The Plan

We went to see the Radiation Oncologist about what our next course of action will be.  He explained that the PetScan indicated the other tumors appeared to be inactive.  The only active cancer area was the main tumor, in the lower right lobe.  This is the tumor that has progressed and appears to have built a resistance to the Tarceva.  This was something we were aware may happen.

The plan is to begin radiation Monday.  I was fitted for the full body suit today.  Radiation to the chest is very different because when you breathe, your lungs move, making the tumor move.  This process makes radiation a little more difficult.

The radiation oncologist feels that we have a 90% chance of this radiation being effective in stopping the spread of the main tumor.  We are trying to kill it.  He was very positive, letting us know that radiation would probably not have been possible had the cancer still been widespread.

So, this is all good news.  I just let it go, gave it to God, and He's taking care of it!

I'm so thankful for this news. It does mean I'll be in Atlanta a lot over the next few weeks, but when the radiation oncologist used the words, "remission is possible", I was all for it!

I would like to thank God for listening to my prayers.  He knows how badly I want to be here for my sweet girl.  And thank all of you prayer warriors and supporters that have been praying for me.  Please don't stop!  I'll still be on the Tarceva forever and there are always things that can go wrong, but I'm not worrying about them.  I'm just living my life, and enjoying it.

Please continue to remember the following additional people in your prayers:   Marjorie Polk,Tim Gravitt, Shelley Miller, Sheila Hodges, Seanna Reannon New, Peggy Fogerty, Gretchen Mitchell Anderson, Dylan Rosier and James Robert Smith.  They still all have their own battles.

Please pray for strength and peace for Marjorie and her family right now.  She is having a fundraiser October 5th.  Please see Marjorie's Fundraiser to find out more information.

Reggie still has an active fundraiser to help pay his medical bills, especially now with his additional medical expenses.  It's at Reggie's Fundraiser.  Reggie needs our help now even more now!

Psalm 106:1

"Praise the Lord.  Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever."

Preliminary Results

Well, unfortunately we couldn't get the complete PetScan results today but will have them by Monday.

However, my oncologist looked at it before the radiologist read it.  So far, it looks like my primary tumor (on the outside of my lung) has progressed pretty rapidly.  This doesn't surprise me that much, I've had some neck and back pain and pain when taking a deep breath.  Since my oncologist couldn't see anything else other than the progression, it was decided to leave me on the Tarceva for now.

I won't be able to go home Sunday since I'm meeting with the radiation oncologist Monday.  My oncologist is expecting to do 3-5 consecutive days of stereotactic radiation, which will hopefully begin after my meeting Monday.

I'm praying this will stop the spread of this tumor.  It's in God's hands.

Please continue to remember the following additional people in your prayers:   Marjorie Polk,Tim Gravitt, Shelley Miller, Sheila Hodges, Peggy Fogerty, Gretchen Mitchell Anderson, Dylan Rosier and James Robert Smith.  They still all have their own battles.

Please pray for strength and peace for Marjorie and her family right now.  She is having a fundraiser October 5th.  Please see Marjorie's Fundraiser to find out more information.

Reggie still has an active fundraiser to help pay his medical bills, especially now with his additional medical expenses.  It's at Reggie's Fundraiser.  Reggie needs our help now even more now!

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers.  My faith in the power of our Lord is still strong, even with the news today.  None of us are alone, we are all in this together with Him.  The following verse gives me encouragement and peace. Even though I used it last time, I just feel like it's so appropriate right now.

John 14:27

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid"

Scanxiety

The week is finally here.  I'm going to have another PetScan Friday to see how the Tarceva is working.  I usually don't get that nervous before them, but I've had some shoulder and neck pain lately.  Although it's probably unrelated, once you have cancer, every time you have pain somewhere, you think it's related.

Last night I had a pretty emotional night.  Lately it's been about everyone else.  But last night, it was about me.  I literally dropped to my knees and begged God to have mercy on me and let everything be okay.  I cried for hours.  I haven't cried like that in a long time.  For some reason, it all became overwhelming after putting Karley to bed.  I thought about everything I may miss in her life.  I begged God to stay, to be able to be here for her.

I believe in miracles, and I definitely need one.  I know so many people going through tough times right now that need one too.  Please continue to remember the following additional people in your prayers:   Marjorie Polk,Tim Gravitt, Shelley Miller, Sheila Hodges, Peggy Fogerty, Gretchen Mitchell Anderson, Dylan Rosier and James Robert Smith.  They still all have their own battles.

