LAST ROUND!

I am so excited! I am halfway through my LAST round of chemo! I have very sore feet this time, I think because I have not been getting enough sleep with the end of school and all the summery "stuff" to do. But I am enjoying helping the kids with flower beds and opening the pool and so on. So fun to see them splashing and jumping in and just having a great time in this heat wave we had this week. Last week was hard - I was kind of dreading it, as it was the one year anniversary of my diagnosis and surgery. Diagnosis was June 2, 2007 and surgery was June 6th. So on June 6th this year I had a hard time not almost feeling that HUGE incision being opened and the rib being cut out and the waking up with a ventilator in my lungs as well as about 10 other tubes in me.....that first night was the longest of my life - a SAD memory....

But, how about this? I am now CANCER FREE for a whole YEAR! :-)

This round of chemo will end on June 22nd, and I will have my MRI's and CAT scans that week, getting the results on July 1st. Planning on that being ALL GOOD NEWS and then getting on with my life for the rest of the summer. One of my "looking forward to's" is wearing flip flops again. I LOVE flip flops but they set my chemo feet ablaze last August when I started chemo and that between the toes area has never been healed right since. Can't wait for it to heal up and don those happy summer shoes again.

I will continue to have scans every 12 weeks for the next year and then, assuming all is well, they will become every 6 months after that. Meanwhile 2 weeks ago I had a breast cancer scare due to a fishy mammogram - saw the surgeon - he ordered a biopsy (NOT fun) and in a few days we heard that all was well. I really wasn't too worried - what can a bunch of tiny dots on a mammogram do to me when I was walking around for who knows how long with a 15 cm kidney tumor? :-) It was a major inconvenience for a week though with all the hoopla over the mammogram. Life here is never dull with all my kiddos and the challenges of each day anyway! There isn't time for mom to have false alarms!

The Lord has sustained us and has taught us a LOT of lessons we did NOT want to learn in the past year. But we know that He had his purposes in these trials and that we will be stronger and wiser as a result. He uses all things for good. We are so thankful for each of you and your faithfulness to hold our family up in prayer though this difficult trial. Please don't forget us, I am not out of the woods yet! None of us are, really. We all need Him each and every day.

Love
Karen

Psalm 46
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8 Come and see the works of the LORD,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields with fire.
10 "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."
11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.