My next adventure – where the rubber meets the road

Hola friends & family,

By now many of you may of heard of my latest adventure, if not have a seat and hold on.

If you are on this e-mail list you may recall me sharing at some point and time of the recent adventurous opportunities I have been blessed with recently or over the past few years; such as meeting my World Vision child in a remote mountain village in Uganda – (click link below to see the WV interview), climbing Mt. Sinai, diving the Red Sea, touring Israel, exploring Greece, Sailing to the Galapagos, and many more.

I really thought my next adventure would be a trip back to Africa to do missions, however, I see hospitals to be my next mission field. On April 29^th I was diagnosed with Adenocarcinomas, a 2 ½” cancerous tumor located in the transition where the stomach meets the esophagus, (the location of the tumor is actually very fortunate – will explain below). By the Grace of God I have experienced tremendous PEACE, Joviality and No Fear. Actually, I have great anticipation to see what and how the God I know as Faithful and know intimately, will use this for His glory, in my growth and understanding of His love for me, and in the lives of all those I care deeply for, a.k.a You.

The best way to describe the past few weeks is feeling like I have been walking on water. The amount of calls & prayers has been overwhelming and extremely beneficial. By no means am I alone and feeling like the wealthiest man alive because of the support I have in my corner.

For the past few months God has been reminding me of the 23rd Psalm.com (link – click to read). It says He leads me to rest, (such a foreign word and concept to me – see my quote at the bottom of my signature), it goes on the say; “Thou I walk in the shadow of the valley of death, I will fear no evil (my addition “HA !”), for Thou are with me. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me” – which tells me I am secure knowing He will protect me and guide me.

God’s timing; hmmmmm?:

It has been a tremendous year of emotional and spiritual preparation leading up to this adventure and would love to share some of the numerous revelations I have experienced that have lead to understanding, then to repentance – (choice), deliverance of habits or wrong mindsets, then FREEDOM. I plan to break those down on my web site for anyone interested in reading more about that. I am blown away by God’s provision and timing as 1 week before getting the diagnosis I started a wonderful relationship with an amazing woman that I have known and greatly admired for many years. Our 3^rd date was her taking me to a semi-routine procedure at the hospital which latter proved to be the discovery of the tumor. Maria has been a fulfillment of the desires of my heart and so much more. I am blown away. The timing still makes me scratch my head, but so obvious to both of us that it is a God thing. See website for more – The Gift of freedom and Choice.

Common questions:

How did you find out about the tumor ?

I had double hernia surgery last December and had some concerns about some side effects. On my 3^rd visit to the doctor about it, I told him, “by the way doc, sometimes when I eat it seems like food gets stuck for a few seconds as it goes down”. At first he didn’t seem too concerned but then quickly said, “lets have a Endoscopy”, (they put you out and send a camera down your throat, fortunately not up). I dove off with a check in my gut, thinking hmmmmm ?, “this could be life affecting”. About a month later, my 3^rd date with Maria, she is taking to the hospital to get what I thought was a routine procedure. I have been dealing with acid reflex for 25 yrs, primarily due to stress, and taking medicine daily, an acid inhibitor for the past 17 years. Little to no acid reflex issues since my wonderful career change almost 3 yrs ago. See quality of life on my website for more – it could be a challenging wake up call for some. When I came-to after the procedure I was told they took an unplanned biopsy, again another – hmmmmm ? This was on a Friday May 25th, the following Monday I had one of the scariest moments of my life as I was eating lunch alone at my desk and some food got stuck in my esophagus. I could breath, but it caused great discomfort and tremendous anxiety. Trying to wash it down with water only made it worse. It finally went down after the longest 5 minutes of my life. After that I once again I said – hmmmmm ? The following day as I was waiting for the results of the biopsy I received a call from the receptionist for my doctors office informing me that my results were back and if I could come in that day as the doctor wanted to go over them with me, again – hmmmmm ? When I arrived and checked in with the receptionist she said, “yea your file is right here and look, here are some referrals for you”, and seemed like she was going to just hand them to me, hmmmmm ? I recommend that we should wait as the doctor will most likely want to go over them with me himself. When I met with him he was most gracious, compassionate but yet direct and we discussed a very aggressive game plan. Of course I was taken back, even shocked, but not surprised, all those hmmmmms were actually preparing me. I have noticed some fatigue that previous month but contributed to busy lifestyle and recent work stress along with still recovering from a major surgery only 4 months prior. I had to stop snow boarding mid morning the month prior while in Mammoth as my body was screaming at me to REST ! Besides some fatigue, the only symptom was the occasional food getting stuck. Which if it wasn’t for the specific location of the tumor, the discovery of this tumor would not have happened, at least not for a long time. I consider that a miracle itself and most grateful for the other symptoms that got me into the doctor as well as my doctors quick response to have the endoscopy.

