Health Update
Pastor Ron Salsbury
Hello Dear Friends and Family!
Thank you for your ongoing prayers and support for me and my family. I am deeply grateful to be alive and blessed in so many ways. This coming February, will mark six years in this battle with cancer. It’s been an amazing journey. My doctors and friends in the medical profession say, "Ron, you should have been dead years ago!" It’s true. My early prognoses were bleak to say the least. In spite of the early, hopeless assessments that I received from some, I’m still alive and kickin’! God has seen fit to preserve my life and I am thankful. I am thankful, not just because it’s Thanksgiving and I love turkey and pumpkin pie and that I’m still alive, but I’m actually thankful for the cancer. I am thankful because through this long and difficult journey God has changed me. I know Him better and love Him more. He is SO Good and Faithful!
My favorite song these days is by Marvin Sapp, "Never Could Have Made It." Please YouTube it and listen, be blessed and cry with me. In it Marvin sings, "I never would have made it, never could have made it without you. I would have lost it all. I’m stronger; I’m wiser, I’m better, much better. When I look back on all you brought me through, I can see you were there to hold onto." So true! Can you sing it with me? The tears are flowing even now. Thank you, Jesus, for the times when you’re all we have, so we can discover that you’re all we need! I never would have made it, never could have made it without you! It’s so true! Has He been faithful to you? Thank Him right now. …Now, on with the update
So, here’s the latest. Cathi and I went up to U.C.S.F. and met with the head of Oncology, Dr. H, and her assistant. They had reviewed my entire history of treatments and tests. Dr. H said that there was a spot on my tailbone that has been there for awhile, but they were concerned about it. She suggested that I get another bone scan and if it was cancer, I should go on hormone ablation and blockers immediately. If it was not in my bones, she said that I could wait on hormone therapy until my PSA gets to 5.0, then go on it for a year. Then go off, and watch how fast it goes up to 2.5 to begin again. At some point, the cancer becomes resistant to the hormone therapy, but that would be "years away" as she said. (I like the plural sound of years!) So, I got a bone scan and my bones were clear and the spot was stable/unchanged, which is really good news! Plus, I got my monthly PSA back yesterday and it went down a bit, from 2.50 to 2.28. Thank you Jesus! And, thank you all for your prayers!
Well dear ones, I’m thankful! Thankful for the Lord’s faithfulness, for my amazing family, friends and church, and I’m thankful for how He’s worked in me through this journey. Like Marvin sings, "I’m stronger and I’m wiser." I can say it’s true! Wisdom is different than knowledge. Knowledge knows stuff, facts and figures – like the people on the Jeopardy game show. It has its place. When you need CPR, you’re glad someone has the knowledge to save your life! Knowledge is important. But wisdom knows God and His ways. It’s knowing ourselves in the light of knowing Him. And, it’s understanding life in the light of knowing Him. So dear friends, don’t resist or resent the tough times. Through them, you can begin to see everything else in the light of knowing Him. And, THAT is wisdom!
Let me leave you with a passage I read this morning from The Message.
James 3:17-18 (MSG) 17 Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. 18 You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.
May you be wise without being a "wise guy!"
May your wisdom be humble and rooted in your personal life in, and knowledge of Christ. And, may your wisdom be marked by a holy life and robust community!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Amazingly Graced,
Pastor Ron Salsbury
