Well, we made it to Friday. Needless to say, this was a life-changing week, full of news you never want to hear. But there’s more to the story. Even though I did wallow for awhile in a place of fear and dread, I started to piece some pretty amazing things together which gave me great hope and faith that God is in this, He’s in control and I do not need to be afraid.
#1 Remember the way I found the cancer! When I received a slightly irregular mammogram report back in February, I was unfazed. Women my age often experience a change in breast tissue, so I chalked this up to my age. Ok, I’ll do the follow-up ultrasound test, just to be sure, but I wasn’t one bit concerned. There was no lump, no symptoms, and the radiologist who read my ultrasound advised me to come back in 6 months so we can keep an eye on it. I was sure that this was just a brief chapter and everything would soon be normal as usual.
But when my Sarah caught wind of my journey, she was VERY pushy about me getting an MRI, which is a more targeted test. I gave her no reason to be concerned, but even still, she was adamant that I get that MRI and the very MRI that did, in fact, show that I had more of a problem than I knew. The MRI lead to the biopsy, and the biopsy lead to the diagnosis. In hind sight, Sarah says that she had a “bad feeling.” I believe that is was God who gave her that nagging inkling. Sarah may have saved my life. The kind of cancer I have is very aggressive and if I had waited for a recheck, my story would have been very different. Thank you God for using Sarah! I am so grateful!
#2 About 3 months ago, I had this nagging feeling that I needed to do something drastic to get healthy. Even though I felt fine, I felt like at my age, I needed to something to step up my health, or I could be at risk for serious illness. Then one night, when I couldn’t sleep, I turned the TV one to try to fall back asleep and stumbled upon a PBS show featuring a book about an eating plan that focused on including bone broth combined with a paleo diet. Well, I quietly ordered the book on Amazon that night, and quietly read the book, trying to discover if this way of eating made sense. I had heard that bone broth is really great for minimizing inflammation, helping with arthritis and a lots of other benefits. Quietly, without anyone knowing except my family, I embarked on this new way of healthy eating. It was super easy to make the change and in 2.5 months, I lost nearly 30 pounds, which is of course WONDERFUL. but even more amazing, is that this kind of diet that I am well settled into, is the very kind of diet that is most effective in fighting cancer and would be the way I would be encouraged to eat while I’m in treatment. Wow!! I was already well on my way to the kind of lifestyle that I would need to adapt. Done! Thank you Lord that,in the midst of all the hard things ahead of me, I don’t have the burden of a radical diet change!
There are more stories like these, but suffice it say that I started to piece together things that some might consider lucky coincidences. But I know they are far more than that…I know that God has been paving the way for me to fight the good fight, with Him in the middle of it, comforting me, guiding my family and covering me with peace that passes all understanding.
Most of the time I feel strong and optimistic and sure that complete healing is mine in the future. But even when I have those rare moments of fear, all I need to do is to cry out to my Father in heaven and He brings me the comfort I need.
Navigating "New" Normals 