Surgery on the 19th

I apologize ahead of time for any misspelled words. I don't have much time to write.

 We have been praying that I would be a cantidate for a less invasive procedure called VATS (Video Assisted Thorascopic Surgery) for my lobectomy instead of having the old-fashioned rib spreading Thoracotomy. Well our prayers were answered on March 6th when we met with my surgeon Dr. Carr at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. First of all he has a great sense of humor which is one of the first things I was hoping for but most importantly he is the only surgeon in the surrounding 4 states that is qualified to remove whole lobes within the lung using this type of scope procedure. In fact he does this procedure 4 to 5 times per week for lobectomys. Having VATS means the recovery time will be about half of what was expected and the pain wont be as bad. What a huge relief for us! God is so good! It's awesome to sit back and watch His hands working in every little aspect of this journey. He never seizes to amaze me.....His GREATNESS....... standing in wonder and awe of Him.....

So surgery it is!  March 19th is the big day, God willing of course. Im expected to be in the hospital for 3-7 days depending..... I m kind of a wimp when it comes to physical pain and I dislike painkillers. Im hoping I can handle the pain without narcotics.

The amazing human body that our Father designed...  having a total of 5 lobes that make up our lung function, 3 in the right and 2 in the left. My lower left lobe will be removed but I will still have 4  :) Thanks to my Creator!

 Dr Carr said after I fully recover I will be able to do pretty much everything but I will just never have my "second wind" again as he called it, going from 100 % lung function to 80 %. Swimming and jogging are the best exercises for expanding and stretching the the lungs to their full capacity. So looks like Ill be doing a lot of that in the future if I want to have the best lung function possible...YES PLEASE! Sadly it took something life threatening to motivate me to be healthier. Unfortunately that is not uncommon in our society these days...We tend to not change our bad habits until we are forced too! 

*There is a good chance that I may not need Chemotherapy after the surgery but we wont know until the tumor and lymph nodes come back from pathology*

*********I love you all so much and words could never express the gratitude I have for all of your continued love and prayers. The Lord has blessed me beyond measure through all of you!**************

Good day & God Bless!

THE GOOD NEWS

PRAISE GOD! Im still freaking out with Joy....the cancer HAS NOT SPREAD ANYWHERE! It is a MIRACLE...I would have never went in if it were not for my heart(GOD), yes I am thanking the Lord that I have a leaky valve! Do you see it??? We never know how God is working in our lives, Trust the Lord always!.. and if you don't know JESUS you are really missing out! and I mean know Him not just know of Him... If your searching,  read the Bible.. Its The Word Of God... The Gospel...THE GOOD NEWS!!
 ! :)




"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths" (Proverbs 3:5,6).




AMEN!

Im glad God has me in His Hands

 Ok so from now on I will be spelling the word cancer in lower case during my journaling. It just doesn't feel right to have cancer capitalized in the same sentence or paragraph as Christ, my Lord and Savior because he is so much bigger(beyond calculation) than cancer or any human condition for that matter!!

I dont have any new information on the staging of the cancer but the PET scan went well yesterday, other then having to have my arms above my head for what seemed like hours (about 40min). I was praying for God's strength through all the silent whining about the charlie horses in my shoulders. Thinking, wow I am officially the biggest baby, how am I ever gonna get through whats to come....Then He reminded me... He heard me....He was there....He always is....Always will be...  Just when I thought I couldn't hold on any longer and was ready to scream, it was over. YAY!!! Thank you Lord!!. I apologized to the techs for being a whiner too. I dont enjoy being a bad patient.

Tonight, the Lord took me to Romans 5:1-5, which are comforting words during suffering.


English Standard Version (ESV)

Peace with God Through Faith

5  Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we^[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ² Through him we have also obtained access by faith^[b] into this grace in which we stand, andwe^[c] rejoice^[d] in hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,⁵ and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Ill try to journal on Friday after my appointment.

God Bless You All and I Love You Mucho!

Feeling so blessed that the last couple of days have been filled with some much needed family time. The best brother in the world came to visit us from Ely. He is a goof  just like me, coping with the facts of life with humor and always crossing the line with our comfortless jokes.(Sorry Mom you know we love you). He went home today and we miss him already.(Love you Michael.) LAUGHTER IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF HEALING!!

My amazing other half AJ took me, our Boys and Grandma on a date to see "We Bought A Zoo". Good movie but kind of hit home and made me think too much. I got a little misty a few times, which doesn't take much. Sometimes I'm amazed how I can be laughing one minute and boobing the next! (and it's not just because of my current condition, that just me.) The Boys enjoyed it and behaved exceptionally well, all four of them, even the wee one... and Grandma too... (Just kidding Mom). I love you all so much!!

Anyways, I thought I would fill you in on a visit my brother and I had with Dr. Holcomb on Friday. He is the Naturopath in Cedar City. He wants to meet with us after we see my Oncologist next Friday. He said he has been able to help others in the past with the side- effects and long term effects of Chemo and Radiation Therapy. He said there is room for both Traditional medicine as well as Alternative medicine depending on what we are dealing with. I respect that! Many of my RN friends have been telling me the same thing...

He seems willing to treat me along with my Oncologist. Im going to bring it up during my appointment on Friday. I'm hoping he is not opposed to it. 

Be back soon

Goodnight & God Bless!

Meeting my Advocate

Today my husband and I met with Cheryl at the Cancer Treatment Center in Cedar City. I call her my Cancer Advocate and I feel like I have known her all my life. She is even more proof that the Lord is with me every second as He perfectly places people like her in my path. She sat with us for over an hour answering any questions we had and never once let on that she was in a hurry to get out of there...She sets the bar pretty high. Encouraging us that our Faith is the most important aspect of my treatment. Amen to that!

I go in for a PET scan on Monday to check for mets. Its basically just a bigger, better, badder, CT Scanner. (LOL apparently I am a poet now too). My first visit with my Oncologist, Dr Anwar will be that following Friday. We will be going over the results of the scan and setting up a plan of care.

 Until next time...Love you all & God Bless!

How I learned of my Cancer

As I was coming off of a grave yard shift one morning my heart was doing some weird things. I made an appointment with my Doc. He sent me in for the routine tests for cardiac problems.. an x-ray, echo and all that other jazz..

A week later while at work, his assistant called. " You have Mitral Valve Prolapse and he is not concerned about at this time. Vitamin D is extremely low and the x-ray showed a spot on your left lung. It could be just a shadow but we need to make sure". I fell apart for a second but I was at work so I tried and keep my composure...

CT scan from there..6 hours later doctor wants to see me. "It's a scary spot". Then on to a needle biopsy a week later... 3 more long weeks of waiting for results... 

Monday Feb.13th I find out it is Primary Lung Cancer (Non-Small Cell Adenocarcinoma) Very rare at my age but it is common(if that makes sense) in smokers, non-smokers and mostly women under 40.

If it was not for the irregularity in my heart that morning I have had no idea that I had Cancer. The Tachycardia was a blessing. I had no symptoms other than some fatigue over the last year.

Christ is my King and if it were not for my faith in Him and my relationship with Him I would probably just give up because honestly that is the kind of person I was before He came into my life. I know He is using this Cancer for good. I don't know exactly what His plans are for me but I trust Him fully and I have already seen some amazing things happening in the last few weeks. People are praying for me. People that don't normally pray. That is a miracle in itself as far as far as I am concerned. Some of you may not believe this but He has answered several of my prayers with my diagnosis. Prayers that I have been praying for months and I am so excited to see what else He is going to do through OUR Journey with Cancer....(Christ, Me, My family and friends)

(Romans 8:28 ESV) And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.