God news and Bad news

Whew! What a roller coaster ride with this Ductal Carcinoma In Situ has been. First I’d like to glorify my Lord and Master, Jesus Christ for keeping me in his protection. I got the call yesterday about my biopsy results. Good news, they said it was a fibroid and benign. Yay!!! Great news. But, (yeah but) the Radiological Doctor felt that the results were not congruous with what the MRI was showing, so I need to have that part surgically removed to be sure. Okay, I am human so I am going to vent here. I just had a biopsy that did not confirm or deny anything?!?!  This procedure was for nothing because of error?!?! Just set up the surgery already and get it over with. Feeling better now that I got that off my chest.

The good news, the genetic test for cancer predictability is a go. The testing site called me today and said that my insurance would cover 80% and I would be responsible for $775 (20%). Wait, hold on, what? Then she said that I qualified for financial assistance to conduct the test and that I would owe $0. Praise God. That was a a load off me and my family. Now the wait. The test takes 14 days, then my radiation oncologist will call me to talk about the results. This will indicate whether I need radiation or not. Super happy about this. God is good in helping me by providing the resources needed during this delicate time.

Another good news is that my surgeon is looking at surgery in 3 weeks. It seems that the bleeding issue I had yesterday would cause a large hematoma. He wants to wait for the bruising to come out before cutting in me again. Yippee! That will put the surgery near Thanksgiving so I will have that week to heal.

Besides the rant on human error, I am thankful that I am able to share my journey during this difficult time. My family has been super supportive and my friends have been wonderful. I praise God for another day and another opportunity to continue His work. Life is good. God bless.

Bleeding scare

Awoke this morning feeling sore from my shoulders, but overall, felt okay. Removed the bandaid from biopsy site. I got Kaley off to school with Jason, then began watching TV for a couple of hours. Decided to brush Emmitt while watching Kelly and Michael. All of a sudden I feel my left upper arm wet. Subconsciously, I was thinking “Emmitt didn’t lick me so why am I wet on my upper arm”, ding, ding ding! I look and there is blood in my arm, all over the side of my shirt and through my bra. I freaked out! I thought, I need to call Radiology Associates (RA) because they told me to call yesterday if this happened. (You’ve got to read that sentence really fast to the point if hysteria).

I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. I am not prone to hysteria, but usually present a cool presence when faced with problem. I called RA and the associate calmly asked if I applied pressure? I felt kind of stupid because, duh, I know how to stop bleeding. I was told to call her back in 20 to see if that worked.

I applied pressure and came up with bloody gauze. I called her back she told me to lie down and hold pressure and to call back. I looked at the site and the steri strips were soaked and not holding, so of course, I removed them. Continued to hold pressure and now slowed to a small trickle. RA called me back after I had called my surgeon, to tell me to come in so they could put a pressure wrap on it. (This was to go around my torso.) Uh, no. The biopsy is a little hole. That would be overkill. So, I placed new steri strips, bandaid, rolled gauze and a compression bandage. Praise God the bleeding has stopped.

Looking back now, it seems kind if funny, but it sure scared to heck out of me.

Biopsy complete

I have now had all three different biopsies on my breasts. In 1999 had the sonogram assisted biopsy, in September had the mammogram assisted and today the MRI assisted biopsy. This one, you are face down with breasts in two cutout spaces on the MRI table. IV in place to add contrast and arms out in Superman position.

Again, the area biopsied was deep inside the tissue. I had taken a Xanax to help me to relax and not move for the procedure. That is one of the difficult parts if this. My arms and shoulders were stiff from being above my head for the duration.

The staff at Radiology Associates at the MRI center and Mammogram Center were exceptionally caring and supportive. I have a bleeding problem and they took extra good care of me to stop the bleeding. I was blessed by these people taking good care of me. Even provided me with more steri-strips in case a I needed it and the number to call if bleeding started up again.

My mom treated me to a good late breakfast at a Town & Country Restaurant. Loaded up in protein and pancakes. Then she bought my a Dia de lis Muertos bracelet in black and pink.

I am very tired and sore. I have watched some TV and slept. Going to take it easy for today and tomorrow. Results should come in tomorrow and then they will schedule surgery.

