Catching up...WARNING - TMI for some men

It's been quite a while since my last post.  I was blessed to be interviewed by Family Circle Magazine, so pick up your March issue!  I have included some pictures below that were not included in the article.  If you want to know what it's about, you have to read it!

The countdown is on and when you probably read this, I will have 22 days remaining until our wedding.  Am I prepared?  Not in the least bit.  It's not the getting married part, it's the planning part.  I'm such a procrastinator.  It's not all my fault though.  I haven't been worried about it, it will fall into place.  There are more important things in life, like living.

Ok, so a little cancer talk since that's what this blog is all about.  Guys....ear muffs.

I've been having "women issues" uncontrollably since 2014.  I've seen doctors about them, everyone seemed to brush them off as not a big deal.  Well, since the beginning of January it got worse and would not stop, I felt like I was hemorrhaging.  I couldn't take it anymore.  It's been affecting my quality of life as I have no motivation to do anything but sleep.  No one could tell me an answer as to why or give me a solution.

I finally contacted an oncologist I met through Baptist in Jacksonville (a woman thank goodness...no offense guys still reading, but you have no idea).  She immediately got me in the next day (Tuesday) with a gynecologist  (also a woman).  I was prescribed two medications to try to alleviate this situation.  She rocked.  I mean, she was immediately in contact with the oncologist at Baptist and in Atlanta making sure either of the meds would not interfere with my targeted therapy. She ordered an ultrasound and I go in tomorrow for bloodwork.  She already has a plan B.  I love her.  I've had all of my medical records sent to her now.  We are wondering if it's some side effect of the targeted therapy that isn't mentioned because not a lot of young people get lung cancer...maybe we are breaking some kind of new ground here.  Or, I just have excellent luck.  Probably the latter.

So, hopefully soon, I can feel as normal as I can possibly feel while living with lung cancer.  Ear muffs off.

One thing I did want to drive home in this brief, TMI blog, is that just because I look a certain way, or am able to run around and act normal, does not mean I'm done with lung cancer.  I will never be done with lung cancer.  One of the guys at work, love him to death, thought I was in remission and had beaten it.  Thing is, I'll always have this mutation and the key is to live with it, keep it under control.  I'll be tired, my meds are increasing, but I'm alive.  And right now, that's what is most important.  I'm truly blessed that Brent knows all of this about me and loves me enough to still want to marry me.  Cancer can take a wack at your self esteem, no doubt.

Well, I'm off to sleep some more.  Blood work and wedding planning tomorrow, oh joy!  Seriously, I'm not good at this wedding planning thing and wish someone would just do it all for me (I hope my Ocean Lodge friends are reading...I just pulled the card!)

Thank you all for your continuous prayers, they mean so much.  And please pray for Ansley Jones, who relapsed with her leukemia and my friend Roy, who is so hard-headed, but is doing much better with his leukemia meds.  Finally, please pray for Carmen Frye.  Her cancer is giving her a hard time right now and she needs them.  I'm sorry if I left anyone out, I'm exhausted.

Our preacher said something in church Sunday that resonated so much with me it brought tears to my eyes.  It was the second line in a sermon about Jesus and the three men cast into the fire.  The line he said was to the effect of "some people have to go through the fire with God".  Not around it or over it, but through it.  But when they come out of the other side, they say they wouldn't have changed a thing.  Because in that moment, it changed their life forever and they were never the same.  My eyes swelled up with tears.  It described me perfectly.  I am not the same, nor will I ever be again.  I don't want to ever be the person I was before.  And I'll always know I'm not alone.

Oh yeah, Karley's foot is better!  No surgery!  Thank you God!   And God bless you all!