Back in the winter a young college friend of ours, Lorrie, told me that she wanted to run a race in my honor this summer. I couldn't believe that she would do that and felt very touched. She asked to meet with me about once a week to discuss our races and share with each other. So we did.
When we would meet, we would share different aspects of our races. She was in preparation for a half-triathlon, so she was running, swimming and biking all the time. My three events were surgery, chemo and radiation. We would talk about our physical, emotional and spiritual status through it all. We would always close with a prayer time.
Well...last weekend Lorrie ran her race. She drove from Arkansas to Michigan. She had a huge crisis on the way...her bike flew off of her car! But she got it back at a police station in Memphis. Then, she had to get it repaired in Nashville. She kept going on and got to Monroe, MI on Lake Erie on Sat.
Sunday arrived, and she ran and swam and biked. She said she really enjoyed the whole race. Lorrie came in FIRST in her age division for women!!! YEAH!!!
First of all...let me thank her again here in writing. THANK YOU Lorrie...for this huge honor. What an incredible expression of support and love. It will always, always be remembered. Thank you!
Second, there were many parallels for us, but there were also lots of ways that our races have been different. The most obvious is that mine is still going on. And, actually, will continue on some level for the rest of my life. Life IS a marathon race. I intend to keep running hard and hopefully more focused than I would have 8 months ago. My finish line is not just to get over all these treatments which, thankfully, are coming to an end. But I want very much to run this Life Race with joy and hope and a loving heart and selflessness and, I could go on and on.
I will be running this race with clearer vision, more focused on the Life Giver, Jesus. He is Life. I love Him. I just want to love Him more.
Two weeks left. Ten more treatments. Then we'll see what's next.
"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might...He increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; BUT...those who hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:28-31
Friday, June 15, 2007
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Past the Half-Way Mark
Last Thursday I reached the half-way point in my radiation treatment. Today was Day #20 out of 33 total.
Last week I did finally start having some of the radiation symptoms...my skin is red and dry, but it is not bad. I use a prescription wound gel that really heals the skin quickly. My throat feels kind of weird because they are zapping near my collar bone (getting the lymph nodes that are there). They said that the radiation is probably just irritating the esophagus, so it feels kind of swollen. The fatigue hasn't really hit yet...or at least I haven't noticed it. Glad about that.
One big thing that I decided to do that is a different...while I am lying there getting the treatment I usually pray and ask the Lord to heal me and to get all the right areas and protect my body. I decided last week to not ASK all those things, but instead to go ahead and thank God for them. That may sound very obvious to some of you...but it was a step of faith for me. To go ahead and thank God, as if it has already happened. So now I thank Him for my healing and thank Him for getting all the right cells. All present or past tense...that it is happening, and I trust that it is happening, or that it has already happened.
Why the change? The scripture that says "whatever you ask for in prayer believe that you have already received it and it is yours " from Mark 11:24. And "Don't worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6
Those verses are ones I've heard all my life. But now...they have to do WITH my life. Choosing to look at words and truly believe they are breathed from God. I do believe in Scripture...so I will take action and verbalize my grateful heart. I have chosen to thank God for the healing. Healing that I cannot truly know yet.
It's funny. I wrote my high school senior term paper on faith and healing. I remember I got a B. Not enough evidence. (funny stuff)
Today is done. Today is today and the Lord was faithful today, as always, going with me through the whole day.
Last week I did finally start having some of the radiation symptoms...my skin is red and dry, but it is not bad. I use a prescription wound gel that really heals the skin quickly. My throat feels kind of weird because they are zapping near my collar bone (getting the lymph nodes that are there). They said that the radiation is probably just irritating the esophagus, so it feels kind of swollen. The fatigue hasn't really hit yet...or at least I haven't noticed it. Glad about that.
One big thing that I decided to do that is a different...while I am lying there getting the treatment I usually pray and ask the Lord to heal me and to get all the right areas and protect my body. I decided last week to not ASK all those things, but instead to go ahead and thank God for them. That may sound very obvious to some of you...but it was a step of faith for me. To go ahead and thank God, as if it has already happened. So now I thank Him for my healing and thank Him for getting all the right cells. All present or past tense...that it is happening, and I trust that it is happening, or that it has already happened.
Why the change? The scripture that says "whatever you ask for in prayer believe that you have already received it and it is yours " from Mark 11:24. And "Don't worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6
Those verses are ones I've heard all my life. But now...they have to do WITH my life. Choosing to look at words and truly believe they are breathed from God. I do believe in Scripture...so I will take action and verbalize my grateful heart. I have chosen to thank God for the healing. Healing that I cannot truly know yet.
It's funny. I wrote my high school senior term paper on faith and healing. I remember I got a B. Not enough evidence. (funny stuff)
Today is done. Today is today and the Lord was faithful today, as always, going with me through the whole day.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
First week of June
Summer is in full swing now, which is wonderful. I am glad the kids are home! It just slows down all the busyness and gives us more time together.
Friday night,July 1, Tommy, Jamie, Mary and I went to our very first cancer event. It was the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. Lots of organizations had signed up to raise money for the event...banks, churches, office groups, businesses, and some families I think.
