I can’t lift weights yet and learning to eat with my new tongue has been challenging (I sometimes can’t tell if I am chewing food or my new tongue which doesn’t have nerve endings).

Again, I can’t thank you enough for the prayer, love, and encouragement that pour over me everyday!  I am convinced, because of you, that God still has plans for my life and ministry!  In addition, with the heart-felt prayer coming from so many churches, I feel that TMCC is now truly a “community” church because of how many are investing so much in us right now for the glory of God!

Love, Randy

January 6, 2012

One week ago today at this time Randy was heavily sedated and laying in ICU with lots of tubes and wires protruding from his body.  Now he lays in the comfy bed of Varsity Suites Hotel in his navy blue silk jammies and the only thing that catches your eye is the 1/4 inch width bandage that stretches around the right side of his neck.  He enjoyed soup and coconut sorbet for dinner fixed by his beautiful and thoughtful daughters.  He got his first full shower that included his first hair washing in over a week and he got two daughter nurses to care for and clean his trach wound tonight.  I took a picture but I will have to rely on the girls to get it posted on Facebook.  WOW, God is a Great Physician and the healing He has performed on Randy has been Miraculous.  If you had asked me a week ago if I could foresee this moment I would have told you “NO WAY”, not this fast.  Tomorrow we will pack up camp Youngblood one final time and head home to safe and comfortable Sierra Vista.

During this week God has had us on His fast track for revelations of His Mighty Power and that He can indeed carry you every step of the way.  So many different emotions were experienced this week and I was so thankful that I could always come back to the phrases “God is in control” and “He Cares for His Children”.  So many lives touched our lives this week and we long to find a way to express to them how much they meant to us.  Writing a thank you note hardly seems adequate for the all the acts of service and kindness that have been shown to our family this week.  We want to be a conduit that passes these blessings on to others for the rest of our days.

Let me give you one small example of just how thoughtful God has been for our family this week.  The hotel room we have been staying in is a two bedroom set up with a nice living room and kitchen set up.  It’s been perfect for keeping expenses down as we could prepare and store food in the kitchen and fridge.  One thing that we thought was odd when we first checked in was that the main bathroom was specifically designed for handicap access to include a shower chair and rails around the toilet seat.  Certainly nothing we girls thought we needed and really almost seemed to be in our way until tonight when we brought Randy back to the hotel.  AH, it suddenly dawned on us how God had orchestrated this whole room thing out from the very beginning.  Suddenly a shower chair for a recently dismissed hospital patient that can’t get certain things wet was really a necessary item.  Rails around a toilet seat provided added assurance as the wound on his leg continues to heal but has moments where it pulls and has pain.  Getting Randy to feel like a new man would have been much more difficult tonight if we had been in a non-handicapped designed bathroom.  Thank you God for thinking it out so far in advance beyond what we could see ourselves.

Things We Praise God for Today:

1. Carissa has successfully transitioned from nearly fainting at the sight of Randy’s wounds to now cleaning and caring for them as though she were a registered nurse.

2. Precious visits from RJ Moore, John and Joanie Evans, Paul and Marlene Plumb, Justin and Eileen McPeak (they get credit because they tried and we were dismissed 30 minutes before they arrived)

3. A personal text tonight to Randy’s phone from Dr. Gernon that read “Hopefully being home is going well. Take Care and see you Wednesday”.   Wow, he has really been such a blessing in our lives.

4. WE ARE OUT OF THE HOSPITAL!!!! We are so looking forward to a great night of sleep!!!!

5. Last tube came out and I’m trying not to gloat over the ICU nurse who scolded me about my goal.

6. Real dinner for Randy that included coconut sorbet for dessert, followed by a real shower.  He’s feeling like a human being again.

7. I didn’t pee my pants from laughter when Randy screeched “I have to walk in the main lobby in my silk jammies!”.

This will be the last blog that Team Youngblood writes for Randy.  He is ready to take it back over and we are out of clever things to write.  Thank you for following our progress and for sharing how these posts have encouraged and touched your lives.  All I can say is it is God and it is part of His blessings that flow out and flow back into the body of Christ.  We love you and can’t thank you enough for how much the prayer support and words of encouragement have meant to us.  Randy shared that several times in the last week his strongest feeling was “I’d rather just die” but because of the outpouring of encouragement he found himself able to deny those feelings and embrace the source of blessing and healing that God was providing through your words.  So thank you for being the finger prints of God on our lives this week!!!!  Love to all!  Over and Out from Camp Youngblood.

