03/18/2026
Soft Miracles - Update on Marilyn Dichsen
Hello Caring Bridge friends! It has been a long time since we’ve given you an update on Marilyn and we have much to celebrate. As you may recall, as 2025 came to a close, we had a big scare that Marilyn’s cancer had spread to her chest, requiring an incredibly intense regimen of chemo with very hard side effects. In late January, we discovered that the cancer had not spread, but instead she had the lingering effects of a histoplasmosis infection in her lungs. Since then, Marilyn has been on a low dose of gemcitabine chemo. Since her expansive oncology team knows of no full cure, this is a maintenance plan to hold the cancer at bay until a cure can be found. She receives treatment on two consecutive Wednesdays, has a Wednesday off, and then starts over again. Fortunately, since the last PET scan on January 2 showed less cancer activity her pelvis, her oncologist in St. Louis gave us a “chemo holiday” of skipping a treatment at the end of February so we could take a spring break vacation. It was the first big trip we’ve taken as a family since Marilyn’s diagnosis in 2024 and was such a blessing! At the end of the trip, I started getting texts about upcoming appointments and they took me by surprise… cancer had been thrown in the back seat for a bit and it was wonderful.
This past week, we jumped back into reality as Marilyn had a PET scan a week ago. At the follow-up appointment, Dr. Weiss said the scan looked great! The infection in Marilyn’s chest is healing and there was no sign of masses in her pelvis. There was a slight abnormality with a spot on her surgical scar, but we were assured not to worry about that now and we will watch it closely in the next scans. This was such good news, and after the two-hour gemcitabine infusion, we were on our way back home.
While on vacation, I read a book about miracles. To be honest, I was hesitant to read it. I have been fervently praying for miracles for 17 months, along with all of you and friends and strangers around the world. It was very hard when all we received was bad news, time and time again. When good news came, Karen and I found ourselves resisting joy. Like scar tissue on our hearts, we were too traumatized to be able to really embrace the good. The thought of reading a book about all these people who have experienced miracles like we had desperately wanted made me a bit queasy… but I gave it a try.
I was pleasantly surprised in the introduction when Roman Catholic Cardinal Dolan put a helpful spin on my understanding of miracles. He said that “soft miracles” are what happens when faith is combined with advances in medicine where a skilled physician serves as the hands of God. The author explained, “This is how God often works in health care, by combinations of narrowly missed endings and barely successful treatments, by extension of tireless physicians and their teams who integrate amazing new science and technology and then go beyond it, refusing to give up hope. The accumulation of these narrow escapes from death is bound together with the glue of hope, courage, and faith.”
Exactly! I’d been looking for that miraculous moment where Marilyn was completely, instantly healed. When it didn’t happen, it was easy to lose heart. Now, looking back, I can see these soft miracles everywhere and am overwhelmed with gratitude to God, our many tireless physicians, and to you all for faithfully walking with us. A pastor friend recently shared that, when Jesus says he is the light of the world and that we would no longer walk in darkness, it doesn’t mean that we won’t walk through dark times. It means that we will always walk in the light because Jesus walks with us.
Moving forward, Marilyn will continue to receive her chemo treatments and her next PET scan is scheduled for April 21. You likely won’t hear much from us until then, but know that we are basking in the light of Jesus and giving thanks for soft miracles.
