"All in All"

"I hear the Savior say, "Thy strength indeed in small, child of weakness watch and pray, find in Me thine all in all." Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe; sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow."



I'm feeling lately that my strength (spiritually and physically) is small indeed! Praise the Lord that we can find our "all in all" in Christ's complete work on the Cross.



We are back from a vacation to Dreher Island on Lake Murray. We stayed in the Villas at the State Park. It was quiet and our view of the lake was beautiful and relaxing. We were able to go out on the lake with my parents for a few days. Joey got his first lesson on driving the pontoon boat! He did a great job! We also got to spend a day on the lake with a dear friend and her family that live in Prosperity. Our kids are very close in age and they had a wonderful time together swimming, tubing, and knee boarding! It was a perfect break from all the activity of normal life!



I had three doctor's appointments this week. I was able to discuss pathology reports from surgery with my oncologist, Dr. Gococo. He was pleased that the tumor was basically non-existent and that the lymph node dissection had removed the nodes with cancer. My cancer was hormone receptor and Her2 positive. This basically means that the estrogen, progesterone, and Her2 cells in my body were all feeding the cancer and making it larger. So now I will have two preventative treatments that will block these hormones from feeding any remaining cancer cells. One will be the drug, Tamoxifen, daily for 5 years. The other is Herceptin, a drug administered every three weeks through an IV for one year. It should take about 1 and a half hours to administer and should have little lasting side-effects. I begin on Tuesday, July 14. We met with the radiation oncologist and I am ready to begin. They had some trouble with scheduling, so for right now I'm set to start on July 20 (my birthday!) instead on July 13th.

I do have a big praise concerning radiation. We were looking at the possibility of having to go to Spartanburg or Anderson for my radiation because of insurance complications. We prayed for the Lord to intervene so that I could keep the doctor I already had and be able to receive treatment in Greenville at no additional cost. When we got back from vacation we found out that they had worked out the problems and I could stay with my doctor here in Greenville with no additional costs! Praise the Lord!



I am continuing to do my strengthening exercises and have started walking several times a week, as well. Dr. Go and Dr. Rippon feel that it is just going to take awhile to build my strength back up from chemotherapy and surgery. My left arm is weak and the pain is making me favor it and use my right arm more. I have occasional tendonitis in my right arm and it is starting to hurt from the over use! So I have to get my left arm stronger or I'm going to have both arms hurting! I have been referred for physical therapy and an oncological rehabilitation program. I am waiting to hear if insurance will pay for these opportunities.



As I transition from surgery to radiation I've been reflecting on the outcome of the treatments so far. I don't think the chemotherapy or the surgery could have been any more successful than they were. So after radiation they will monitor my progress with blood work and scans along with just trying to be aware of any unusual symptoms I might have that would cause concern. I find myself wanting there to be a simple test that will tell immediately "Yes,you have more cancer" or "No, you're cancer free!". Unfortunately there is no such test! Joe reminded me that this is just where you have to keep trusting the Lord and believing that He will lead you and care for you like He always has.



Deuteronomy 1:30-33

"The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place. Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the Lord your God, who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go."



Truly the Lord has fought for me and I have seen it right before my eyes. In my wilderness I have felt the Lord carry me all the way to this place I am today. I will believe the Lord, my God, who seeks out a place for me and shows me the way I should go.