Day 6 after surgery and Randy Youngblood is in rare voice, yes he has a voice, and he can talk.  I know many of you saw Facebook pictures that showed him writing things on a white board and that along with finger spelling were his primary modes of communicating with us during those first few days.  That situation all changed very dramatically once they removed the trach tube and the hole started to grow closed and Randy’s tongue became less swollen.  His silent humor of a few days ago has a whole new voice.  In fact, the girls of Team Youngblood think his new wrist based tongue has brought out a whole new level of humor in Randy.  Who knew a wrist could be so funny.   He used his humor and new tongue to do some major pleading with the Dr. today to see if  he would remove Randy’s feeding tube.  Yes, you read that right he wants his feeding tube removed because he is now drinking from a cup with a straw and tonight consumed some high class chicken broth and 3 boxes of apple juice.  He even texted the Dr. later in the evening to give it one more shot for “Please can you remove my feeding tube”.  He was a like a kid begging Santa for a new iphone.  He can hardly wait for the first morning when he can have his staple of oatmeal for breakfast.  While Randy was unsuccessful at convincing the Dr. to remove his feeding tube we do have a victory to celebrate for my goal of “remove a tube a day”.  I know you thought that campaign was over and so did I but today the IV tube got removed because he can now get his liquids through the straw.  Tomorrow I will meet my goal because out will go the feeding tube BECAUSE…… WE ARE BEING DISCHARGED tomorrow!!!!!!  The Dr. is releasing us around 4:00 tomorrow after we girls get trained on bandage changing and post trach cleaning.  We could drive home tomorrow but Randy wants to stay in the time share we girls have been enjoying all week, thanks to a gift from Petie and Lynn.  Camp Youngblood is closing up shop tomorrow at UMC and will be re-locating back home in Sierra Vista on Saturday!!!!!

Praises for Today:

1. We are going home 3 days a head of schedule!!!!

2.  All of Randy’s bodily functions are fully back and operational!!!  It’s amazing what nurse Dawn will cheer for when it comes to patient care.

3. No pain medication for over 24 hours.

4. The computer that I spilled my coffee on is un-repairable BUT the hard drive can be mounted and the data can be extracted.  Apple will do all that for us at no charge if we purchase the replacement at the La Encantada store.  Normally there would be a fee but  Thank you Ty from the Apple store for the time you took to help us figure out that the data was recoverable by testing the hard drive.

5. Randy got this neat opportunity to be interviewed by two first year medical students.  It was a neat hour that I so wish we had recorded.  It was a unique combination of Randy as Pastor, Teacher and Patient all in one.  In fact one of the students was so touched by what Randy shared that he came back later and sought out Randy for further questions he, the student, had regarding Randy’s medical case and also regarding some of the input Randy has shared earlier about the importance of seeing the entire team and the valuable role each one plays from the janitor that changes the bulbs over the patients bed, to the technician the takes the vitals on up to the Dr.

6. Tonight’s gourmet dinner was some of the best food Randy has ever experienced Chicken Broth followed by Apple Juice.  Amazing how life moments can alter how one looks at the simplest of food sensations.  Randy also met his goal of 60 units of nourishment/hour for the feeding tube.

7. Prayer filled visit from Mary Anne Thrasher and bonus visit from Michelle R. who not only brightened our afternoon but also graciously volunteered to help haul home a portion of our small forest.

Team Youngblood is celebrating coming home and we are looking forward to having visitors at the start of next week after a good weekend of recovery for all.

