On Monday evening, we heard from the medical board in Toronto, and decided to go ahead with their two recommendations. First, instead of getting chemotherapy after surgery, I will start chemotherapy right away.

The first step was getting a port placed in my right-upper chest. The port is a small box with a thin tube. The box sits right under my skin, providing easy access for a needle. The tube runs into a vein near my heart, so the drugs will reach my whole body quickly.

The chemotherapy is administered in cycles, three weeks apart. I expect at least three cycles, starting next week. Each cycle starts with four days in the hospital while the drugs are administered, so I will be in hospital most of next week. These are heavy-duty drugs, so please pray that they will not affect me too badly, but also that they will affect the tumor as badly as possible! Please also ask God to give his peace and cheer to me and my family while I am in the hospital.

The second recommendation from Toronto was about my surgery. Instead of removing part of my left lung, the new plan is to remove the whole lung, plus the chest lining around it. On Friday, we met with a thoracic surgeon in Toronto, who is an expert at this procedure. In fact, he might have more experience at it than anyone else in the world! We are very confident that he can perform this operation successfully.

So now we are planning a trip to Toronto, some time around March. With a family of eight, this is a big undertaking! We also have to figure out how work with two healthcare systems at the same time. Please pray that we will lay these plans in faith, and that God would fulfill them in his power (2 Thessalonians 1:11).

This has been a big week for medical plans, but also for enjoying God's kindness. We have received many thoughtful notes and gifts, and dozens of people have signed up to provide meals. I had time to read with my kids, enjoy meals with friends and family, finish a few good books, and take care of some lingering household tasks. I even got to have a dinner-date with Joanne on Friday evening, in the form of Indian food delivered to the hospital lobby, served on paper plates begged from the downstairs cafeteria!

These moments are all testimonies to God's many blessings. I do not deserve even the least of them, so I praise God for his grace. As Paul said, "By the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Corinthians 15:10).

John Newton (who wrote the hymn "Amazing Grace") expanded Paul's thought beautifully:

I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.