SATURDAY AT DORDT

     Since Sam can't come home for his birthday next weekend, we went over to Dordt on Saturday to take him out to dinner and give him his gifts. After listening to his webcasts for over a year, it was great fun to actually SEE him do a broadcast in person. There was a bitter cold north wind on Saturday, and luckily, we not only had Sam's winter coat in the car to take to him, but an old quilt as well. He and color commentator Jeremy did their best to keep warm and they did a great job on the soccer game. Fun day!

      Unless another Dordt sporting event preempts it, Sam will be going to Chicago with the varsity men's basketball team and making his radio debut broadcasting their games there in a couple of weeks. I'll post his broadcast times when the time gets closer in case you want to tune into 88.5!!!

ALL'S WELL

My chemo session went well and aside from some nausea, especially when I exert myself, I am feeling fine. Am just going to lay low for a day or two.....take walks and read books....and not try to tackle yard work or anything. My infusion nurse got me on the first stick. THANKS FOR THOSE PRAYERS!! It took her a long time to get the vein to stay "up," but she finally got the needle in before it flattened out and it was a good stick. I am meeting tomorrow with my friend Mary Ruth about my book. I want her to read the first draft and give me any spiritual pointers she has about anything I have misrepresented or omitted in writing about divine healing. I so value her input. Better go get some chicken and dumplings cookin' for our dinner.

CHEMO TOMORROW

It's that time again. All I can think about is how many needle sticks I will have to have to insert the catheter. I won't see my doctor tomorrow...have to see his nurse practitioner .... don't know her....we'll see how that goes. Had a good productive weekend alone while Dick was at his state conference. Had 3 good friends over for Friday girls-night-out and did alot of laughing. Jill, Angie, and Karol, you're the best!! Got laundry and cleaning done on Saturday, and got outside windows washed before Dick got home today. Got 3 books ready and waiting for the next 4 sleepless-on-steroids nights. And so the week starts.....

NEW CRITTER IN THE HOUSE

 Sam's big bad bass (caught this summer) finally arrived, mounted on a piece of driftwood. The taxidermist did a great job of showing that huge mouth! Glad we didn't eat him!!

REALITY CHECK

Dick and I refused to read any lung cancer literature after my diagnosis. I did not want to hear anything about it. I knew only that the average survival after diagnosis was about 16 months. They say knowledge is power. In this case, knowledge meant depression. I wanted no medical prognostications. Because those numbers do not conform to the work of a Creator and a Healer. But on a walk this week, I casually said to Dick, "I wonder what the numbers really are." He said, "After your last PET scan, I looked up the stats. Do you want to know what they are?" Finally, I could hear the numbers. So here is my reality check.

For stage 4 non-small-cell lung cancer:

69% of patients are alive after 6 months.
44% of patients are alive after one year.
29% of patients are alive after 18 months.

All glory to God that I am in that 44%!!!

HI AGAIN

I had to take a little "station break" from my blog for a while and deal with some dire medical issues. None related to cancer. I had a kidney stone----the pain from which was worse than any childbirth experience----and then another altogether different issue, which at the risk of giving TMI, I will simply say, made me want to choose kidney stone pain. The issues are resolved, and I am still in one piece. 


My son came home for an overnight on Saturday, though considering he spent hours working on a philosophy paper about "Are We More Than DNA?", we did not actually spend much time visiting. It made me remember that I never did like philosophy!! We did his laundry,  filled him up with "real food," topped off his gas tank, and sent him back to Dordt life. The house still feels empty without him. It probably always will. 


I am busy working on my booklet about divine healing.....all of the Scriptural truths I have studied and researched and learned about this year. I am so pleased with how smoothly it is all coming together, and I hope to complete it sometime in November. There is so much that people don't know about God's will in healing....things I surely did not know until desperation made me search for them. I pray as I write that there will be others who might find truth and faith in my words, and be set on healing paths.


Thanks to my blog readers who continue to check for posts even through long absences!! I continue to be humbled that anyone cares to read my random thoughts.

Baby Girl

I had to post a pic of my beautiful new great-niece, Phoebe. She is the answer to so many prayers....

Phoebe is the newest in a line of great-nieces which include Carina, Ivy, and Lucy, all precocious, sweet, and just as adorable as Phoebe, with amazing role models in their respective moms, my nieces Allison and Rachel.

We are anxious to get down to Kansas City one of these weekends to see them all!