Greetings Wonderful Friends and Family of TMCC,

This week we are learning that laughter may indeed be the best medicine when it has so much prayer power behind it.  The first few days were a bit stressful and yet even when Randy was struggling to just get out of bed we found that his humor was one of the first things to return.  It first revealed itself in the ICU room when he would be writing out on his white board questions or concerns and we 3 girls would be intently watching to try and quickly provide the answer in an eagerness not to have him write more than he absolutely had to.  In fact we would be so intent on responding properly to whatever he wrote that the first few times when he threw in a humor moment we totally missed it and so he quickly learned to write a smiley face at the end of all humor sentences.  Our final day in ICU, when we had nurse Rob, was definitely the day when all of Randy’s humor returned in full force.  Between the two of them I thought I would wet my pants and this comedy duo included one member that couldn’t even use his voice so you can imagine how clever they had to be with there little comedy act to have us in stitches.

Today has been Randy’s best day and our tube removal goal remains intact but I’m thinking today may be the last day to have such goals. The two remaining tubes are his feeding tube and his IV tube which at this point remain too critical to his healing so we will close our tube removal campaign and call it a success, job well done!!!  With our tube goal complete we will now transition to our feeding goal, we need Randy to be able to receive 60 units of his nutrition in an hour.  Currently he is at 40 units so we are over half way there.  Once we get to 60 units and maintain it for a few hours then we can transition to a type of feeding called “Bolus” feeding in which Randy will start receiving 1/2 cups of the “Luscious Liquid” nourishment within a 15 minute window to simulate more normal feeding behavior.

Last night Randy let us take pictures of his new tongue and post them on Facebook.  I had hoped that I could figure out how to do that here on his blog so you could have before and after pictures but I’m not clever enough to make that happen so if you want to see his new tongue jump on your FB account and look under the Photo Album “Team Youngblood Adventure”  and if you don’t have a FB account one of your friends or your kid has one so just bum a “log in” from them.  The new tongue is quite amazing and the swelling continues to come down each day.  Learning to talk with it and swallow with it are part of the challenges Randy is working through but in true “Team Youngblood” fashion he is exceeding the standards and setting new records.  In fact Dr. Germon said today one of their thoughts regarding Randy’s recovery was to come down and actually film him preaching once he was back in the pulpit and then use that as website material for their upcoming ENT students.  He really is going to be the “Poster Pastor”.

Praises For Today:

1.  Third and final drain tube is gone!

2  Randy hiked from the 7th floor down to the 2nd floor and made a visit to the nurse and technicians that had so wonderfully cared for him in ICU.  He wanted them to hear his own words of thanks as opposed to the written ones he had expressed while in ICU.

3. In his very own vocal words Randy said his  personal praise is how encouraged he feels by reading how his example of courage strengthened others in their faith.

4. Fun Visits from the Wordens (Cara and Carissa’s former softball coach), Desiree & Melissa (former softball players who played for Randy), Favorite Charity RossWoman, Sweet Kelly Hoehn, Dana (Pastor Pat’s Admin Assistant), Tim Nottingham (Technician that works at UMC and friend of Cara and Luis), Britney Vowell and her fiancee Mike and a virtual visit from Mike Hoehn who wanted to be here with Kelly but stayed home with the boys so that Kelly could visit.

5. A beautiful Red Floral Plant from our wonderful friends at Shiloh Christian Ministries and a cancer fighting plant that Britney looked up online.

6. Superb nursing staff!  We learned that nurse Tammy actually played softball and was the catcher for Marana HS during some of the years that Cara was playing High School ball.  Man once Randy heard the word softball you should have seen him talking with his new found tongue and voice.  He was in his element.

7. Nurse Steve is the Dad of 4 adopted Chinese daughters.  Wow, what a wonderful heart this man has and learning that personal information really touched our hearts and gave us a new appreciation for a nurse that was already outstanding in our book.

Thank you all for loving our family so much!  We feel it and it has helped be a great source to draw from any time our feelings have started to drift to anything negative.  So Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!!

