The last four weeks

Some people visiting this site for the first time may not know what all has been happening. Feel free to skip this post if you've heard everything, but I thought I'd write a history of the past few weeks.

The last four weeks have felt like four months because so much has happened in them. I found out I had cancer on a Wednesday evening Oct.18. I moved from the shock to just busyness...lots and lots of tests. Thursday, ultrasounds and mammograms. Friday I had a biopsy. Saturday the doctor called and confirmed that it was breast cancer. That's when we let everyone hear the news, so we could have as many people praying as possible. The news spread fast and far! We began hearing from people all over the country...saying they were praying for me and had put my name on their church's prayer lists. I was so overwhelmed but so thankful!

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were all days that we were passionately praying , with many, many others that the Lord would do something miraculous. We had a healing service at our church on Sunday night that was such an incredible night of love and hope and worship. The elders anointed my head with oil and prayed over our whole family, with over a hundred people gathered as witnesses. We knew of several other groups that were meeting at the same time in other places around the country, joining us in prayer for healing. I felt so much hope and complete peace from the Lord.

Wednesday I went in to get the PET scan, to see if the cancer was anywhere else in my body.
Friday, a CT scan and a muga heart test, all preliminary steps before I would start the chemo on Monday Oct. 30. That Sunday night was such a hard night because I could see that the Lord wasn't going to do the surprise-radical-miraculous healing that we had all prayed about...so it was time to start the long, slower medical plan , which I believe He can also use for His healing.

That Monday they said the PET scan did not find cancer anywhere else. That was HUGE! Yeah...a wonderful answer to prayers! I also had my first chemo treatment that day.The first chemo was hard emotionally. I guess it was just processing again the reality. When you sit there and watch all this stuff go into your arm, it's definitely real. My side effects that week were not too bad. I did hit a fatigue wall and I had nausea on that Wednesday...but took some medicine that just made me sleep all day. After that each day that followed got better.

This week was the third week since my treatment, and it's been the most normal feeling. But this week brought a different issue...my hair started to fall out. BUT...the Lord was so sweet to send a box of new hats from some dear Tennessee girlfriends just on the week that I started to notice it coming out. That really has been the pattern. Everyday it seems like something has happened that God sent just the right person, right food or right gift when I needed it, and many times before I even knew I needed it. I feel so blessed with prayers and fasting, cards, meals, books, emails, help with errands, housework, phone calls, and more. The Lord has really sent His love through all these precious friends and family. Thanks so much to all of you that have stepped in to encourage me in different ways. Thank you!

My next hurdle will be Monday, my second treatment. Jesse, our 22 year old, wants to take me Monday, which I thought was really sweet. He's out of school next week for Thanksgiving break, so he wanted to take me this time.

My heart is full of hope and peace and faith...and I know, I KNOW this is from Jesus Christ.
Thank you all again for all your prayers.