I am excited that another step is done in this journey. God, family and friends have been with me throughout and I feel very loved, supported and blessed. My daughters best friend and her family came to support her all the way from Austin. They spent all day Saturday together. One if her family members knitted me a pink breast cancer ribbon scarf. This was so unexpected and greatly appreciated. I did not know the woman personally and to receive this gift was wonderful. God is so good.

Now onward to tomorrow and whatever God wants me to experience. Father, you have asked me to live by faith and not by sight. I am trusting on your promises.

One of my favorite authors

Laurel K. Hamilton wrote this beautiful blog after her daughters 20th birthday. It is beautiful advise that every mother wants for their daughter. Enjoy.

http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/2014/10/new-blog-happily-ever-after-is-the-beginning/

Great news from the Radiation Oncologist

Praise God, thank you Jesus. The type of cancer I have been diagnosed with is Ductal Carcinomo In situ (DCIS). This means that this cancer is contained in one tumor area. It is just beginning and has not invaded any other tissue. Cancer is not good news by any means, but out of the spectrum of cancers I could have, I’ll take this one. If nothing was done, I would have an increased chance of developing full blown breast cancer in 5 to 10 years.

I am a proactive individual who prefers to ere on the side of caution. I am continuing forward with my next double biopsy and surgery. Radiation is now something to either to go through or not to go through. Dr. Thomson, at Precision Cancer Center, explained my options to me. There is now a test developed to see if I carry genetic markers that would increase my risk for developing more DCIS in the future. If I have low chance of re-occurrence, I will not go through with the radiation. Radiation, as I thought, is not good for the body.

Since radiation is accumulative, if I get this treatment, there is a greater risk of me developing radiation induced cancer 10+ years from now. Since I have been working very hard to be healthy and live a long fruitful life, that did not sound good to me. It will take about two weeks to get the results and I will let you know what my outcome was. I have told you, God is in control. I am going through this for a reason. I trust that I will be healed by the name of Jesus. All cancer will be rid from my body. And I sure as heck have not let the cancer invade my mind or spirit.

I encourage you to be proactive. Get your mammograms and detect early. This helps the prognosis to be better. Hopefully I will not have to endure radiation at this time. I have faith that God will give me the endurance to continue down any path he wants me to go through. Have  wonderful day and God bless.

Ebola prayers

Please pray for the people affected by Ebola. Let’s band together and educate ourselves on how to help others and keep ourselves Ebola free. Prayer for these doctors and nurses that are infected. God bless them and their families.

Gearing up for radiation

Tomorrow I have an appointment at the radiation center to treat my breast cancer. They said it would be an hour and a half meeting.

I have so many questions about it. How deep does it penetrate? What circumference is it? Does it hurt? How can I prepare myself for the treatments? Is it true I cannot wear deodorant while in treatment? Are they going to tattoo my skin where they line up the machine? How long will each session be? I hope I can remember all of these questions tomorrow. Kind of nervous about this.

Yeah I know I’m weird. Not sweating the biopsies on Monday, but radiation has me freaked. The surgeries heal, but radiation is accumulative. What goes in your body in your lifetime- dentist, surgeries, pneumonia etc- whatever X-Ray you have had done is still in you. This causes cells to break up and become free radicals. So how will this impact the rest of my body? Big day tomorrow. I will post the answers. Anyone interested and has more questions, post them here so I can ask.

Very blessed today. Even though I was tired from biking with the kid yesterday, I made it through a busy day working with patients. Then played card games with my daughter and took her for another ride. My wonderful husband washed my car. Life is good.

Now my Newfoundlsnds dog turned 15-months. Oh my, how devilish he has become. I have read that this was a tough month in their development and that they had behavioral problems again. Well he has been in true Newfie form. He stole half my sandwich right from under my nose. He stole my daughters lomein as she was getting a drink. He tried to chew up her shoe. He jumped on a friend when she came in the door. Just more stinky than usual. I hope this phase passes soon. I’ve heard at 2 years something changes and they became angels. I’m not holding my breath, but I wouldn’t trade Emmitt in for anything. Because as stinky as he can get, he gives more love back to all of us. All 116 lbs of him. He has been there for me, as well as Mia, our 20-lb mutt, through my healing. I love my babies so much.