Three cheers for our courageous hero “Poster Pastor” Randy Youngblood.  As you may know I set a goal our first night in ICU to lose a tube a day.  When we started Randy had 7 tubes attached to his body and that didn’t include his tracheotomy or vitals monitor.   When I announced that goal to his ICU nurse that first night she gasps and quickly cautioned me not to rush the healing process.  I briefly took in her words and thought maybe she is right, just back off from setting unrealistic goals.  However, the more I thought about it the more I convinced myself that we had a mighty prayer team on our side and I was going to stick with my goal.  Each day since surgery “Poster Pastor” Randy Youngblood has been able to lose one tube.  But then today hit and I thought my goal was going to meet the fate of the ICU nurse prediction when the PA announced this morning that he would be leaving in the drain tube that we had hoped he would be removing.  I was a bit blue thinking that we would have to report tonight on the blog that we had failed to meet our goal.  Then late this afternoon the PA paid us a second visit and announced that drain tube #2 would indeed be coming out as soon as he found a pair of scissors.  Hooray, my goal requirements are still intact and hold on dear blog readers because my story is about to get even better.

After seeing the PA for the second time in a single day we had no expectation of seeing anyone else from the surgical team when lo and behold in walked both Dr. Gernon and Dr. Erman.  We hadn’t seen Dr. Erman since the day of the surgery and we knew that both Dr.’s had had very busy days at the VA hospital before coming back to UMC.  They both took a look at Randy and heard him attempting to speak around his Tracheotomy tube.  Dr. Erman immediately petitioned Dr. Germon for his thoughts about just removing the Trach right then and there.  Dr. Germon said he felt like Randy hasn’t needed it since day one but wanted to be cautious.  The two Dr.’s dialogued a bit more and then “Bam!”, out with the Trach tube and all its neck pulling stitches with it.  So dear blog readers “Poster Pastor” Randy Youngblood is now Trach free with my goal for him intact.  Three Cheers for Team Youngblood!!!

Praises for Today:

1. Randy made 4 rounds at 3 laps a piece over the entire section of “Seven West”.
2. He had wonderful visits from the Moore ladies, Anne and Beth Fuller, Stuart and Cindy Engle, Tasha Vargas and Zach Plumb.
3. We received more beautiful flowers and plants and could almost qualify for small forest status with all the beauty we have been given through these gifts.
4. The PCA (pain management) button is gone and the overall need for pain management is decreasing at great rates.
5. They have increased Randy’s liquid feed intake and tonight’s meal we told him was a complete Taco Bell 12 pack, which he had wanted earlier in the day when he saw it advertised on T.V.
6. Tender nurse Stephen was super with the injections today and Sparkling Nurse Dawn is back tonight building her patented back supporting pillow pyramid.
7. “He (Randy) tested out of Physical Therapy Today” to quote him directly. The Physical Therapist came in this morning to assess Randy’s mobility and plan out a course of action for restoring him to full physical health but quickly realized Randy was in great shape and didn’t need any physical therapy whatsoever.

Good Evening From Team Youngblood HeadQuarters.

We have mobilized and are now located on Seven West, which sound like the name for the next night time Soap Opera …. Charlie’s Angels themed music and then in bold letters “Seven West” featuring Randy Youngblood and his team of ladies.  Sorry it’s late and my sleep is lacking so I think I’m being funny.  If this is not funny just laugh at me and move on to the next paragraph.

We had hoped we were moving earlier in the day but the move did not come until near the end of the day just before shift change so that added a bit of stress as we re-located and met one set of nursing staff only to turn around and then meet the night time nursing staff who was still coming on and catching up on data from all the patients that the day staff had been responsible for.  In spite of the minor confusion, uncertainty and change of venue, which put us all on new “learning ground” for how does “Seven West” function, Randy continued to be the model patient.  In fact when nurse Dawn informed him that she would like him to get up and walk a bit more he willingly accepted her challenge and then proceeded to not once but twice make an escape back to the comfortable and known of ICU.

Sweet Cara has the night shift tonight since I have been on duty 3 nights in a row and I am not functioning on all cylinders at the moment (i.e reference lame humor in the opening paragraph). Pray that she is allowed to remain with him as his mouth piece because technically we are not supposed to be staying in the room all night and if his roommate objects then Cara would have to leave.  So far all seemed to be working out when I left and for that I am most grateful.  Over the last 72 hours the ladies of Team Youngblood have learned to read Randy’s finger spelling and hand gestures for certain words and so we are his voice for the nurses, the Dr. and visiting guests.

