"What Joy, What Peace!"

Journal Entry-July 23, 2009


"Come lay your heavy load down at the Master's feet; Your shame will be removed, your joy will be complete. Come crucify your pride, and enter as a child; for those who bow down low He'll lift up to His side. What joy, what peace has come to us! What hope, what help, what love!"

Taken from "When Love Came Down" by Stuart Townsend (from Christ Only, Always by the Galkin Evangelistic Team


How difficult it is for me to "crucify" my pride and to "enter as a child"! But when we do...what joy, what peace, what hope, what help, and what love! I began this week being reminded by this song of all that's available to us through Christ, especially when all else seems to be falling apart! The doctor's office called early Monday morning to tell me I needed to come in and be marked again for radiation on a different board. This also meant the delay of my radiation for one more day. I was flying around trying to get out the door, get the kids to my mom, and get by BJ to get a few of Joey's textbooks for school that were on sale. And at the same time trying to focus on God's grace in times of craziness! I sat down to check my email while I waited at the Cancer Center and decide I would look online and see if I won the birthday prize on WMUU. I did!! Joe and I will enjoy the dinner and dessert out at Chick-fil-a! It was a blessing in the midst of a busy birthday!
I had my first physical therapy session on Monday. I have some swelling in my arm, so I'm being fitted next week for a compression sleeve. I will wear it while exercising or when I see it start to swell from overuse. My range of motion in my left arm was really below normal. I continue to have quite a bit of pain when I use it. I also have "cording" of the lymph vessels since they are no longer carrying fluid to my arm. She gave me a packet of range of motion exercises to do twice every day. They take about 30 minutes and I am very sore after I finish, but I can tell it is improving my range of motion. I'll have to keep them up at this level for several weeks, but as time passes I'll be able to lessen the frequency. She told me that scar tissue and cording can occur up to one year after surgery, so I have to keep them up to ensure I don't lose any use of my arm. When I went back three days later for a follow-up, she was very impressed at the gains in the range of motion of my arm!!
I am starting a cardio and strength training program next week on Mon., Tues., and Thurs., at the Life Center. I am looking forward to building up my strength over the next few weeks that I have left of my summer break. My fatigue level is very high and I need a "boost" before the new school year starts.
I have had three radiation treatments so far. The actual time of radiation on each of the three spots is between 20 and 30 seconds. I have had no side effects so far. I am having side effects of the Herceptin treatment I had two weeks ago. I am very fatigued and I am having some heartburn and stomach pains. This is discouraging because I haven't had any heartburn since chemotherapy ended. I'm also having very blurry vision. It feels like I'm walking around without my glasses on. If you wear glasses you can imagine how frustrating this is! I'm also getting headaches, either from the blurry vision or from the Herceptin. I'd appreciate your prayers concerning these side effects. I really need to be able to continue this treatment, so I'm praying the side effects will become tolerable.
On the subject of hair...I now have some!! At first it looked almost black, but now it's a dark brown color. It is hard to tell the color or if it's curly right now, but I'm enjoying it! It is growing in very quickly and is soft as baby hair. It startles me when I look in the mirror! The down side: I've had to start shaving my legs again! Oh well...it's worth it!