Fenter Family and Friends -- Update 1

January 8, 1997

On December 4, 1996 Gail experienced two brain seizures. Her face was drawn on her right side and her speech was extremely slurred. Each of the seizures lasted about 45 minutes.

A cat-scan revealed a golf-ball-sized mass in her left parietal lobe. She was immediately hospitalized in Midland Memorial to receive medications to reduce the swelling (which was pushing on her speech center) and to prevent further seizures. At this point we did not know if the mass was an infection, or a benign or malignant tumor. The only way to tell would be to open the skull and take it out.

After lengthy prayer and consultation, we decided to go to UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas to see Dr. Bruce Mickey. Within the space of two hours, Dr. Mickey was recommended to us by members of our church family at Golf Course Road, other friends in Midland, Dr. Charley Branch (neurosurgeon) at Wake Forest, and Dr. Foster (our neurologist in Midland). Other positive response came from Dr. Charles Branch in San Antonio and Dr. Cecil Fincher in Lubbock. Late Wednesday night (somewhere around midnight Eastern time) Charley called us and gave us Dr. Mickey's home phone number and told us that Bruce was expecting a call from us that night or the next morning. We're a little slow but even we began to get the point that God was giving us clear direction.

We loaded Gail with steroids to reduced the swelling, and dialantin to prevent seizures, and then left Midland for Dallas on Friday, December 6. After seeing Gail, Dr. Mickey was concerned that the mass might be an infection. He called in his surgical team for a Saturday operation. (Frankly, an infection would have been the best news possible. Though serious and potentially deadly, it could be treated with surgery and antibiotics.)
Immediately upon arrival in Dallas we were surrounded by friends and family. Art McNeese and Charles Mickey (no relation to Bruce) met us at Dr. Bruce Mickey's office before our first consultation. Then, during Gail's surgery on Friday, over 50 people gathered to pray and be with us. Eventually, during our time in Dallas, over 100 guests came to the hospital to pray and be with us.

The mass was not an infection. Nor was it a benign tumor. It was a glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive and invasive form of brain cancer. Statistically, this news was devastating as life expectancy is four months without treatment. Radiation therapy extends life expectancy to 10-12 months. Dr. Mickey teared up when he told us this. He reminded us that God alone is the healer, and that as discouraging as the prognosis seem to be, Gail is not a statistic.

We remained at Zale-Lipshy University Hospital until Wednesday, December 11, when we went to my folks house in Fort Worth. We returned to Dallas on Monday, December 16, to meet again with Dr. Mickey and with Dr. Karen Fink, who will head our oncology team. Though Gail and I explored to possibility of going to M.D. Anderson, Sloan-Kettering or some other cancer center, we decided to stay with the Dallas protocol. Dallas is doing as much research in glioblastomas as anyone, and the radiation therapy of the Dallas protocol can be administered in Midland.

An hour before our consultation with Dr. Mickey and Dr. Fink on Monday, we met with a dozen preaching friends who had driven or flown in to pray with us (Rick Atchley, Terry Bell, Mike Cope, Stephen Dye, John Featherston, Kregg Hood, Larry James, Don Kleppe, Art McNeese, Charles Mickey, Mike Peters, and Eddie Sharp). At the same time, Denny Boultinghouse and the staff of Image Magazine were praying for Gail. Gail and I left these wonderful friends with our hearts filled with God's strength to face the future.

Our meeting with Dr. Fink and Dr. Mickey encouraged us. Because of Gail's general good health and young age, her life expectancy was projected to 12-18 months. Though those figures were stark, they were so much more than our initial expectations. We also discovered that one person had lived for almost five years and another for nine.

During this same consultation we made plans to begin radiation therapy in Midland (five times a week for six weeks) after waiting for Gail's surgery to heal. That evening we had dinner with John and Kay Featherston, our dearest friends since we were teenagers together at Lubbock Christian University (or for John and Gail, since LCHS days).

We returned to Midland on Tuesday, December 17. A struggling purple-leaf-plum tree in our front yard was bowed over with multiple yellow ribbons. A flag was mounted on our front porch (a brilliant streamer flag means 'Come in, we're receiving guests,' and a red cardinal flag means 'We're resting, come another time,' or, as I told the church, it means that you can just fly away and leave us alone).

The house was spotlessly cleaned, fresh flowers were in every room, gifts and cards were mounded in stacks, and the laundry had been done. Within minutes the door bell rang and supper arrived. About an hour later, a bundled horde of Christmas carolers filled the front yard with shivering smiles and four part harmony.

Gail, who is a true people person, felt well enough for the streamer flag to stay out most of the time. Only an accountant could tally the number of visits and gifts which we've received since then from our Permian Basin friends. Also, since we arrive home shortly before Christmas/New Years, we have been blessed to receive multiple guests from the Metroplex, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Omaha, Austin and Lubbock as well as flowers, gifts and cards from around the world.

On Sunday, December 22, I shared with my staff a special Christmas celebration service. On Sunday, December 29, I repeated the message with which I had opened the year: "Ten Things to Do to Make This A Year of Joy." Though our circumstances had changed radically, it was clear to us that God's principles had not.

We closed 1996 with gratitude that our youngest daughter Rachel (11) was baptized on Sunday, December 1, three days prior to Gail's first seizure. We face the future with total confidence in God's goodness and care for us. God is our Plan A. We have no Plan B. Our prayer is for a miracle, for God's complete healing of Gail's cancer. Stay with us in prayer about this.