I am so thankful that you are reading this blog. It means you care about our cancer journey. I have had a nice break from chemo and doctor’s visits. It all starts again on December 11th with an MRI. Pray for no new cancer growth. On December 12th I will meet with my oncologist to go over the results of my MRI.
Over Thanksgiving a dear friend of mine who has the gift of healing laid his hands on me and prayed for healing. I felt warmth come over me. I’m believing I am healed. Until we know for sure, pray that the cancer is gone, and that God has done more miracles. I am a miracle. I have lived longer than the average glioblastoma patient. I give my heavenly Father all praise and glory.
Pray for my balance. I need to walk with a cane to keep from falling
The most common question I get asked is, “How are you feeling? It is harder for me to answer that question than you might think. I need to use the negative to answer, “I’m NOT feeling bad.” I’m blessed to not be feeling bad. I do get fatigued easily. If I focus to try to write, I get tired very quickly. I’m tired after writing this paragraph.
Pray for my stamina and ability to focus to increase.
Because of my cancer and surgeries, I have vision loss and cognitive retention and processing deficits, Because of these deficits, I have had to file for Social Security Disability which is no easy task. Thank goodness, I have a long-term disability policy that I have carried for years for something castrophic like cancer. The policy won’t begin paying until January 27th. I am having trouble adjusting to life on disability. Pray that God would give me joy, peace and purpose.
Thanks for praying for me and Team Phelps
Love in Christ
John & Baby Luv
I couldn’t be more excited to watch another season of college football and my LSU Tigers and mixed with some home town NFL Jacksonville Jaguars and my Louisiana hometown New Orleans Saints.
If you think of all of our lives as a football game, we’ve had some big wins and we’ve had some big losses.
Big Loss When you have a seizure, you must pass a driving test to drive again. This test is both written (on computer) and in the car driving with an instructor. I failed my return to driving test last month. It was devastating to me to not be able to return to that freedom and privilege again after being driven everywhere for a year.
I found out that I have what is known as a left field cut, which means I don’t have peripheral vision on my left side. Having peripheral vision is very important when driving. My instructor informed me that I had a left field vision cut which was new bad news to me. It was in my medical records, but I had never been informed.
TIE I have recently been to an ophthalmologist to get to the bottom of my vision issues. The good news is with Occupational therapy, the brain can be retrained. So, I have some hope in the distant future of possibly getting some peripheral vision back (with the hopes of being able to safely drive again without endangering myself or others). Doctors and driving instructors will have to sign off before I ever get behind the wheel again. I am totally dependent on others to give me rides to my many doctor’s appointments, blood tests, and therapies.
Big Win God has been so good to me. He has provided an angel named Carolyn. She is retired and is a neighbor of ours. She has offered to give me rides everywhere that my family can’t. My wife and kids sacrifice so much to get me where I need to go. In many cases, they put their lives on hold to help me.
Win – Being so dependent on others has taught me more of what it means to be dependent upon God. We can do nothing apart from him. We are the branches and He is the vine (John 15:4) For a branch can’t produce fruit when severed from the vine. Nor can you be fruitful apart from me.
Halftime – The parent ministry, Awakening, of the School of Theology which I am the Dean, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Pray that God continues to give me creative ideas to expand the School of Theology and its base of students. The school will be offering one of my classes this fall. It is the video teachings I recorded of my Doctoral Thesis.
Sacked- Two weeks ago, our family’s finances were fraudulently abused. Someone stole our bills/checks from our mailbox and replaced their personal name (fake name) into the “pay to” line and got our mortgage $ for themselves. We have had to make so many changes to try and keep them from doing the same with the other 6 checks that were taken too. Pray that the banks involved will restore our money soon. They said the fraud investigation could take up to 90+ days to resolve. We are grateful for how God provides our needs, but this was very discouraging and time consuming.
Our family is fully leaning into Philippians 4:6-7. When I get worried about the future and finances, I try to go to Philippians 4:6-7:6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. 7 If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus. (Living Bible) 6-7 Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. (The Message)
SUPERBOWL WIN: My latest MRI this month revealed a significant decrease in swelling in the right temporal lobe, a.k.a the original site of the tumor. This means there is less pressure on other areas of my brain, which is GREAT NEWS. It’s almost normal! Well, for me anyways. You may be wondering, ‘Well John, is there any tumor there or are you cured?’. The answer to that is “Not yet”. At least for the time being, there is no visible tumor. It appears my immunotherapy drug, Avastin, has been very successful in fending off the bad cells from coming back. According to my wonderful neurooncologist, I’m in a great place in comparison to a large majority of patients with this terminal disease.
-Pray that no new tumors return
-Pray for restored peripheral vision on my left side.
-Pray for the Awakening parent company to get out of bankruptcy
-Thank God for Avastin and the great MRI results.
