Thank you to ALL of you who continue to stick with me in the battle. Life has been hectic to say the least, and many of you have been asking when I would update the BLOG! So nice to have so many people continuing to pray for me. I am plodding along. Managing ok but looking forward to being DONE the chemo and feeling "normal" again (whatever normal is!)
I just finished round SIX out of eight, had my 6 week bloodwork done last week then my CT scan (which is every 3 months). Charles and I saw the oncologist at PENN today and it is a nice big ZERO once again! Hoorah! Praising GOD for keeping that cancer away so far... I am starting to have real HOPE that it will never come back. I can't count on it, I was stage IV and kidney cancer is a nasty bugger that can return even many years later. But, so far, so good, and for that I am thankful. My oncologist reminded me that even if it does return we are checking so frequently that it would be caught early and we could "cut it out again" (yuck) or try other meds. Five years ago there was nothing that worked for kidney cancer, except surgery when it was operable. Now there are 3 -4 great meds to treat it and more on the horizon in research.
I did have VERY sore feet this time around - silly me for wearing pretty shoes to my brother's wedding! I had to take a few days off the chemo lest I not be able to even WALK. Other side effects are not that awful and I can work around them pretty much - achy muscles and joints, sore mouth, GI stuff ....(starting to love that immodium)!
I also had a problem with the CT scan dye - I got a rash the last 2 times so now I can't have the dye anymore. I will have a combination of a CT scan with no contrast, plus MRI's from now on. MRI's are more expensive so hopefully my insurance company will not balk! My next checkup with oncology is July 1st. At that time I will be DONE the med and have the results of the next round of scans. For the following year I will still have scans every 3 months since I will still be considered to be at fairly high risk of a reoccurrence. After that year it will move to every 6 months for a few years. Wow, do I love thinking about the FUTURE! :-)
On the home front Kristina's cast is off and she is totally her bubbly adorable impish little 10 year old self again. Poor Ethan still has his cast... well it's his second cast actually. A total of 3 months in a cast - poor kid. He gets it off tomorrow (April 9) which is also his FIFTEENTH birthday!!!!!!!! We are so proud of him. He is a great young man who loves the Lord and really wants to honor Him. It's been hard to miss PE class all this time, as well as games at his youth group. He has taken up Chinese character study and has penned some beautifully painted Bible verses on Chinese parchment as well as doing some wonderful art work this winter while on exercise restrictions. He will have surgery in the next few weeks to remove the pins from his arm and will have a splint for a few weeks and then we are hopeful he will be able to get "back in shape" and enjoy the springtime! The other kids are doing fine with various activities and learning a lot. Evan enjoys AWANA and SALT classes. Claudia and Anya have enjoyed their PEPPER classes this year. Both were on a homeschool volleyball team which placed second in their division at the statewide tournament! Anya enjoys worship dance classes 3 days a week now and will be in a recital in May.
I am so thankful to the Lord for all the blessings He has given me and for much that I have learned about Him and His purposes for me and my family in the last year or so. His ways are not my ways and His thoughts not my thoughts but He is helping me to mature and grow in many ways through the trials of life. The scriptures, especially the Psalms, are alive and so REAL to me now. I will close with some verses we have posted on our frig these days that have meant a lot to us. Maybe I will post verses more often as many are so meaningful. And then you all won't think I took a trip to Tahiti between posts. (I wish!)
Thank you all for standing with us as the Lord leads us each day. HE is our sufficiency and our hope!
Love to you all,
Karen
Romans 8: 28 – 39 (excerpts) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
