PET Scan and Prayer

This coming Wednesday, the 31st, our son Bobby will have another PET scan. The results of this scan are critical, for they should tell us whether or not he is relapsing into cancer.

For those of you who do not know my family, please let me provide a quick review. I am married to a wonderful woman named Alice. You can read her blog here. We have been blessed by God with three children: Caroline (13), Mary (10), and Bobby (8). Read more about Bobby here.


We moved from GA to NC in 2002 for me to attend Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. During our time there, we felt a call of God into international missions. By the grace of God alone I graduated from SEBTS in May 2006. We deployed to South Asia in October 2006.

In February of this year, we were in the midst of language learning and cultural adjustment (that's a nice way of saying culture shock) when we noticed a swelling on the side of Bobby's neck. As the swelling grew each day we became increasingly alarmed. We flew to Delhi and finally got the diagnosis of Lymphoma.

We quickly hurried back to our city, packed our stuff in two days, and flew back to Delhi. There were many quick good-byes to friends as we got home to Savannah, GA as quickly as we could.

Within a few days of being in GA we had a more specific diagnosis (which happens to be Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma). Bobby began chemotherapy treatments in March and concluded them in May. At the end of May, he had a PET scan that showed him to be clear of any cancer.

In September Bobby had another PET scan. The results of that one were not as clear as we had hoped. I would describe the results as "murky." The oncologist could not really tell what the results meant. We do know that the scan was not as clear as the May scan had been.

Bobby is scheduled to have another scan this coming Wednesday. The results of this one, according to the oncologist, should provide us with an answer to what is going on in his body. In other words, we should know whether or not he is relapsing.

We know that our sovereign, perfect Lord is in control of this situation. We believe He sent us to India for a reason. We believe He caused Bobby to get cancer for a reason. We believe He brought us home for a reason. He is good and knows what is best.

We also know that God answers prayer. This is where you come in. We ask that you pray for God to do in this case whatever will bring Him the most glory. Of course we desire that He heal Bobby. However, we know that we should all pray first that God would be glorified through this situation. If healing Bobby brings God the most glory, then we certainly want that to occur. It is difficult for me to type this, but if not healing Bobby brings God the most glory, then we want that to happen.

Thank you for your prayers.

I will post the PET scan results as soon as we get them.