Please pray for strength and peace for Marjorie and her family right now.  She is having a fundraiser October 5th.  Please see Marjorie's Fundraiser to find out more information.

Reggie still has an active fundraiser to help pay his medical bills, especially now with his additional medical expenses.  It's at Reggie's Fundraiser.  Reggie needs our help now even more now!

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers.  My faith in the power of our Lord is still strong, even if I have a bit of scanxiety.  None of us are alone, we are all in this together with Him.  The following verse gives me encouragement and peace, even when my world seems turned upside down.

John 14:27

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid"

Prayers, prayers, and more prayers...

I'm trying to get back to a regular blog schedule, but some weeks are very uneventful.  This happened to NOT be one of them.  Our church focused on healing at it's Sunday service.  It was amazing!

Thanks to a relentless Britni Adams, I finally attended Wednesday morning bible study.  I loved it and plan on getting my butt out of bed and going weekly now!

Some of you know, my dear friend Reggie had a follow up at Emory yesterday.  They actually called him a few weeks after his MRI and the surgeon wanted to see him.  We thought this may not be good.  It wasn't.

Reggie has another brain tumor, on the other side of the brain.  The surgeon at Emory explained that surgery was Reggie's only option now for that tumor.  The original tumor is still there as well.  Reggie is my family, I love him very much.  He needs our prayers so much right now.  If you try to contact him, he's got so much going on he may not respond right now.  I'm sure just sending prayers and support his was will help more than you know.  He doesn't want to talk about things, not even with me so please don't feel like he's shutting anyone out.  I'm the same way when I get bad news, except I've started blogging to express my feelings.  I'll post more once I found out, in the meantime...prayers!

Also, our friend Brad Busch is having surgery today for a broken ankle.  He will be out of work for a long time and has a rough road to recovery ahead.  Please pray for everything to go smoothly for him today.  Brad has been there too since day 1.  I love him and his wife Mandy very much too.  They are like family to us!

Please continue to remember the following additional people in your prayers:   Marjorie Polk, Tim Gravitt, Shelley Miller, Sheila Hodges, Peggy Fogerty, Gretchen Mitchell Anderson, Dylan Rosier and James Robert Smith.  They still all have their own battles.

Please pray for strength and peace for Marjorie and her family right now.  She is having a fundraiser October 5th.  Please see Marjorie's Fundraiser to find out more information.

Additionally, Reggie still has an active fundraiser to help pay his medical bills.  It's at Reggie's Fundraiser.  Reggie needs our help now even more now!

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers throughout my journey too. My faith in the power of our Lord is still strong.  None of us are alone, we are all in this together with Him.

Isaiah 53:5
"But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed."

Bad things happen to good people

Well, the roller coaster hit the high and is heading down for a brief moment, hopefully only a moment.  I've been asking myself why bad things happen to good people?

It's horrible that all of this has happened to so many of us.  These illnesses that are beyond our control and sometimes unstoppable.

But, as a Christian, I believe that this life on earth is only the land of shadows, and real eternal life has yet to begin.  The end is really our beginning.  This doesn't make things easier on our loved ones, or even ourselves when we think of people we are leaving behind.  I'm not necessarily speaking about myself here, because I'm doing okay for now with my treatment I'm praying.

I think a lot of suffering is a test to our faith in God.  Faith doesn't always mean you will live or things will go the way you planned.  It means that you believe He knows what He is doing.  There is a reason for all that will happen.  It doesn't mean we have to be happy about it, but we can do the best we can to accept it.  Life can change so quickly, I can't emphasize that enough.  Please don't worry about the little things and tell your loved ones how much they are loved every day.  You never know when it may be your last.

Please remember the following people in your prayers:  Reggie Kimbell, Marjorie Polk, Tim Gravitt, Shelley Miller, Sheila Hodges, Peggy Fogerty, Gretchen Mitchell Anderson, Dylan Rosier and James Robert Smith.  They still all have their own battles.

Please pray for strength and peace for Marjorie and her family right now.  She is having a fundraiser October 5th.  Please see Marjorie's Fundraiser to find out more information.

