It has been 3 weeks since surgery. I am healing well. I started working from home last Monday and went in to work on Thursday and Friday. Yesterday we were invited to a Halloween party an the Bonhams’ house. We had a lot of fun. Our family all dressed up as Star Wars characters. I was Anakin, Rachel was Padme, Gracie was Princess Leah, Gehrig was Luke, Nolan was R2D2 and Murphy was Yoda.

Everyone has been so kind and thoughtful since my emergency and later surgery to remove the tumor. Today after church, sister Kemeny came by with two 14 year old boys in the ward. She teaches the 14 year olds in Sunday School. They brought me a card, some cookies and some banana bread. She works in the temple and said she puts my name on the prayer roll every day. She is not the first to tell me this. Sister Markus, my mission president’s wife, has also emailed me a few times and told me they continually put my name on the prayer roll and pray for me.

Later this evening Nam Miner brought some home made egg rolls and sweet and sour sauce. They were delicious. She said she was going to bring some juice for me to take in the morning that is supposed to be good for the body. I don’t mind taking special treatments that people really believe will help. In the April 2010 priesthood session of conference, Dallin H. Oaks spoke on healing the sick. He said:

Latter-day Saints believe in applying the best available scientific knowledge and techniques. We use nutrition, exercise, and other practices to preserve health, and we enlist the help of healing practitioners, such as physicians and surgeons, to restore health.

The use of medical science is not at odds with our prayers of faith and our reliance on priesthood blessings. When a person requested a priesthood blessing, Brigham Young would ask, “Have you used any remedies?” To those who said no because “we wish the Elders to lay hands upon us, and we have faith that we shall be healed,” President Young replied: “That is very inconsistent according to my faith. If we are sick, and ask the Lord to heal us, and to do all for us that is necessary to be done, according to my understanding of the Gospel of salvation, I might as well ask the Lord to cause my wheat and corn to grow, without my plowing the ground and casting in the seed. It appears consistent to me to apply every remedy that comes within the range of my knowledge, and [then] to ask my Father in Heaven . . . to sanctify that application to the healing of my body.”

Of course we don’t wait until all other methods are exhausted before we pray in faith or give priesthood blessings for healing. In emergencies, prayers and blessings come first. Most often we pursue all efforts simultaneously. This follows the scriptural teachings that we should “pray always” (D&C 90:24) and that all things should be done in wisdom and order.

This is also the reason I am going to be taking Gleevec according to the doctors’ recommendations. According to statistics it reduces the chance of recurrence by about 35% and it will cost $1120 per month. Six months ago I think it would be impossible to even consider paying that much for medicine. But about 6 months ago on of my websites started doing really well and now it brings in extra income each month. I don’t feel that this is a coincidence. Obviously I would still like to find a way to save money on this prescription, but if I can’t, I fell confident the Lord will bless us that we can afford it.