The diagnosis was 3 weeks ago, April 29^th, the next day I immediately got in to get my first CT scan, and have pretty much had a doctor visit or procedure every day since. No time to waist with every aspect of my life, from this medical situation, to meeting with people and having serious overdue conversations, to estate planning, and future family planning.

Last Tuesday, May 13^th, I met with my Chemo Oncologist to go over my recent full body Pet scan which would show if the cancer had spread to other parts of the body or was contained to one area. Due to several areas of my body having some consistent discomforts I was actually expecting some bad and severe news, but thank God I was surprised to be told that it was contained to the tumor and local limp nodes. He then laid out an aggressive plan of attack as follows;

Plan of attack – treatment program;

I had a porta catheter surgically installed in to my chest for a direct deposit into a main artery on May 15^th. I now can download ITUNES straight into my head.

I started an induction of Chemo on May 20^th. 4 hours of iv and take home (doggie bag) pump for 48 hrs, purpose being to start getting some Chemo in the system as soon as possible to ramp up for more Chemo and for the radiation. I will soon have a blog about that experience on my website.

May 22^nd – radiation simulation to determine best angels and positions to zap me. I might even get my first tattoo for that. Either puppies or skull & cross bones ????

May 23^rd – 26^th – drive up to Napa with Maria for my Amigo’s wedding and some R & R with my girl.

Week of May 27^th – 30^th , work on nutrition education/plan, estate planning. May have break from medical doctors ??? Prepare for a Marathon.

June 2^nd – start oral Chemo pills 5 days a week

June 3^rd – have Chemo iv half day, and start radiation 5 days a week for 5 weeks. Oral Chemo will also be 5 weeks, same duration as the radiation, and iv Chemo will only be every 2 weeks, 3 treatments – June 2^nd, June 17^th, & July 1^st.

Will stop treatments first part of July and give my body a 4 week break, due more testing to see the effectiveness of the treatments and hope to be a good candidate for surgery in August. After a 6 week or so recovery of surgery, they usually do more chemo to make sure, and then life should be back to normal by November / December.

Studies have shown the best results have come with treatments before surgery to reduce or possible illuminate, as well as stop the cancer from spreading. The surgery would involve removing part of the esophagus and reconstructing the stomach. TMI ?? It is a good thing I will get a new body in heaven and don’t have a deposit on this one. See quote below.

I plan to send out updates from time to time. For those of you who would like updates please click the link below to my website; go to the Join Box in the middle of the page, after entering your e-mail, click join which will take you to another page to re-enter your e-mail and put in your name – its only a 20 second process. I certainly don’t want to blast anyone with e-mails and totally can appreciate your time, so I will only be sending updates to those who subscribe.

The site itself is under construction so check it from time to time, or I will notify those that subscribe when the site gets updated. On this site I plan to have past updates / blogs, various writings & links, perhaps some jokes, and eventually some photos and blogs of past adventures.

Richardfelipe.com

As you can imagine life has been a bit overwhelming lately managing the phone calls has been tough. It is a huge blessing to know of your care and concern, the gesture really means so much to me. When / if possible, I asked them to be done via an e-mail or text so I can respond to you in those rare in-between times. I also plan to post some needs I anticipate having on the website. Such as recommendations / referral for a house keeper I can hire, and other stuff. Looking forward to hearing from you and inviting you to a front row seat to see what God is going to do with all this. He is good and I fully expect Him to reveal His goodness, welcome to His show. Charge !

I thank you in advance for your prayers, I know they are very effective.

Worldvision interview – Uganda sponsor child visit

Here’s Richard’s PDF Slideshow #1 6.3 Mb but worth it.

Here’s Richard’s PDF Slideshow #2 7.1 Mb worth every penny.

Big files, be patient.