My mother has kept an eye on me as well. I have a great support system within my nuclear family, extended family and friends. The prayer, c
alls and messages come in daily and are much appreciated. God bless everyone of them. And thank you Jesus for these people you put around me to support me. Praise God and God bless all.

It’s tongue out Tuesday for Newfoundland dog lovers

Boy I was riding high, back to my same ole self at work. Enjoying the day God gave me. Seeing patients, scoring psych tests and having meetings. Felt good till about 2 pm. That’s when I had a serious power drain. My tongue was out and headed home to rest 45 later. Not a chance. Gotta take my kid to Hobby Lobby to find a fun craft. Glitter foil tattoos is what we found. What fun! I love this age she is at. Picked up Whataburger and had an early dinner. Life is good. Thank you Jesus.

Good news too, I found out after biopsies and surgery, I will have 3 – 4 weeks to recuperate before radiation starts. Whew. That was a load off me. I can heal some and regain strength cool.

I am craving some serious bike riding (don’t tell my family that). Maybe Friday or Saturday? I need exercise like I need to breath.

Night all. Going to catch some early zzzzzz’s. God bless.

Another day

I am so thankful that I could go to work this week, though tiresome, today was good. It is so weird, the bruising is just coming out from the last surgery 13 days ago. Talked to people at Precision Cancer Center to confirm my appointment for Friday to get ready for radiation therapy. Can’t believe I’m actually getting ready to irradiate myself. I have a Master of Science in Biology. I did my research on soybean seeds that had been irradiated at 15,000 rads, 30,000 rads and 45,000 rads. Can’t wait to see how many rads I get. Kind of strange to think that this is actually a treatment. I am curious to know how this helps with cancer and why it does not kill all cells in its path. I will let you know more after the meeting on Friday. This is what makes me kind of nervous. I hear it makes you pretty tired.

I was asked by my co-workers how I was coping. I thought about it and I explained that I was not afraid because I know I am healed and everything is going to be fine. I borrowed this explanation from learning how to tackle hills in bicycle training. You look up at the hill and know how high it is, then you trek forward visualizing the bottom of the hill on the other side. I know that I have about 3 – 6 months of hill climbing but there is an end to it and I will be successful because God is with me. I have endurance trained all my adult life, be it Taekwondo, running or bicycling. I’ve trained harder and longer because I can and I enjoy it. I may not enjoy having cancer or the disruption it has placed on my life, but I have the endurance to beat this, no doubt.

For all, trust in God for all things. “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by your generous Spirit.” Psalms 51:12 NKJV

God is not dead.

Wow! What a moving movie. We watched this one for church tonight and what a blessing. It really helped reinforce to me that we all have a purpose, whether good or bad experiences come our way, God has a higher purpose to use that experience to complete a mission.

I know God is not dead, but maybe through my breast cancer experience I can give hope to others. Sure this isn’t what I want to go through, but maybe I need to slow down and realize that God is more important than my mission to help children with emotional and behavioral problems. Maybe I’m looking too much at my work and not focusing in God.

Cancer is a sure fire way to slow me down. I am very hyper and have plenty of energy that I am always busy. Work, family, kid in taekwondo, swimming and then my own exercise – always going, going, going. Whoa April. Stop and take time to magnify your God.

Usually when I run and bike I talk with God. (Mind you, I do try to run or ride 50 to 60 miles a week.) It is my time alone to have a conversation. It’s usually the same answers. “Trust not on your own understand and trust in me to take care of things.” I hear ya Lord. I am your servant.

God is with me and I know I am doing God’s work. I know I have a Christian husband and daughter. I have my dream job of Master level psychologist with children. I am blessed, very blessed. I have family, friends, friends of friends and strangers that are acquaintances from Facebook games praying for my healing. I know everything is going to be fine without a shadow of doubt. The plans for my future are in God’s hands. I accept what He wants me to go through with the faith that I’m where I need to be. God is so good. I will serve The Lord where ever I am. God is alive in me! As for me and my home, we believe in the living God. God bless y’all.