Saturday, May 7, 2016

Finally, Good News....Cancer is Being Whacked

So yesterday was a good day,  the first really good day in eons, with just one minor issue. First, beloved son Matt and dear daughter-in-law Karissa came for the weekend. The whole pack of us went on a 4.3 mile walk to help melt my post-mastectomy blood clots. I love the picture above. Matt and I  sure share some familial traits!

After our walk, I had to head off to my repeat ultrasound to see what the three blood clots were up to. Were they plotting a fatal trip to my brain or lungs? Had they decided my 6-mile walks were too much for them and they finally melted away?

The ultrasound tech said the two deepest (and thus most dangerous) clots were gone! Since I am not dead, I assume they are reabsorbed. The most superficial clot is still there, but of much less concern. So, yay.

However, my drainage tube insertion area was bright red/rashy, and bothering me. I called the doc. It was an allergic reaction to the tape. The nurse told me what to do over the phone to change the tape, and sister Amy skillfully and masterfully made me a new itch-free covering of the area. I feel MUCH better.

But the day of good news was not over. My surgeon called with the pathology report from the surgery. There were only the four tumors they had known about. No surprises. All were small. All had clean margins, no cancerous cells in the margins of tissue removed! One lymph node had one very small spot of cancer but so small as to be of very little concern. The other two sentinel lymph nodes were clean! The surgeon said he was pleasantly surprised. The fairly rosy picture is not what he expected. While radiation is still probably called for, he is cautiously optimistic I may not need chemo!

So, after a season of continual struggle and bad news, I could barely believe it. Now, they may still decide I need chemo, but I have the first ember of hope that I won't, and all the other news is very good. I almost don't know how to handle good news. I've come to expect that it will always be as bad as it has been...and I will be given yet another lesson in how to trust God in adversity.

Maybe, just maybe, I am being given a lesson in how to rejoice with God in blessings. Honestly, it is an easier lesson, and one I am sooooooo ready to learn.

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Philippians 4:4 

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

Psalm 113:1-9 

Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord! Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised! The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens! Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, ...

Titus 3:5

He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit




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