The praises of the day:

1. Wonderful visits from the Wilson, Flissar, Herrin and Robles Families.

2. Another Tube was removed and we got rid of the very sensitive and equally noisy “Vital Signs” monitor that went off a lot because of it’s acute ability to detect the slightest change in Randy’s vitals. His vitals have been great and the monitor was SUPER picky!!

3. Nurse Yvonne last night was the perfect nurse because after 3 nights of caring for Randy she really knew his routine and was just on top of everything last night.

4. Nurse Rob was the perfect fit for a day of waiting to move.  His sense of humor cut through the minor frustration that once awhile arose as we waited from 9:00 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. to move to “Seven West”.

5. Two good hall walks today and a jig dance with each one followed by a wave to all his neighbors as he passed them by.

6. Randy tried to talk a bit more tonight and people responded well so his speech is really showing progress in spite of the trach.

7. Pain levels were very good today and Randy seemed to make fewer pushes with his pain management button.

Thank you all for your continued support through FB, texts, visits, cards, flowers, stuffed animals and colorful balloons.  Team Youngblood feels your love and prayers!!!

Blessings and thanks to all and a very good night from Camp Youngblood now located on “Seven West” (close out sexy theme music).

Happy New Year from Team Youngblood!!

Today we have come to value the sacrifices that others make and their acts of service on our behalf:

1.  We learned today that Dr. Gernon sacrificed his ski trip to Flagstaff so that he could do Randy’s surgery on the 30th rather than make him wait for the next available opening in the OR which would have been the middle of January.

2. We value Michelle, our Resperatory Therapist, who is spending her first day back at work, away from her baby boy after delivering him 3 months ago.

3.  We appreciate the tender way Randy’s Technician, Philip (like another great Philip we know), carefully gave Randy a bath today and helped him get fresh jammies on.

4.  For Kristin, Randy’s nurse who lives in Sierra Vista and knows the Kamarowski family and has to make the long drive to and from work to be here to serve.

5.  For Stephen who cleaned up all the mess my completely full Venti coffee made after I spilled it this morning.

6. For Precious Beth Fuller who took a portion of her afternoon to deliver a card and pray with Randy and me.  Thank you Beth for being such an ecnouraging and courageous person.

7. For the blessing of free hotel rooms provided by the American Cancer Society and the generous gift of two time share weeks by Petie and Lynn.

Today has had a few more bumps as the swelling increased and stitches and tubing started to pull or irritate.  But as the one nurse commented when she came in “there is that smile you (Randy) are always wearing”.  Sleep and breathing were both better for Randy last night and I hope that continues tonight.  We of course are sad that our Bronco’s has to lose to the Chiefs today but thankfully the Charger’s beat the Raiders so now we get to watch Tim play in his first post season game.

Thank you for the beautiful flower arrangement that arrived yesterday from our TMCC family.  I was able to show Randy the arrangement through the ICU glass door and until we can change rooms they are blessing the front desk and are a source of beauty for all the staff to enjoy as they continue to serve a very full ICU.

Pray for Randy’s folks to have safe travels home to Texas.  Pray for Andrew, Lindsey and Johnathon as their news was especially emotional for Randy yesterday and he drew great strcngth from Lindsey’s postive posts and likes her new theme song “Survivor”.  Pray for Philip, Angela and Parker to have a great week in Atlanta.  Pray for Kelly, Meg, Cindy and Charity who have to hold the office down while Lindsey, Randy and Philip are away.

We loved seeing the pictures of the worship at TMCC this morning, and we would have much rather been there than here! But we will worship God wherever we are

Again, Happy New Year!

Team Youngblood

Greetings Powerful Prayer Warriors,

Randy has had some great “Progress Praises” today and to quote our favorite football player “We thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” for each one of them.  I (Kim) will list them for you:

1.  His Dr. told him that out of all the patients the Dr. has performed this surgery for Randy is in the top 95% – 100% for success and rapid recovery.  The Dr. is VERY happy with the condition of his tongue.

2.  Randy was able to put his finger over his trach tube and actually speak.  Brought tears to all of us to hear his words.  Certain letters are hard, like N, but once the trach is gone I believe we will begin hearing a whole lot more from the man who has so much to say.

