A good report - God is working

“Blessed be the Lord! For He has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; in Him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to Him.”  Psalm 28:6-7
** Thanks for sharing this great passage with me today, Kari! It set the tone for my heart and my bold, believing prayers.

I’ll make this post short as it feels like midnight to my body, and it’s only 8:30pm! You know you are tired when you get home and take a long, hot shower, only to realize when you are dry that you didn’t wash your body – just your face & hair! No worries, I got back in and got all clean. Regardless of tired sillies, thank you for your prayers – God answered in some remarkable ways . . . but, I suppose that shouldn’t surprise us, should it?

DAY #2 UPDATE
- Our commute to and from MDA was probably the shortest we’ve ever had  - I mean ever! We left the house at 5:10am and made it to MDA before the MRI techs did. The predicted winter storm did not pan out, and for that, we were incredibly grateful as I think most Houstonians were as well. We didn’t have any trouble making it home either.

- The MRI of my pelvis went well. I feel like family at the outpatient radiology clinic now. Everyone kept giving me a hard time saying, “Hey! Are you back again already!?” Ironically, I’ll be making one more appearance tomorrow (lower extremity MRI). I think they’ll miss me when I’m not there Thursday – wink, wink.

- The big praise was my appointment with Dr. Brown. He was very pleased with the response of my spine and pelvis to the radiation. There has been no growth and there has been visible progress on my T2. With it being so early after radiation, it is difficult to see exactly how the bone is responding (because bone responds much slower than soft tissue), but when he said he is very pleased with the results, we take that as an “Amen Jesus!”

Dr. Brown also looked at the CT scan of my chest in conjunction with the MRI of my spine, and he doesn’t see any new growth of cancer. He said my lungs looked good. He believes the pain I am experiencing in my shoulder blade around to my ribs is due to right disk herniations between my T7-T8 and T8-T9. Isn’t it crazy how that isn’t a big deal when you are fighting cancer? We also know I have a slight curve to my spine – also not a big deal. Again, crazy. I have to admit, I am in quite a bit of pain in this area right now. It is still troubling me, but I know herniated disks can be very painful. So, we’ll need to seek the Lord on what to do if that is the case and how we might correct that and reduce the pain. Dr. Brown was cute. He said, “I have to be honest with you. I deal with cancer so much, I don’t know much about herniated disks.” I suppose that is when you tell yourself you are probably at one of the best cancer centers in America when a doc is so dedicated to destroying cancer he can’t tell you much about the “normal spine stuff.” He also believes it is possible the sensitivity to the skin on my chest and underarm is due to having four lymph nodes removed last April.

Dr. Brown released me to do low-impact exercises, and I am thrilled. I’ll be the baddest power-walker there is – ha! I just need to get back to the place I feel physically good enough to sweat because I do love to sweat. He wants me to follow-up with him in 3-4 months to check on the progress of my radiation. Like I said in my previous post, “You gotta love Dr. Brown!”

- Of course, the “big hold our breath moment” is awaiting the results of the most revealing scan – the PET scan. It went well today. I was able to rest, mostly pain-free during my hour of isolation. The actual scan was much shorter than my previous two PET scans which was a delightful surprise (that meant Chris and I got to eat even sooner because “my good man” fasts with me)! We feel so encouraged by the good report from Dr. Brown, but we still ask for prayers as radiologists and Dr. Benjamin analyze this scan and decide on the direction of my treatment. (I meet with him Thursday at 11:30am and meetings with him are hard anyway.) We pray this scan concurs with my previous scans and that there really is no spread of disease and that the disease that was there is dying for good. We also pray the pain in my chest/ribs/upper back is due to herniated disks – nothing else. NO MORE CANCER – EVER!!

TOMORROW
-  We get to go in much later tomorrow. I have a bone-strengthening shot at 9:30am and an MRI of my right leg beginning at noon. Then, I can go home, luv on my little girl and spend time with my family. I’m grateful for a less intense day, and I think my body will be too. I’m also grateful for the tremendous support I always have by my side with my hubby, my ‘lil Alexa Hope, and my Mom & Dad.