This week has been an odd mix of progress and complexity for me medically.
In terms of progress, I made my last post-operative trip to Charleston on Tuesday and everything seems to be healing well and on track for reconstructive surgery in the Fall. Also, as of Wednesday I am officially one-thirf of the way through my current round of chemotherapy; I have completed four treatments and have eight more to go. [By the way, I don't necessarily have a regular day for chemotherapy. My first two treatments were on Thursdays, my most recent two were on Wednesdays, and my next one is on Tuesday. When I go in for treatment mostly depends on when I can coordinate my schedule with my doctor's schedule.] For those who are dealing with long-term illnesses like cancer, it is encouraging to be able to step back from the seemingly endless appointments and procedures and see that real progress is being made with each step that is taken. The process of dealing with my cancer is far from over, but day-by-day, progress is being made and that is reassuring.
While certain benchmarks of progress were made this week, my overall health has seemed more complex for some reason this week. My current chemotherapy drug has always made me slightly nauseous and very easily fatigued, but I have been struggling with other things as well. I won't go into detail about my various symptoms; I'll just say that my body has just been off balance lately (and sometimes literally). In some ways I think my body must be confused by the potpourri of medications I am taking. It is one thing for me to keep track of my medications (in fact, Matt just installed a new medicine cabinet in our bathroom to hold them all), but it is another for my body to process and adjust to them appropriately. Anyway, I am hoping that I can gain some greater physical stability in the coming week.
As you have the opportunity, please pray that God would give me and my doctors wisdom about how to treat my cancer and keep my body relatively healthy. And please continue to pray that God would sustain me and my family during these tedious weeks of chemotherapy. As far as we know, we are really only about half-way through with my total cancer treatment (the anticipated finish line is towards the end of 2011). It has been a long process already, but there is so much more to do. So please pray for us to persevere by faith as we trust in God to give us the physical, emotional, and spiritual stregnth we need to run this race well.