We went to the city park and there were booths set up in a circle in the middle grassy area. We headed to the pavilion and got in line for a nice dinner prepared for survivors and their families. (You are considered a "survivor" from the first day that you're diagnosed. I found that out last fall.) So... I am a 7 month survivor. I filled out the paper and they handed me a purple T-shirt...the front had "Relay for Life" and the back had in bold letters SURVIVOR. I felt like I was entering new territory, wearing a huge shirt that proclaimed in print that I was a cancer survivor. I was announcing it to the world somehow. Tommy helped me pull it on over my shirt. Then we moved on down the line and our family was served a nice picnic supper. We sat under the pavilion with lots of other purple shirts and their loved ones.
After the dinner, at 7pm all the folks under the pavilion moved to a starting line on the park walking trail. It is a small walking trail, goes around in a half mile circle. All along the trail were luminaries... paper bags with sand and a candle inside. On the outside of the bag were names honoring people, those still living and those who've passed away. Someone that I had just met last week bought a luminary for me. So as we walked around we looked for my bag with my name on it. Found it. It was very moving to see the bag...which is just... a bag. But it meant a lot. It confirmed publicly that, "yes, Lisa Carr has cancer, and she is a survivor, and as a community, we are going to stand with her as she fights this disease." Wow. It was very touching.
At 7:00 all the survivors lined up and starting walking this simple trail. The kids had left to go to a church youth party, so it was just Tommy and me, and all the other survivors too. All along the way there were groups of people standing on the edge of the trail. These were all the other people who had come to the event, the ones supporting all the activities. Those lined-up-people were all clapping.
Clapping for us.
Cheering us on.
We walked around the whole circle. We'd turn a little corner and there was another group, and another group, all clapping. It was very, very emotional and touching. Both of us were teary as we crossed the finish line.
People, once again...people that I don't even know, helping me fight this fight. Raising money for the sole purpose of stopping this disease, that I happen to have.
I am so humbled by their love and giving hearts. It was quite an incredible mile marker on this marathon that I'm running.
I came home and looked at my purple shirt.
I am forever in this club, the club no one wants to join. Once you're in it though, you are devoted to each other for life. Complete strangers are bonded. We understand each other and the road we have walked down.
Jesus, thank You that I went that night.
Thank You for all the ways You have faithfully sent encouragement along this road.
Thank You for all the people that have blessed me in the past 7 months. And...
thank You for my purple shirt.
In Your Name. Amen.
Friday night,July 1, Tommy, Jamie, Mary and I went to our very first cancer event. It was the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. Lots of organizations had signed up to raise money for the event...banks, churches, office groups, businesses, and some families I think.
We went to the city park and there were booths set up in a circle in the middle grassy area. We headed to the pavilion and got in line for a nice dinner prepared for survivors and their families. (You are considered a "survivor" from the first day that you're diagnosed. I found that out last fall.) So... I am a 7 month survivor. I filled out the paper and they handed me a purple T-shirt...the front had "Relay for Life" and the back had in bold letters SURVIVOR. I felt like I was entering new territory, wearing a huge shirt that proclaimed in print that I was a cancer survivor. I was announcing it to the world somehow. Tommy helped me pull it on over my shirt. Then we moved on down the line and our family was served a nice picnic supper. We sat under the pavilion with lots of other purple shirts and their loved ones.
After the dinner, at 7pm all the folks under the pavilion moved to a starting line on the park walking trail. It is a small walking trail, goes around in a half mile circle. All along the trail were luminaries... paper bags with sand and a candle inside. On the outside of the bag were names honoring people, those still living and those who've passed away. Someone that I had just met last week bought a luminary for me. So as we walked around we looked for my bag with my name on it. Found it. It was very moving to see the bag...which is just... a bag. But it meant a lot. It confirmed publicly that, "yes, Lisa Carr has cancer, and she is a survivor, and as a community, we are going to stand with her as she fights this disease." Wow. It was very touching.
At 7:00 all the survivors lined up and starting walking this simple trail. The kids had left to go to a church youth party, so it was just Tommy and me, and all the other survivors too. All along the way there were groups of people standing on the edge of the trail. These were all the other people who had come to the event, the ones supporting all the activities. Those lined-up-people were all clapping.
Clapping for us.
Cheering us on.
We walked around the whole circle. We'd turn a little corner and there was another group, and another group, all clapping. It was very, very emotional and touching. Both of us were teary as we crossed the finish line.
People, once again...people that I don't even know, helping me fight this fight. Raising money for the sole purpose of stopping this disease, that I happen to have.
I am so humbled by their love and giving hearts. It was quite an incredible mile marker on this marathon that I'm running.
I came home and looked at my purple shirt.
I am forever in this club, the club no one wants to join. Once you're in it though, you are devoted to each other for life. Complete strangers are bonded. We understand each other and the road we have walked down.
Jesus, thank You that I went that night.
Thank You for all the ways You have faithfully sent encouragement along this road.
Thank You for all the people that have blessed me in the past 7 months. And...
thank You for my purple shirt.
In Your Name. Amen.
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