I have decided that I have been starting too many of my blogs with an apology for the delay since the previous post. I need to improve this as the blog is my way of thanking you for your prayers and thoughts. Promise! (Shoot - now the promised blog is already 3 days late from when I started writing it!)
My last blog made reference to the miracle of my last MRI - post surgery #2. I did suggest to Loretta that I finally found my special life skill: post brain surgery recovery! She suggested that I don’t need to practice or prove it again. Agreed! At this stage, especially with my hair growing back in, you can hardly see the scar! Part of me is thankful but part of me was also looking forward to the tougher guy look. I thought the scar could be an advantage if I ever end up back in the classroom!
My last blog made reference to the miracle of my last MRI - post surgery #2. I did suggest to Loretta that I finally found my special life skill: post brain surgery recovery! She suggested that I don’t need to practice or prove it again. Agreed! At this stage, especially with my hair growing back in, you can hardly see the scar! Part of me is thankful but part of me was also looking forward to the tougher guy look. I thought the scar could be an advantage if I ever end up back in the classroom!
Early in the new year, I was starting to experience more regular headaches and constant ear-ringing (not sure which was worse). I was also losing some control of the left side of my body – dragging my foot so badly that I needed new shoes weekly! Any weird muscle twitch or headache at this time and I can almost imagine or feel the tumor growing. Bad imagination! Then my Mom recently shared a devotional challenge to use the gift of imagination for positive images, like cancer cells exploding, which causes the headaches.
My surgeon was concerned about infection or growth so he sent me for a CT scan to see what was going on in there. Good news from the scan as it showed no infection and normal levels of swelling. It also showed that there was no change since the last scan. No changes at this stage are what we are going for. Thanks again to God the healer! Headaches/etc. are now being controlled with a steroid, which has its own set of challenges, primarily anxiousness and sleep challenges. Three to four hours a night is now a long, deep sleep! I am also back on chemo – one month at a time and thus far side effects have been tolerable.
I have been trying to frame my prayers around a model suggested by Max Lucado in his book “Anxious for Nothing” - using a CALM acronym. There is a great video.
C - Celebrate - by starting with a celebration of God’s goodness in my life. I am reminded of how He loves and cares for me. It helps me to honour and praise Him. It also reminds me of all that He has promised and is capable of. This takes me/us to a peaceful place of trust and gratitude.
A - Ask - be very specific in your asks. God knows, of course, before I speak a word or a thought forms, but this is a good way then to recall and focus on how prayers are being answered!
L - Leave - pray that God will help you leave it with Him! Call on His promises!
M - Meditate - on all the great things that God is doing in the world.
Prayer support for the next while:
My surgeon was concerned about infection or growth so he sent me for a CT scan to see what was going on in there. Good news from the scan as it showed no infection and normal levels of swelling. It also showed that there was no change since the last scan. No changes at this stage are what we are going for. Thanks again to God the healer! Headaches/etc. are now being controlled with a steroid, which has its own set of challenges, primarily anxiousness and sleep challenges. Three to four hours a night is now a long, deep sleep! I am also back on chemo – one month at a time and thus far side effects have been tolerable.
I have been trying to frame my prayers around a model suggested by Max Lucado in his book “Anxious for Nothing” - using a CALM acronym. There is a great video.
C - Celebrate - by starting with a celebration of God’s goodness in my life. I am reminded of how He loves and cares for me. It helps me to honour and praise Him. It also reminds me of all that He has promised and is capable of. This takes me/us to a peaceful place of trust and gratitude.
A - Ask - be very specific in your asks. God knows, of course, before I speak a word or a thought forms, but this is a good way then to recall and focus on how prayers are being answered!
L - Leave - pray that God will help you leave it with Him! Call on His promises!
M - Meditate - on all the great things that God is doing in the world.
Prayer support for the next while:
- Pray for sleep!
- Pray for wisdom for choosing the next steps of treatment as we look at different options. Pray that the doors will be “swung wide open” on the God-ordained path while the doors be “slammed shut” on others. Slightly ajar doors are exhausting! Thanks, Pat, for those strong praying words!
- Continue to pray that the beast be slain!
- We are also eagerly expecting the arrival of a new grandkid in the next week. Please pray that kid # 2 for Tara and Derek arrives soon and is a bundle of health and joy! New babies are more effective than chemo at destroying cancer cells!!