3.  Three cheers for them removing the catheter and Randy being able to sport a nice striped pair of hospital pajama pants.

4.  They started putting liquid through his feeding tube today and he is tolerating that well.  They are doing small doses and will increase as they see how he handles the intake.

5. He sat up in a chair for over two hours.

6. He took a short “jog” down the hall.  Zach says it was about 7 yards and Terri (Randy’s sister) said he even did a little shuffle dance when his feet first hit the floor.

7.The staff continues to comment about how kind Randy is and I will second that.  He really is very grateful for all the people that touch his life right now.

He continues to ask to have the various FB posts read to him so thank you all as you continue to give him great encouragement with your words.  Randy’s “love language” is words of encouragement so he feels your love with each post, comment or like.

Thank you for praying for him and loving him,

Team Youngblood

Dr. TJ and Dr. Audrey are all done taking Randy’s tumors out and putting in his new “hairy” tongue.  He has a pretty large incision on the neck and they removed about 30 lymph nodes from the area around the neck tumor.  The surgery went totally as they expected but they did end up removing a few more of the lymph nodes in the neck than they had initially thought.  They are bringing him slowly out of the anesthesia and we should be able to see him within the hour.  He does have a lot of tubes coming out of his body but those should be able to be removed over the course of the next 10 days.  He should be able to talk by day 5 or less but it may be difficult to understand what he is saying.

Dr. Rogers, our dentist, has been sitting with the family throughout the day and helping us fill in data points with his background in the medical field.  We have so appreciated his time and dedication to our family from the moment Randy was diagnosed.  Please keep Dr. Roger’s son-in-law in your prayers because he has been battling oral cancer for the last two years and the cancer is at a point where recovery will be by a miracle from God.  Pray for Will (Dr. Roger’s son-in-law) and Amelia (Dr. Roger’s daughter).  Please God, heal Will and strengthen Amelia

Randy and Kay Herrin stopped by for a dose of encouragement as we celebrate the healing God has done in Kay’s body when two years ago Kay was diagnosed with her cancer.  As Kay says “hugs are healing and prayers are powerful” and she is a living testimony to the healing hand of God.  Thank you God for the mighty work you have done in Kay Herrin’s body.  We give you all the Praise.

The tracker board that has Randy’s patient number “84835? says he is in recovery so it shouldn’t be long before I get to kiss his precious forehead.  Thank you all for the prayers, keep up the mighty battle.

Love to all,

Team Youngblood

This is Kim updating Randy’s Blog for him as he continues being operated on.  We are over half way through the procedure as I type.  They have extracted all of the tumors and are currently working on preparing the graft from the wrist that will become his new tongue.  Before they put him under Randy asked all the staff (5 Doctors and at least 2 nurses) if they could pray so my first phone call from nurse Jamie was to let me know that Randy was about 20 minutes into the procedure and that they all had held hands and prayed before he was given the anesthesia.    His vitals are all holding very well and the Dr. asked if they could take pictures of Randy prior to and during the operation.  They believe they want to use his case and situation in the future.  So we love thinking about Randy as the “Poster Pastor” for cancer recovery.

The waiting time for the family and friends here with us has gone by really fast.  We are grateful for the wireless internet the hospital offers and we have only taken over a small army size section of the surgery waiting room  We have coffee, fruit, cookies, chocolate bread, games, computers, phones, ipads so we are set to camp out for days if we have to, JK.

Thank you all for all the texts, posts and prayers.  God is continuing to reveal Himself each hour of this procedure.

We are also posting on FB but recognize that not everyone can check that so we will do our best to continue to post here as well.

Love and thanks to all,

Team Youngblood

Fear in Darkness.