-Thank God for our angel and neighbor Carolyn and her servant heart
-If you worry, join me in praying Philippians 4:6-7.
BIG STADIUM CHEERS -THANK YOU GOD FOR THE GREAT THINGS YOU HAVE DONE!
Do you have a special childhood vacation memory? My wife fondly remembers going to Disneyland in CA and then the Grand Canyon. I have great memories of going on camping trips and skiing in Colorado. Our Team Phelps favorites have been going to the beach or to the mountains for our vacations. We recently realized we had not been to the beach since 2019 (maybe getting my doctorate got in the way…ha ha). So, we put all our heads and calendars together to schedule a time when we ALL could make it to the beach. This has become quite a feat with young adult children with full time jobs and Jordan and Mary in their medical residencies. But we pulled it off over Memorial Weekend and what great memories were made having everybody together in one tiny condo!
Two of our favorite things to do as a family has been to go to premier movies and to go out to eat. We were able to do both during our weekend. We filled an entire row of an AMC Theater in Destin to watch the premier of Top Gun: Maverick. All my children have had the obnoxious pleasure of watching me rewatch my favorite movie, Top Gun, over and over through the years, so they knew that seeing Top Gun: Maverick was going to be our movie of choice for the vacation. It did not disappoint. It was awesome and we all loved being together. Now, when we are together, we quote our favorite lines.
We also were able to go to our favorite outdoor seafood restaurant that is called Hammerheads. I can remember us all sharing one bucket of seafood in the early days, but boy have we all grown and now it takes three buckets to fill our bellies with the best seafood on the Florida Emerald Coast. There was nothing left but the shells when we left.
One unfortunate event on our vacation was me face-planting in the sand when I attempted to sit in my beach chair. I think I am still getting sand out of my ears! The cancer treatments have had an adverse effect on my balance and my energy levels. I had more difficulty walking in sand and being able to get in the ocean on my own. All of this has hurt my pride, but I am continuing to thank God for giving me more days of life to even experience our vacation.
I am gearing up for my next chemotherapy cycle starting June 24, 2022, and continuing for the next five days. Chemotherapy is a preventative measure to make sure that no tumor returns. We know that my type of cancer, glioblastoma, responds well to chemo, me and my body not so much! Pray for strength and perseverance. I am looking forward to visiting an uncle and some friends over the 4th of July weekend if all goes well this cycle.
The most recent update is that the MRI did not reveal any new tumor, but it did reveal that I have growth of the necrotic tissue/dead tissue again. I know dead tissue and growth sounds like an oxymoron. It is kind of like “poop in the yard”. The growth is NOT where I need another surgery( like two months ago), but they will keep a watch on it and add a new treatment to my go- forward plan. They will be adding an immunotherapy called Avastin to my regimen to hopefully help my body fight off the cancer better. Please pray for little or no side effects to this. I will be taking the immunotherapy every three weeks intravenously from now on.
Your James 5 prayers mean so much to me and my family. They have truly been our lifeline as we have traveled through this diagnosis the last 10 months.
Sincerely,
John Phelps
I haven’t come down from cloud 9. I truly believe God did a miracle, and has given me a few more days to do God’s work, and has given me more time with Team Phelps. I am humbled that God would do this for me. We at Team Phelps are so grateful for God’s goodness. Removing the dead tumor that was putting pressure on my brain has increased my stamina and stability. It has helped my balance.
What this means for my future is unknown. Usually, glioblastoma doesn’t just go away. Our God does miracles, and has answered, your prayers for me. I believe in James 5:16, “pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man and woman is powerful and effective. I need all the James 5:16 prayers I can get. Please continue to pray.
I have had some cognitive processing challenges since my awake craniotomy. I’m still recovering from the surgery and having some challenges with my memory and completing some very simple tasks that I could do prior to surgery. I have talked with my neuro psychologist, and he is not overly concerned. Please pray for me and my processing challenges. Continue to pray that God would take the glioblastoma away and kill any cancer in my brain.
Love in Christ,
John
The results are in from my 2nd brain surgery, an awake craniotomy. I have great news to share. Our MRI’s prior to surgery showed signs of tumor growth, but the doctors didn’t know if it was new cancerous growth or simply what they call:
Our God has done Ephesians 3:20:
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
BUT I have more time and treatments are working. I will be on oral chemo pills 5 days a week for the next 3 months to continue to build on what God has done. We continue to trust in God for His healing and his grace over our Mayo team of doctors and nurses. There is no need for me to apply for new clinical trials at this time since my chemo treatment is going so well.
in thanking our heavenly Father for this great gift of healing and hope. We are very humbled that God would do this for us. We are beyond thankful. We are overflowing with praise to our great God. He is with us in the valley and He is with us on the mountain top.
