Cancer Update: Scan Results

I haven't even left the doc's office yet. But I wanted to give you all an update.

I am still cancer free.
Still a survivor.
Still in remission.

I am elated.
Beyond grateful.

I received an email update from a friend who is currently battling cancer. Her husband said it best...

God has given me the gift of more time.

Thank you God.

I will write more later but I just wanted you all to know for now that things are good.

Blessings.

Updates - Scan and Overall

Scan Update

Sorry for the delay in updating all of you. After my appointment this a.m. I grabbed lunch and by the time I got home with my kids I was absolutely exhausted so I attempted to rest a bit between adhering to the needs of a 6, 4, and 21 month old. Anyway, I feel like I somewhat got my second wind for the day. (This is a long day for us as Jason doesn't get home from work until late tonight.)

Anyway, the doc appointment went well. The spot in my chest that they are watching is smaller but not gone. Ultimately they would like to see it go away completely so I will definitely be praying that it does.  I got some of the details of my future care ironed out for the most part - what type of testing I will need and when. These are just general guidelines of course, it will ultimately depend on how I do.

Overall Update

Overall I am doing pretty well I think. On my good days I feel like I am operating on about 50% of my optimal energy level. When I have a bad day it feels like I go back down to the 10-15% range and that is pretty rough.

I am now 4 months past treatment and they say that it will take at least 6 more months to feel "back to normal" again. I find that having patience to allow my body to recover is one of my biggest struggles. I just want to feel better already!

Another hard part, as I have said before, is that my outsides don't match my insides. I can feel really bad on the inside but people just see that I look so much better than I did during treatment, so they think I am all better. (Really, it is not hard to look better when you looked like you were dying before.)

It takes a lot of honesty on my part to admit that I am not "super-woman" and that I am still struggling. My first instinct is to say, "Oh no, I am fine. Yep, feel great! Want to see me do a back-flip?" Then wind up in bed for 3 days because of that back-flip. :-)

It is also funny because I can now really see this in other people who are hurting or going through treatment as well. I can see that they really don't feel good at all - even though they are putting on a brave face and it has made me much more sympathetic to those situations.

Anyway, enough rambling. Thank you all for the prayers! Love you all!

Oh, I almost forgot (and I really did almost forget silly me after making such a big deal about this...)

I do get my port out! 

I don't have a date yet but I will definitely let you know. And then I think a "PORT PARTY" is in order.... Anyone want to help me plan it???

Blessings, 
Andrea

Laundry Love Praise Report

I am sorry I am so late in providing this update. This has just been a super busy past few days but I did want to update you all as I know many of you contributed to Laundry Love monetarily and prayerfully.

First of all, we just feel so blessed to have been able to be apart of this project. We provided laundry services for around 20-25 people that were in the homeless program at the hotel. It was amazing to visit with these individuals and just learn their story. We made some great new friendships and we plan on doing this again on a monthly basis as it is an ongoing need. I will keep you posted on the next date and time. If you are interested in serving please feel free to contact me.

Thank you again for all the love, support, and prayers that you gave. We truly couldn't have done it without you. In the next couple of weeks I will be providing more detail on how we specifically helped certain people so stay tuned for that.

Blessings and love to all!

~Andrea

Day 28: The Image

This morning I woke up and felt like the cold I was battling yesterday had gotten worse. This was very disappointing to me as I feel like it is robbing me of my "good days" before my next chemo treatment. Jason gave me some, what I thought was Dayquil, which actually was Nyquil. I was sure glad my sister and brother-in-law were here because if I even sniff a Nyquil bottle I am out like a light.

My sister took great care of the baby and my brother-in-law, well, he got stuck with the boys. I always feel bad because they love him dearly and like to climb all over him. But he is patient with them and I appreciate that. 

As I started to write this I thought to myself, I really don't have anything to write about. This is amazing in itself because I always have something to write about but for whatever the reason, I just didn't feel like I had anything worthy to say tonight. Then I started thinking about my day and I realized that maybe I don't have something to say, but God does......

I thought about how another dear friend of mine came over today and we always have a great discussion about God. I always learn so much from her and today was no different. We were talking about what I have gone through so far and I mentioned that one of the first images that God brought to my mind when this all started was the crucifixion of Jesus. I literally could see him being beaten and battered, his blood spilling, the crown of thorns being pressed upon his head, and then Jesus himself carrying his own cross as he staggered towards calvary. I could see it all so vividly as if I were there. As I think of it now I cannot help but to cry. He did nothing wrong, he lived a perfect life, and out of love he went through this for us. 

When I told her of this image, she just smiled at me. She said yes, that makes total sense for God to show me that one because He was saying that He could understand my pain. He could understand what I was going to have to go through. He too had suffered. Tonight as I cry out to Him and tell him that I am sick and tired of being sick and tired He can say with love that He understands my pain and that it is going to be okay and I believe him. 

I don't know if this helps anyone out there but it certainly helped me to place myself back in the loving arms of my Father in Heaven. When times get tough it is so easy to try to separate ourselves from Him and just feel sorry for ourselves but that isn't what He wants. He wants us to cling to Him. 

Prayer Request:

If you could pray for my health to be restored as well as the health of my children I would really appreciate it. 

Praise Report:

The little girl that I had requested prayer for earlier has received a clean bill of health. Nothing at all is wrong with her, praise God!!! 

Thank you all for continuing to read this, even on my "not-so-good days". Love you all!