It’s been a while and I have
chemo brain, so please forgive me for any repeated information. For my friends and family that know me well
and my sweet children, know that I hate to
repeat myself, one of the many attributes that I obtained from my dad, along
with perfectionism!! So, I think I will
just write about something other than CANCER today, so that I don’t repeat
myself and I have had enough of CANCER for today! I will update my Cancer Journey at the end if
you want to skip all the stuff in between.
My heart hurts today because I
have talked to a couple of people over the past few weeks that have told me how
broke (not money broke), but broken as a person they feel. What I have learned in my life is that we are
all broken, every single one of us! The
neighbor next door that has everything…broken!
The person that just won the lottery…broken! The pastors that lead our churches –
broken! There is not one single person
on this earth that isn’t broken! God
wants us to be broken, because he wants us to want him, he wants us to turn to
him first, he wants us to trust him so much that we never doubt him. If we weren’t broken, would we have a need
for a relationship with Him? Your
brokenness could come from addiction, anxiety, excessive worry, eating disorder,
adultery, sexual addiction, codependency –knowing where one person’s needs ends
and yours begin, fear, sexual abuse, etc.
I have experienced a lifetime of brokenness, sometimes by bad choices on
my part, other times by circumstances beyond my control. But through all of my brokenness, God has
always been faithful to me and has showed me that he loves me just the way I am. I wake up every day with new GRACE from Him,
and knowing that he died on the cross for my sins. Does this mean that I can just go out and sin
everyday intentionally because I know he will forgive me….NO. I believe that he wants us to live our life
as pleasing to Him as possible, but he wants us to have a relationship with Him
so that when we mess up and sin that we turn to Him and ask for
FORGIVENESS. He loves us just the way we
are – flawed, blemished, broken – He loves us!!
If you are experiencing brokenness in your life right now, I encourage
you to reach out to your close friends and ask for PRAYER, but reach to HIM also. Open your Bible and just start reading….it is
amazing how just reading the Bible can help us.
Genetics or learned genetics, I
am not even sure anymore. The longer
that my dad has been gone, the more of his traits I see in me! If I ever asked him a question twice, whether
it was the same day or a year later, he would tell me that he had already given
me the answer to that question or that I knew the answer and he didn’t need to
answer that question for me. You see in
the end, I (along with the rest of my family) would answer the same questions
over and over for my dad. In a gentle
and loving way, I would answer the same questions of Where Is Your Mama? Where Is My 2 Million Dollar Lottery Ticket
That Your Mama Lost? When Can I Go
Home? and the list of questions could go
on and on and there were times I answered those questions every 15 seconds, but through God’s grace I (my
heart) didn’t once want to tell him that I had already answered that question
for him or that he knew the answer and I didn’t need to answer that question
for him. Only through God’s grace was a broken relationship that hurt to the deepest
core of my being and one that I thought I would never walk out of with peace, could
end with me forgiving, loving and caring for my father through the last 10
months of his life. Never say never when
it involves God!! While my dad had a
myriad of health problems (congestive heart failure, stage 3 kidney failure),
his mind was still there until one day he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and
that is when we saw a completely different side of my dad. Alzheimer’s usually causes a patient to be
agitated, aggressive, mad, etc., but I got to see my dad smile every time I
visited, he talked and told us stories, like the first time it snowed and he
took me out to see it. This kind of brokenness
can only be repaired through God’s restoration!
As I read articles or books, I
like to write down things in a journal, that have touched my life or make me
say Ah Ha or read it again and again and I want to share some of those with
you.
*My
potential won’t be reached until I see Jesus face to face. *We are put on earth
to prepare ourselves for eternity and to help other people do the same. *Life isn’t easy, but the good news is that,
even at its best, it can’t compare to how great heaven is going to be. *Stop
questioning God and start trusting him. *The
only true security in this life comes from placing our trust in the God who
loves us and is in complete control of our lives and our world. *You can drive
yourself crazy with the “if onlys” and the “what ifs” questions, stop those
questions and trust in him. *My relationship with God is far from perfect, but
he is always there for me when I need him. *Taking responsibility for your life
is not blaming other people. *If you are forming a thought when you are
listening to someone you are no longer listening. *Is it true, accurate,
necessary, kind, courteous, respectful and dignified? *You can’t forget
something that you don’t forgive.
Unforgiveness turns to bitterness. *God can do anything that can be
done. *God intends for us to live a life full of peace, confidence and
assurance. *When all that matters to you is you then you are missing God. *God brought us to this world as an original,
don’t die being a copy. *Don’t associate
with gossip. Pray for the person. I would rather be the object of gossip than
the origin of it. *Better to have walked through the fire than to have started
it. *Circumstances in our life do not have to alter our faith. *We have no idea
what good is going on in our lives because people have prayed for us.
Getting ready for chemo
~Chemo Round
#3 was on 2/5/14 and Chemo Round #4 (the last round of the “Red Devil”) was on
2/26/14. Thank you to Tracy B. and Tracy
F. for taking me and treating me to lunch after (I call my lunch on chemo days “my
last meal”). Tracy F. and I tried a new
restaurant called Whiskey Cake. It was
awesome! They have their own little herb
garden and get their food from local farmers/places. And the whiskey cake was to die for – it is
served with homemade whipping cream (I could eat that stuff all by
itself). These last 2 treatments were
brutal on me. I ran a fever with round 3
and got dehydrated with round 4.
Pink Drink from Whiskey Cake - Yum!!
~I start my
weekly Taxol treatments on 3/19/14 for 12 weeks. This chemo is supposed to be milder, but my
doctor says that the number one side effect is bone pain, which she said that
since I already deal with chronic pain from arthritis that I will most likely
experience this in a greater form. Another
side effect is losing your fingernails and toenails. To help with this it was suggested to put ice
on them while the chemo is being administered.
Thanks to Tracy F. for this info, because they had not shared this with
me and we had to ask them about it. I
can’t imagine losing a nail. That sounds
very painful!
~My family and
I continue to be blessed beyond comprehension.
There are no words adequate enough to express my thanks to each of you
that have loved on us! I know that each
of you that have loved on us have made this journey easier for me and my
family. Thank you for your blessings!
~My sweet friend, Alexa B., who is 11, made me this hat in her Art class at Sloan Creek. I love it. It keeps my head so warm during the night. Thank you Alexa!
~My sweet
friend, Jana C., had my special verse embroidered on this blanket. Love it!
Thank you Jana!
~My sweet friend, Alexa B., who is 11, made me this hat in her Art class at Sloan Creek. I love it. It keeps my head so warm during the night. Thank you Alexa!
~I have
decided to go to M.D. Anderson for a treatment plan. I think everything
happened so fast that I didn’t think about going down there and God has opened
some doors and my appointment is currently set for 4-4-14 at 7:30 a.m. I want to hear what they have to say about
the spot on my lung and colon area that showed up on the PET Scan. Some special people are working to get me in
sooner and I will wait patiently to see what God has planned. They said that I could be there for 5-7 days
for testing, etc. Please pray that everything
falls into place and works out (kid coverage, transportation, lodging, etc.)
and that it doesn’t turn into a stressful situation but one of reassurance.