From the doctor’s first hint that my problem might be cancer (December 5) through the official diagnosis on December 15, to my announcement on the 18^th; I was afraid.  Those feelings grew through a series of events one weekend (December 10-11):

• A TV show I recorded had Martina McBride singing her new song, “I Loved You Through It” (stories about struggles with cancer).
• A Christmas movie, Kim and I watched, featured a pastor who died unexpectedly at 53.
• The song I woke up to the next morning (“Testify to Love”) I recognized from a well-known “Touched By An Angel” episode where a young boy died of cancer!
• On Sunday I watched people come forward for communion during worship and my heart broke over the preciousness of God’s people. . . and knowing I still wanted to be their pastor!
• Looking out the back window at home I saw myself sitting on a bucket catching the thousands of pitches my daughters had thrown to me . . . a weeping.

My first response to the words “you’ve got cancer and it’s stage 3″ was to stare at the floor and apologize to Kim for not responding quickly to the “infection” I had been doctoring in my mouth.  I am so careful with my health to have the strength to serve well in my later years when my wisdom would be peaking; yet there I sat . . . with cancer! It felt like a death sentence and I was determined but unable to hold it inside until after Christmas!

“When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.” Psalm 32:3">Psalm 32:3 (NIV)

Why I Had to Speak

1. Keeping this secret violated the core value of transparency this ministry had been built on.
2. Choosing to believe that God had allowed it at this time so we could walk this path together.
3. The cancer was behaving aggressively and I thought I’d be a dead man by January 1 if I didn’t allow people to pray for me.
4. I sensed in the Spirit that the rejoicing in the end would exceed the joy diminished by my announcement IF I allowed people to pray for me (before it was too late).

Something changed when I brought my reality out into the light! Within an hour of my diagnosis 35 people came to my house and prayed for my life, many pastors were making announcements and people throughout the Body of Christ had begun to share scripture, words of encouragement, and impressions from the Lord!  People were fasting and praying for me throughout the city and around the country! Prayer began to ignite in me confidence in God!

“. . . for God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind;” 2 Timothy 1:7 (YLT)

Prayer has lifted me up on a wave in confidence in God that this is not the end and he will use it in a deep transformative way to shape the rest of my life and ministry!

What people have reported hearing from God:

1. “This is a spiritual attack”
2. “This is a time to release excess baggage.”
3. “God wants you to write.”
4. “God wants you to remember the word He gave you at the Global Leadership Summit.” (“You are not a placeholder, I want to use you.”)
5. “This has been brought on by stress and the congregation help you.”

How to Pray

1. Surgery will not be necessary but if it is, all cancer will be contained in those two areas.
2. Skill and direction for the anesthesiologist and surgeons.
3. The cancer cells die and the tumors are easily removed.
4. Taste buds remain intact and functional.
5. The doctors follow wisdom from above in recommending a strategy for follow-up care.
6. The blessings of God will flow back over every person in every church who prayed for me!
7. People will only be talking about God when this is over.
8. Blessings upon Philip Engle and the rest of the church in my absence.

Here are a couple of photos as testimony of what God will do! (SORRY! Maybe someone in the office will be able to rotate these pictures tomorrow).

Kim and I have been incredibly touched by the outpouring of prayer and love that has come our way from so many!  We recognize that my life and ministry are in God’s hands and dependent upon Him responding to the prayers of His people! I hurt, the pain and size of the tumor have been increasing and we are in need of every prayer yet I am confident in that Word of God and every promise it contains!

In June I happened to have oral cancer exams both by my dentist and an ENT specialist (for a vocal chord issue) and I was clean.  This Fall I noticed a little lump under my tongue but thought it was just an infection that I could treat so it became a big lump and spread to my neck before I saw a doctor.  I believe God is capable of granting miraculous healing at any moment and I believe that God will be with me if I have to walk the path that is before me.

Many people want to know how this happened.  Here are my answers to the only three causes of this cancer that have been mentioned to me:

1. I have never used tobacco in any form.
2. I have never drank alcohol.
3. My wife and I have never had a sexual partner other than each other.

All I can conclude is that God has allowed it for His glory and I’m fine with that because I trust Him! I see evidence of God at work yet I feel worse almost every day. I’m concerned about having to wait almost two weeks before surgery but that is the day God ordained.  Carissa is managing my diet so I can fight this with everything within me but I know that victory will only come from the Lord!