Psalm 103:1-5 is my favorite Psalm along with Psalm 23
Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
It is very safe to say that this is true of me and my soul. Friends opened their gorgeous home in Highlands, NC for our entire small group of 25+ years to enjoy together. I wondered at times if I would ever see the mountains again and ever be together again with my life giving, soul nourishing friends:
All four couples gathered together in Highlands, NC. God blessed those of us who rarely see snow with a light dusting of snow. I call that a little “god-wink”. I needed this time away with good friends to refresh my soul and laugh a lot.
I had an MRI on Monday, March 28th and we made the decision to have a second brain surgery, but this time I will be awake (mildly sedated so I can respond to questions). Did you know the brain has no pain receptors? I guess I will find that out the hard way for a fact.
I have been doing physical therapy to help with my balance. My therapist is from Brazil, and she is quite good at what she does. My balance is improving with her help.
Sincerely,
John, Karen & Team Phelps
Have you ever prayed for something and it didn’t happen? What emotion did you feel? If you are honest or in touch with your feelings, you probably felt sadness or even some anger. There is a category of Psalms called Lament Psalms – 44, 60, 74, 79, 80, 85. They are Psalms of sadness and sometimes anger. God teaches us how to process our emotions honestly. He can handle our painfully honest emotions and prayers.
I have great sadness around this month’s MRI. It showed growth that confused our treatment team. The MRI results were not conclusive.
There was some growth but our team couldn’t tell if it was what is called “treatment” growth (growth as a result of radiation and chemotherapy). There is also a thing called pseudo growth which means it is not real tumor growth. My oncologist called together the Tumor Board at Mayo which included other oncologists, radiologists, and neurosurgeons to evaluate just what they thought this MRI revealed.
They concluded it is highly likely that I will need a 2nd surgery to better determine the exact state of my tumor and to clean things up. I was hoping and praying that God would clean things up with a miracle. I found out that a second surgery was always in the cards from the beginning. I will need to be awake in surgery to ensure that surgeons are not cutting into the good stuff that would cause motor function impairment. They will be aggressively cutting away tumor that could grow and put pressure on my brain and create all sorts of bad side-effects like headaches, seizures and so on. For that reason, I will be awake to give them immediate feedback as they cut into the tumor that is located very near a main artery in my brain. Doing further study of my tumor would be helpful in receiving further treatment, and I would also qualify for some clinical trials based on a second surgery. I would qualify for a new immunotherapy trial that my genetic markers and the 2nd surgery makes possible.
You now know as much as I know. If you are a little confused, then join the club.
I will start the next cycle of chemo this month (March) and we will do another MRI in April to see if the chemo has shrunk the tumor any before doing the surgery. Then around the first weeks of April, I will have another brain surgery. Not what we hoped for or prayed for but as a good friend of mine who is a doctor reminded me, years ago when you receive the diagnosis of Glioblastoma, they sent you home to die. Now, there is so much more that the medical community can do, as you can see from this update.
Pray that God would give our family and our doctors continued wisdom and discernment. Continue to pray for a miracle through the doctors or through faithful Father. We’ll take one or even both. I just want to live to continue to share the truths of God’s Word and take care of my children and my beautiful wife, Baby Luv.
Sincerely,
John
It feels like we live from one MRI to the next. I feel anxiety around theses MRI’s. My next MRI is Wednesday, February 23rd at 1:15 pm. I will meet with my oncologist on that same Wednesday at 4:15 p.m.
I may do some recording of a video class on the gospel Feb. 15-18. Pray that the video shoot goes well.
Sincerely,
Dr. John Phelps
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most aggressive form of malignant brain tumor, is a devastating disease with no cure. Our goal in treating patients with GBM is to “strive for five,” meaning we attempt to keep you alive for five years. And while GBM impacts both men and women, diagnoses have been disproportionate between the sexes (one female is diagnosed for every 1.6 males diagnosed). Despite no new successful therapies in extending survival rates, researchers and clinicians remain optimistic about one day finding the magical cure.
I felt like I needed to do some glioblastoma training. People will often ask me,”How are you feeling?” I am fighting a very aggressive terminal disease called glioblastoma.
Along with dealing with a very aggressive cancer, I tested positive for covid, which is a bummer, and I fell twice! Didn’t hurt anything but my feelings.
I am beginning a regular cycle of 5 days of chemo each month. My 5 days of chemo in January begins on January 15th (320 mg. of chemo by pill).
I have an MRI on Wednesday, February 23rd at 1:15 pm.
I have a meeting with my oncologist on Feb. 23rd at 4:15 pm.
I have blood tests scheduled for Wed. Jan 12 at 2:10 pm.
I Have a blood test scheduled for Wed. Feb. 23rd at 12:50 pm.