Additionally, Reggie still has an active fundraiser to help pay his medical bills.  It's at Reggie's Fundraiser.  Reggie is the reason I had to blog tonight.  It seemed like everything was okay, but now it's up in the air.  Reggie really needs our prayers right now.  I love you my friend!

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers throughout my journey too. I still have my faith and continue to believe that all of this is part of God's plan for me, wherever that may take me.  We all have our trials and tribulations, but are never alone, even in our darkest hour.

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Don't worry.....

Since my last post a few things have happened.  My dear friend Jennifer lost her mother unexpectedly last week.  Thanks to our wonderful church, St. Simons Community Church, Chris Borsky had a beautiful service and Jen didn't have to worry about too much.  Also, her friends at Bonefish Grill raised money to help cover the funeral expenses.  She has such a great support system and is loved by so many.  We said our final goodbyes Tuesday morning at the beach.
   

Please keep Jennifer in your prayers.  She is very much loved.

Gretchen got some good news, they were able to remove 100% of the cancer according to her last scan.  Please continue to pray for her though, we all know how cancer is and we don't want it back!

My prayer list keeps growing and please remember the following people in your prayers:  Reggie Kimbell, Marjorie Polk, Tim Gravitt, Shelley Miller, Sheila Hodges, Peggy Fogerty, Dylan Rosier and James Robert Smith.  They still all have their own battles.

Most of all, please pray for strength and peace for Marjorie and her family right now.  She is having a fundraiser October 5th.  Please see Marjorie's Fundraiser to find out more information.

Additionally, Reggie still has an active fundraiser to help pay his medical bills.  It's at Reggie's Fundraiser.

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers throughout my journey too.  I know this blog wasn't much about me, but there isn't much to report.  I still have my faith and continue to believe that all of this is part of God's plan for me.  I truly enjoy helping others, so if my purpose is to make a difference in even one person's life, then it's all worth it.  We all have our trials and tribulations, but are never alone, even in our darkest hour.  As you can tell, the roller coaster is going up right now....

My next PetScan is Sept. 20th.  I'm praying for good results, but I'm not worried.  Everything is in God's hands.

Just a reminder...

Matthew 6:27
"Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"

Free to Breathe and More

I wanted to start this blog by thanking a group of people that I left out on my last entry, the members of my church, St. Simons Community Church.  Our Senior Pastor, David Yarborough, brought me a prayer quilt a few weeks ago from the church.  A woman at the church makes them and members of the church pray over them.  He also brought a Livestrong bracelet that a member of the church had worn during his fight with cancer.  He said that bracelet was given to him by someone else fighting cancer and it always made him feel he wasn't alone.  All of their love, kindness, and generosity literally made me cry later that evening.  I've slept with the quilt ever since...

This past Friday I had my 3 month MRI of the brain.  It was clear once again.  Praise God!  I will still go every 3 months for MRI's for the next year.  Then we can go for every 6 months, etc.  I love my neurologist and staff so I don't mind these at all.  My PetScan scheduled for mid September will show how active the cancer is and if it's spread so we continue to pray for it to just go away!

On Saturday, the National Lung Cancer Partnership held their 4th annual Free To Breathe 5K Run/Walk in Atlanta.  It was so much fun and I was so excited that so many of my friends came out to support the cause.  Our team consisted of Reggie Kimbell, Brad & Mandy Busch, Sam & Stephanie Thompson, David & Kristen Hall, Sonja Cox, Brook Moore, Amanda Davis, Ashleigh Glass, Amanda High, Terri Neundorfer, Cindy Hall, Sherry Taylor, Tammy Godfrey, and me.  Dave finished 1st in his age group and 9th overall and Terri Neundorfer finished 2nd in her age group!  So proud of us!

Thank you guys all so much for coming out, I love you all!
It was also so good to see my little sister again.  I've missed her so much, she rocks!

And thank you to God, all my family, friends, and faithful prayer warriors.  It was such a memorable weekend.

Finally, my prayer list keeps growing but please remember the following people in your prayers:  Reggie Kimbell, Gretchen Mitchell Anderson, Marjorie Polk, Tim Gravitt, Shelley Miller, Sheila Hodges, Peggy Fogerty, and James Robert Smith.  They still all have their own battles.

Most of all, please pray for strength and peace for Marjorie and her family right now.  Cancer sucks so bad and it's not fair!

Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong and of good courage, do not fear or be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you.  He will not leave you nor forsake you.