Our family is humbled once again by God bestowing His favor upon me. My brain MRI this week yielded a good report. "Stable disease." There has been no progression in any brain tumor activity. Praise the Lord for this!
They feel that the excruciating breakthrough headache last week was due to getting off the steroids too quickly. It could never be too quickly for me, but this is what is needed. So of course, they started me back on them last week and once again, I cannot walk stairs, squat or take walks. My belly is 16 pounds of bloat and I am wired up once again all night. Tomorrow I can reduce by 2 mg for another week, and then reduce by 1 mg for another week and then I can actually go off of them. I SO need to regain some sense of health here.
But the bottom line is that God is protecting my brain and all that is inside of it, and we are so so so grateful.
Thank you so much for your prayers. They have been heard!!
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Thursday, March 26, 2015
ANOTHER CHALLENGE
I've had 2 of the roughest weeks ever. Even when that new chemo's side effects were killing my liver and assaulting me with pain and constipation, I at least could walk.
The steroids I have had to be on for brain swelling have been as close to a "demonic drug" as I can imagine. I cannot get up stairs except on hands and knees because of severe muscle weakness. If I squat down to look into a lower cupboard, I am unable to make myself upright with holding onto a chair or counter top or drawer handle. And then, walking. Me. The walker. 2 miles a days. Every day. I now can walk around the block once only. The steroids give me tremors, keep me awake most of the night, make me fuzzy-brained. I have mouth sores that will not heal, tremendous bloating (I have no neck and a stomach that looks like I could give birth in 2 months). They have given me 4 episodes of spasms of the esophageal sphincter, which feel like a massive heart attack and had Dick and me leaving for the ER the first time.
It has been hard. The effects had begun before we left on our trip (I needed help on stairs), but they worsened on our trip as far as being unable to walk and squat, and since we have been home, I have spent more time on the sofa than anywhere else.
I went off the steroids 2 days ago, only to be lambasted with an excruciating headache yesterday which lasted through the night and into today. It was unbearable. My oncologist put me BACK on steroids and has ordered another brain MRI for Monday.
Please pray, my praying friends, that when I get off the steroids, that the many side effects would reverse themselves. As I live with all of these daily, I start to fear that they will never diminish or disappear. Thanks so much.
The steroids I have had to be on for brain swelling have been as close to a "demonic drug" as I can imagine. I cannot get up stairs except on hands and knees because of severe muscle weakness. If I squat down to look into a lower cupboard, I am unable to make myself upright with holding onto a chair or counter top or drawer handle. And then, walking. Me. The walker. 2 miles a days. Every day. I now can walk around the block once only. The steroids give me tremors, keep me awake most of the night, make me fuzzy-brained. I have mouth sores that will not heal, tremendous bloating (I have no neck and a stomach that looks like I could give birth in 2 months). They have given me 4 episodes of spasms of the esophageal sphincter, which feel like a massive heart attack and had Dick and me leaving for the ER the first time.
It has been hard. The effects had begun before we left on our trip (I needed help on stairs), but they worsened on our trip as far as being unable to walk and squat, and since we have been home, I have spent more time on the sofa than anywhere else.
I went off the steroids 2 days ago, only to be lambasted with an excruciating headache yesterday which lasted through the night and into today. It was unbearable. My oncologist put me BACK on steroids and has ordered another brain MRI for Monday.
Please pray, my praying friends, that when I get off the steroids, that the many side effects would reverse themselves. As I live with all of these daily, I start to fear that they will never diminish or disappear. Thanks so much.
Friday, March 20, 2015
GLIMPSES OF OUR BLUE RIDGE TRIP
A peek into our spring break week in the mountains...
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| SUSAN AND ME, BEST FRIENDS FOR 30 YEARS |
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| VERY HARD TO BE WITH SUSAN AND THEN HAVE TO SAY GOODBYE AGAIN |
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| WHEN IN ROME....... |
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| MY HUBBIE AND A GOOD PIPE??? |
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| OUR CABIN |
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| WE HAD A WONDERFUL WRAP-AROUND DECK WITH SPA |
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| WE HAD 3 LEVELS and 3 MASTER SUITES! AND OUR CABIN WAS PROBABLY ONE OF THE SMALLEST THAT WE DROVE PAST IN THE VARIOUS DEVELOPMENTS. |
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| RICHIE AND I WERE SO TICKLED TO BE ABLE TO TREAT SUSAN AND JACK TO THEIR 33rd ANNIVERSARY DINNER THAT WEEKEND. WE FOUND AN AWESOME RESTAURANT IN TOWN CALLED SOUTHERN CHARM AND IT WAS FULL OF UNBELIEVABLE SOUTHERN COOKIN'. I ATE A POUND OF FRIED OKRA. |
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| SAM FLEW IN FIRST OF THE WEEK FOR A COUPLE DAYS WITH US |
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| OUR MORNING VIEW |
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| WE HAD TO TAKE SAM BACK TO THE AIRPORT WAY TOO SOON, BUT WE WERE SO EXCITED HE COULD COME AT ALL. |
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| OUR LAST FAMILY MEAL, BACK AT SOUTHERN CHARM |
Sunday, March 1, 2015
HEADACHES NEED TO LEAVE!
On Wednesday night, I got a massive headache. Not the Excedrin-tension type headache. The kind of pain that sent me to the ER over a month ago, which indicated brain cancer. My oncologist put me back on steroids to reduce the apparent increased inflammation. Apparently this isn't highly unlikely, but it certainly is not welcome. I was so happy to be OFF the steroids finally, after 3 weeks of jitters, sleeplessness, swelling.
