When distractions get in the way, hold fast & see! (March 2, 2025)

 Hi, friends! Several have asked how things have been going, so here is an update on the last three weeks. The good news is I met a wonderful physical therapist who immediately connected with me, as we share a lot in common. She gave me practical strengthening exercises to target my neck, upper back and core. Many of these exercises involve cable weight machines which we don’t have at home. But I was encouraged to find that our local climbing gym has most of the equipment. As the kids are already at the climbing gym 3x/week for their climbing class/team, David nudged me to get my own membership. Considering the value of time with family, improving my strength and having a fun place to invite people, I said yes and am so glad I did. I’m only about 10 days into this, so I can’t say there have been any dramatic changes to my neurologic symptoms, but I haven’t noticed any more tingling in my fingers and hope to see improvement in my neck-related symptoms over the next few weeks.

A more recent challenge has been my body’s inflammatory response after weaning the prednisone. While the reason for the prednisone, hypersensitivity rash to the Selpercatinib (“Super Cat Nip”) treatment, has not returned (praise God), I unfortunately developed new intermittent pain in the small joints of my hands and feet. This hasn’t been disabling nor has any one joint been persistently painful. It just comes and goes. And it seems to respond well to over-the-counter anti-inflammatories like Alleve, which I have needed to take only once. My upper back pain, which had nearly disappeared while on prednisone, is slightly more noticeable, though still mild and without need for any medication. I can live with both issues as they have been mild.

However last week I also developed blurred vision with my near vision. Ugh, that’s my sight! Thinking it was likely due to dry eyes that go along with the dry mouth I experience from Selpercatinib, I monitored it for a couple of days. When it didn’t resolve, I saw my local eye doctor who noted inflammatory cells in the cornea (outer layer/lining) of my eyes.  He started me on lubricant and steroid eye drops 3 days ago and I do feel that it has already helped the blurred vision.  He will see me in 2 weeks to decide whether we can stop. Thankfully, both of my oncologists are comfortable with this strategy for the time being and agree I don’t need to restart oral prednisone.  But my specialist at Mayo mentioned that if the joint pain worsened (evidently, arthritis can be seen with Selpercatinib and can be hard to manage), then I might have to stop it. Believe me, NOBODY wants that!!!

So, I could use prayer over this. Please pray that this joint and eye inflammation is temporary, and that my body settles down over the next 2-3 weeks as it continues to adjust to no longer having steroids on board.

Otherwise, this weekend has been a good one with David and the kids. We returned to the climbing gym and invited a few of the kids’ friends to join us. It was a great energy outlet for them, and I felt well physically to assist them. We are learning a great deal about climbing as the kids are coached and grow their skills. They recently completed their first competition too! In the climbing world, to “hold fast” refers to “the act of maintaining a strong grip on a hold, to grip tightly and not let go, especially when facing challenging or precarious situations on a route; it often signifies the need to stay composed and focused on maintaining control while climbing.” I see so many parallels between climbing and life.  There are many things I can and do hold fast to. But God instructs us to “hold fast” to His word. That must be the sole and most important thing.

According to the Bible, the wisest king to live was Solomon. Early in his reign, he earnestly sought wisdom from God and was granted it. (1 Kings 3:7-14, 1 Kings 4:29-34) He recognized God was who he needed to set his eyes on. How many times in my life, or let’s be frank - a single day, do I stray and let my eyes be focused on something else? Or to stretch my blurred vision analogy, how often do I let distractions or false promises fool me and blur my vision from focusing on Jesus?

In Proverbs 4:4 Solomon writes, “Then he [God] taught me, and he said to me, ‘Take hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands, and you will live.’” That’s a command (take hold of my words…keep my commands), a stance (with all your heart), and a great promise (you will live)! Unfortunately, later in his reign, Solomon had a change of heart, became foolish, and gave into the lies of material greed, lust, and power. (1 Kings 11:1-12) While distracted from the only source of true life, most of the kingdom was taken away from him. But God kept his prior promise to continue the line, and that lead to the promised Messiah, savior, Jesus. (1 Kings 11:13, Matthew 1)

We, mere people, can’t live wisely without God’s help. We might get by for a time but ultimately fail every time we try in this broken world. Even the wisest king couldn’t do it on his own. Our sin separates us from a holy God and is deserving of punishment, death. So how wonderful that God in his great grace and mercy loved us so much, that He “demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8.

I had a moment of sadness and shed some tears last night thinking about these physical setbacks. And that’s OK. This world and our bodies weren’t initially meant to wither and die. God initially made humankind and this world without blemish; “it was good.” (Genesis 1:31) He wants us to have relationship with Him for eternity. Sin broke all of that, and that IS sad! So what brings me true hope when I think upon the inevitable withering and dying of my body? My friends, you know the answer. Let’s set our eyes together on Jesus, who restores that relationship and through whom we are given life and eternity. (John 6:47, 10:10, 10:28)

If you want to grow in true wisdom, God provided his word, the Bible. If you haven’t done so, open it up, read it, hold fast to it, and see!

With love and gratitude,

Joyce