Acts 3-4

As we face a mission of eternal importance, it requires us to be fully engaged and fully trained.  This morning we will be looking at some of the challenges the mission of God calls us to break through with courage only He can give us.  Through this preparation we will find significance in depending on God and fighting for His cause.

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Next Step

1. I believe and proclaim that there is no other name under heaven by which I must be saved.
2. I trust and proclaim that He who is in me is greater than the one who is in the world.
3. I will ask God daily to reveal opportunities to make His name known.
4. I will ask God for courage to look people in the eye and make His name known.

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">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

We have been given a mission of great importance.  What it requires of us is great, but not impossible.  Through this series we will see the priceless benefits of being “Fully Engaged” in the mission of God.  Join us as we prepare for an adventure of an eternal magnitude.

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Next Step

1. I have been “cut to the heart” and have turned to Jesus for the forgiveness of my sins.
2. I have “weighed the cost” and will be “Fully Engaged” in my relationship with Jesus.
3. I will not share God’s grace in the shadows, but celebrate it in the streets.
4. I will encourage others that we “can’t stay here” but must develop to grow.

God has done amazing thing throughout the 2011 year! Looking back, we will see that there are many great things God has done in and through TMCC. We also recognize that there are greater things still to come. This week we look forward and prepare for how God will grow us, as a body, for His glory in 2012.

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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

We will hear from Beth Fuller, who works with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Papua New Guinea.  She will be sharing her passion for Bible translation and the amazing work God has done through this ministry which we have been able to partner with.

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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.

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.

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!!!!

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.