It didn't last long.
My headache has subsided. It isn't gone, but it is tolerable.
But my biggest worry was not the steroids. It was the momentary gulp I took in thinking about still going to see my best friend in Georgia this week.
Susan and I had a Blue Ridge Mountain trip planned for October of 2013. 2 days before my flight, I had a vitreous detachment in my good eye, handing me blurry vision in both. I was optically and emotionally unable to drive and fly. The trip was cancelled.
In the spring and summer of 2014, Susan was dealing with her own health issues and we found no connect-time. We decided to plan another trip the first week in September. That week found me in the hospital with severe chemo-constipation and receiving radiation for the 2 new tumors. No trip.
Dad died 2 weeks later and the rest of my fall and winter of 2014 was trying to cope with the side effects of a new chemo that was slowly killing me.
We planned yet another trip for this March. When the brain cancer was found, I cancelled the cabin in the mountains because I did not know what I was facing. We wanted to get our refund back while we still could. I told the owner of the cabin that if for some reason she did not rent it out, and I was able to come, that we would do a last minute rental.
We did a last-minute rental.
Come hell or high water, Susan and I are going to be together again. We talk every day, but we need to BE together. Breathing mountain air. Meandering around mountain villages. Hiking the trails.
And so I am praying that the headache issue and the vertigo that has also popped up will turn themselves around completely this week. God's blessings are great, and I am trusting that He can't wait to give us this one.
It didn't last long.
My headache has subsided. It isn't gone, but it is tolerable.
But my biggest worry was not the steroids. It was the momentary gulp I took in thinking about still going to see my best friend in Georgia this week.
Susan and I had a Blue Ridge Mountain trip planned for October of 2013. 2 days before my flight, I had a vitreous detachment in my good eye, handing me blurry vision in both. I was optically and emotionally unable to drive and fly. The trip was cancelled.
In the spring and summer of 2014, Susan was dealing with her own health issues and we found no connect-time. We decided to plan another trip the first week in September. That week found me in the hospital with severe chemo-constipation and receiving radiation for the 2 new tumors. No trip.
Dad died 2 weeks later and the rest of my fall and winter of 2014 was trying to cope with the side effects of a new chemo that was slowly killing me.
We planned yet another trip for this March. When the brain cancer was found, I cancelled the cabin in the mountains because I did not know what I was facing. We wanted to get our refund back while we still could. I told the owner of the cabin that if for some reason she did not rent it out, and I was able to come, that we would do a last minute rental.
We did a last-minute rental.
Come hell or high water, Susan and I are going to be together again. We talk every day, but we need to BE together. Breathing mountain air. Meandering around mountain villages. Hiking the trails.
And so I am praying that the headache issue and the vertigo that has also popped up will turn themselves around completely this week. God's blessings are great, and I am trusting that He can't wait to give us this one.
Friday, February 27, 2015
SAVING GRACE
One of my devotionals today spoke to me through its words: SHARE THIS. And so I do.
Jesus already knows the cost of grace. He already knows the price of forgiveness.
But He offers it anyway.
God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:8
God didn’t look at our frazzled lives and say, “I’ll die for you when you deserve it.” No, despite our sin, in the face of our rebellion, He chose to adopt us.
Jesus Died for Our Sins
As a young boy, I read a Russian fable about a master and a servant who went on a journey to a city. Many of the details I’ve forgotten, but the ending I remember. Before the two men could reach the destination, they were caught in a blinding blizzard. They lost their direction and were unable to reach the city before nightfall.
The next morning concerned friends went searching for the two men. They finally found the master, frozen to death, face down in the snow. When they lifted him they found the servant — cold but alive. He survived and told how the master had voluntarily placed himself on top of the servant so the servant could live.
I hadn’t thought of that story in years. But when I read what Christ said He would do for us, the story surfaced — for Jesus is the Master who died for the servants.
I was given mercy so that in me, the worst of all sinners, Christ Jesus could show that He has patience without limit. - 1 Timothy 1:16
Our Savior kneels down and gazes upon the darkest acts of our lives. But rather than recoil in horror, He reaches out in kindness and says, “I can clean that if you want.” And from the basin of His grace, He scoops a palm full of mercy and washes away our sin.
Our faith does not earn God’s love any more than our stupidity jeopardizes it. The cross was heavy, the blood was real, and the price was extravagant. It would have bankrupted you or me, so He paid it for us.
Call it simple. Call it a gift. But don’t call it easy.
Call it what it is. Call it grace.
Max Lucado
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
TODAY'S CHUCKLE
One of my second-graders shyly came up to me today and said, "Mrs. E., what color is your hair?"
"Well," I answered, "when I have hair, it is brown, about the same shade as yours."
"Do you have any hair right now?" she asked.
"No, I don't."
Her eyes got (seriously) big as saucers and she turned quickly and walked back to her seat.
I could barely stifle my laughter.
"Well," I answered, "when I have hair, it is brown, about the same shade as yours."
"Do you have any hair right now?" she asked.
"No, I don't."
Her eyes got (seriously) big as saucers and she turned quickly and walked back to her seat.
I could barely stifle my laughter.
Monday, February 23, 2015
THE BALD AND THE BEAUTIFUL
Have to share the very very sweet drawing my niece Betsy made for me. She is an amazing artist. She posted it on my Facebook page, but many of you can't see it there, so I wanted to show off her work. If I thought I looked even half as good as this drawing, I would be proud!! :)
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