The Start of Fall...

A lot has happened in the last two months. Since many of you have inquired about how my medical and life stuff are going, I thought I'd take a moment to post a little summary:

My surgery on July 22nd removed my thyroid gland, a cancerous tumor, and 32 lymph nodes, and lasted about 8 hours. I am now the proud owner of a good 12 inch scar running from behind my right ear to the other side of my neck. Pretty bad ass, let me tell you. I went home the next day with three drainage tubes and a bottle of oxycodone, which I made very good use of. The next two weeks were spent hanging out at AnnaLisa and Murray's house. Surprisingly little pain in my neck, but a severe amount in my shoulder from having it overstretched for the duration of the surgery. All this made for an unexpected summer CPE experience, to say the least.

I am SO grateful for the support during this time from my family. Mom, Dad, and Matt all flew out for the surgery, and Anna & Murray bent over backwards to host everyone and keep me comfortable. More than anyone, however, my now-wife Taryn was there for me the entire time. She's the one that stayed at the hospital with me all night and put up with my anger and paranoid delusions. She's the one who drove me back and forth to appointments and tended to my every need. I am incredibly blessed to have her in my life!

And now, she really IS the ONE! A little over two weeks after the surgery the two of us flew to Minneapolis, then headed to Sugar Creek Bible Camp in Wisconsin to get married! We had an amazing weekend with friends and family, great food, music, and great weather! If you'd like to check out some of the 300+ photos, go to http://tiasphotos.smugmug.com/ Thanks Tia for the awesome pics! And, THANK YOU to all our friends and family who made the trip! It was really special to have so many of you folks there!

From Wisconsin, my new bride and I headed back east in my Dad's 1996 Plymouth Voyager, which was filled to the gills with all our wedding stuff! After quick stops in D.C. and Philly to unload everything, we then headed north for a 12 day honeymoon! We spent two nights in Cape Cod, where we camped, biked, and ate lobster. From there we headed to Prince Edward Island, where we saw the Anne of Green Gables house and went deep-sea fishing. Other highlights included kayaking in Nova Scotia and seeing several moose up-close in Cape Breton! We then caught a ferry back to Maine for a quick visit to Acadia National Park and the Atlantic Brewing Company, followed by some sightseeing in Boston with our friends Ethan and Arielle. Pretty sweet, slow-paced and relaxing - a well needed break.

We're now settled into our new rental home outside of Philadelphia, in the Telford/Souderton area, in a really spacious yet comfy mill house built in the 1850's. There's a nice porch overlooking a wooded creek, and horses across the street and next to us. We're really enjoying ourselves, and learning lots about what it takes to make a home together! We're located about 20 minutes away from my pastoral internship and about 40 minutes from the seminary, where Taryn drives for classes.

I began my internship at St. Paul's Lutheran in Red Hill, PA on September 2nd. I've been getting oriented through lots of home visits, confirmation classes, youth events, and worship leadership. The church itself was founded in 1739, and is nestled on 60+ acres. In addition to their regular church ministries, they also have a day-care and after-school program that I'll be working with. It's going really well so far, and I'm excited for the experience - it's a good fit!

From October 1-10 I'll be down in D.C. for my radioactive iodine treatment at Georgetown University Hospital. In preparation for this treatment I've had to go off of my thyroid medication for the past three weeks. This has been hard. I'm tired most of the time, cold, sluggish, dizzy, lightheaded, and can't seem to concentrate on much. I'm also on a low-iodine diet. My upcoming treatment is designed to kill off any remaining thyroid cells in my body; by stopping my medication and iodine consumption, these cells will be "hungry" for iodine and take up the radiation. The hope is that after several days of radioactivity I should be cancer-free! The crappy part is that I'll be quarantined inside a special lead-lined hospital room with no visitors allowed. I'll then have a post-scan to see how well the radiation treatment worked. If all goes well, I should be back at my internship by mid-October.

A lot has happened in the last two months. Taryn and I thank you for your ongoing prayers and support.