Here’s what is going to happen beginning December 30:

1. Removing tumors from my tongue and neck (will cost about half of the front of my tongue).
2. Take skin from my wrist to “reconstruct” my tongue.
3. Use a skin graph from my thigh to repair my wrist (Mr. Thigh will have to fend for himself).
4. Surgery is expected to last ten hours and I will be in the hospital ten days (including two in ICU).
5. Speech therapy could take up to a year for me to learn to talk again.

Please pray for . . .

1. Miraculous healing.
2. Cancer not to spread beyond tongue and neck (I feel like a battle is going on for my lungs. An x-ray will be Monday).
3. Tumor in tongue to shrink (to remove as little of the tongue as possible).
4. Successful reconstruction of tongue (the flap of skin from my wrist will “take”).
5. Ability to speak again (a portion of my tongue will have no feeling to it).
6. Clearing entire body of cancer (I believe God’s plan is to use me for years to come and to use this to grow us all deeper in Him).
7. God will defeat the Evil one by not only restoring my tongue but by unleashing an army of 1,000 tongues in addition to  mine.
8. God’s grace to be sufficient for Phil and the rest of the church to more than make up for my absence.

What you can do?

1. Be devoted to prayer! Ask God to develop a lasting devotion to prayer in our church that will continue to move mountains!
2. Look after each other. When someone comes to mind, it’s your responsibility to call or email and say, “You came to my mind and I wanted to see how you’re doing. So how are you doing?”
3. Be involved in a ministry. This is your church and your church needs you!
4. Ministry leaders please have personal contact with people associated with your ministry. See the people who aren’t there and don’t rely on email for communication. Look people in the eye and let people hear your voice!

I’m very sorry this news has come during your Christmas season but I trust God that the rejoicing in the end will more than make up for the diminished joy now!  God has allowed it and we have to walk this path together with Him because we are the church, His body, and this is how He makes himself known (Eph 3:10, James 1:2-4). God’s Will is perfect and when we pray, we don’t do so to change His mind but to release His perfect will in our lives and in our world!

There is a tough road ahead but there is nothing I can do now but surrender and persevere.

I love Jesus and the Body of Christ!!

Randy

After meeting at the Buena Performing Arts Center for the past four months, the time is right to return to our campus on Golden Acres for two Sunday morning services beginning  January 1  at 9:00 and 10:30 a.m. The Saturday service is something we want to do again in the future but not at this time.

The “Buena Experiment” was good in many ways but the growth needed to sustain it has not happened. With the addition of the office modular, more classrooms will be made available for the kids on our campus and with kids worship continuing, capacity for worship space increases. The best parts of the last four months have been the changes in Children’s ministry and the many volunteers in all areas who stepped up BIG TIME! The new offices may not may not be fully occupied by January 1 but it didn’t make $ense to stay at Buena on New Year’s Day and with the PAC not being available on the second Sunday, it wasn’t worth battling the confusion then either. I am glad to be part of a church with the freedom to take risks to reach more people and as we move into 2012  we will continue to be “fully engaged” and “all in” because the local church is the source of hope for the world! (Eph 3:10-12).

Reasons We Tried Buena

1. We asked, “How many people would God bring if we made the room?”
2. Our three services were filled to capacity and building was at least two years away.
3. We are willing to take risks to reach more people.
4. We don’t want to become complacent in reaching out because the room feels full.
5. We wanted to provide a great children’s ministry environment!

Reasons to Return to Golden Acres

1. The office modular is in place and (when opened) will make available more classrooms for kids in our building.
2. Maintaining the kids worship we established will increase the capacity of our available worship space.
3. Budgetary concerns. We were willing to pay for the extra space but the necessary growth did not occur.
4. Our new question is “How many leaders can we equip to care for and grow the people God will bring?”

Celebrate

1. We gave it our best shot! We did everything we could think of to have the best opportunity for success.
2. The volunteers who stepped up were amazing!
3. In this church we don’t need to feel shame or make excuses when things don’t work out the way we expected.
4. We learned some things about our church.
5. We have a new “question”.
6. We touched the lives of the Buena staff each week.

We are in the process of identifying lessons learned and forming strategies to take our next steps as a congregation.

Prayerfully,

Randy