My new Title

I have a new title for this blog: The gross and THE GRACE. I like it.

Mosquitos

By the way, I think the radiation is wearing off. The mosquitos have started biting me, again.

I can't believe I am looking forward to this next surgery...

If everything works as planned, my final surgery, the one where they do the "spring cleaning", is on Wednesday, August 4. I am ready... or as ready as I'll ever be for four days in a hospital with a seam down my front as a souvenir (bye bye bikinis). Gee, I hope my tattoos don't get messed up! (That's a joke. I have four green perma-targets on my abdomen and hips for the radiation. I'm not enamored of them in the least.) I got away with having three babies without a hospital involved. I've only stayed in the hospital to get my tonsils out in high school and they sent me home early because I was such a wrotten patient. I am NOT kidding. Ask my mom.

But, really, I'm ready to put this business behind me. I'm ready for my life to be about more than my frail corpus. I'm ready to build me up, buttercup. Be all I can be. Like that. Howard and I were wonderfully fortunate to have our world travelers, Ethan and wife Tiffany, to keep me company while I rested up this last month. They are off on another adventure, but I won't be alone. Claire and Holly are coming into town and taking shifts to take care of me. They'll be here to feed me and carry my purse and, most likely, listen to me whine.

Come see me. Better yet, pray for everything to come out alright. Literally. I will be convalescing at home by the end of this week. I'll be fine, no matter what, because, you know and I know, God is taking care of me.

Just when I thought it was safe to go back in the water...

My title is the catch phrase used for promoting the sequel to "Jaws". Music in a minor chord, threat from below, dark danger. My digestive system. Yep, just when we were all breathing a sigh of relief and I had gained enough energy to do two and, sometimes, three things in a day, I have developed some very frustrating painful issue in my stomach and intestines. Waiting didn't make it go away. Herbs, either. Acupuncture helps for awhile. Painkillers just make me even more useless than I already am. But, that's what I've devolved to. Crud. On Monday I go back to the hospital for appointments (the one to see if I'm ready for surgery will, no doubt, be a waste of time) and for making one appointment for a scope. Pretty soon there will be almost as many pictures of the inside of me as the outside. Ones you won't be seeing on Facebook.

Why, yes, this is disheartening. But God is taking care of me and this is all just clouds.

Pretty Outrageously Wonderful News

This is VERY COOL: In January my Squamous cell Squamus cell? whatever--- the kind of cancer I have--- anyway the blood content count was 11. Normal is between 0 and 2.2.
As of last Tuesday, my count is.....1.3! NORMAL NORMAL NORMAL, NORMAL, NORMAL praise you, Jesus, NORMAL!
Another round of tears, please. God is loose in the World. Period.

Christine's Response to Claire's Blog Post on Faith

Filled up and overflowing with Love for Claire. And she's right about those God Winks. Searching for them in everyday life is pleasant and rewarding. I think Holly's favorite God Wink may be when the oncologist, Dr. Kettryl used the arcade game, Wack a Mole, as a metaphor for how chemo helps radiation work: The chemo is like a helper to push the moles (cancer cells) up farther so the radiation can smash them more easily. Wack a Mole is big in our family. We have never passed a Wack a Mole or any of its variations without playing it. Dr. Kettryl using Wack a Mole helped give Holly peace about the treatment protocol. After Dr. Kettryl's explanation we got an Extra Big Smile of Relief from Holly.

Faith Without Works is Dead

I'm not sure how to start this blog post because I have never done a blog before. My only experience in blogging was when I worked as my mom's hands while she was receiving a chemo treatment and her hands weren't really up to the challenge. I first signed up as second blogger to this site because we weren't sure how my mom's body would hold up during her treatments and we thought that I may be of some assistance to her to get her word out. Thank you dear God that you kept my mom well enough to continue to spread her good news herself!

Anyway, I just wanted you all to know an additional view to what my mom has experienced in the past few months. I first want to let you all know that from what I have seen, my mom is more powerful than you could ever imagine. She has the strength to stay faithful to Him even when the road leads to what looks like a jagged cliff. She has the willpower to eat only what is good for her body and to take shaking fists full of healing vitamins. She has the patience to be a patient and wear a plastic ugly wristband that brands her as a "sick" person, wait for many nervous moments in reception rooms, and hear good new then bad news, good news then bad news... My mom has had enough understanding that anger hasn't been a part of her daily emotions. She has had the warmth to continue to cheer on others and soothe sore spirits.

My mom has been amazing and it is her body and Him who are doing the healing. You better believe it!

But let me tell you something, it's repeating the title of this post, Faith without works is dead. When my mom and family were faced with this huge inconvenience, we not only put our total faith and trust in God but we started listening to Him and looking for clues that He was with us during some pretty tough times. One of the things that God told us while we were listening was different ways to take care of the inconvenience aside from the treatments that my mom would receive at the hospital. These treatments are:

1. Take a heavy dose of vitamins, daily - This step is to strengthen the body which will, in turn, take care of the nasty quickly-multiplying cells on its own.

2. Drink TONS of alkaline water a day - This step came to us through other people. I believe we first heard of it through a patient, which lead my dad to buy an alkaline water machine. Just in case we didn't put enough worth in the goodness of the machine, we were told about it a second time (after my mom was already using it) at church by a woman who felt led to approach my mom and give her business card that showed she sold the exact same machines. God wink*

3. Get your daily dose of pure oxygen - This step is important because cancer can't live in an oxygenated environment. I look at this step kind of like pouring salt onto a slug. :)

4. Follow doctors' orders - This step was hard for even ME to handle because we aren't just talking about Doctors of Chiropractic! Coming from such a homeopathic family, listening to medical doctors and succumbing to their recommendations was new for us! But God bless those medical doctors. I really think that they were open and willing to let God speak and work through them for the greater good of my mom's health. God bless them! The hospital was also a God wink because we finally got the answer to why my dad wasn't supposed to be allowed to quit Cancer Treatment Centers of America. God wink**

And last but not least, 5. Get on her knees and pray - This step was to draw everyone that was inconvenienced closer to Him. Over time we found that we weren't only speaking to Him to beg for help or strength for my mom but, we were also speaking to Him to show thanks and joy for what was happening daily in our lives.

Back to the "God winks*", these were the clues that we were looking for on a daily basis that God was/is with us and in on the healing. One example of when God winked is when my mom and I sat in an appointment with one of my mom's doctors. I felt the need to pray that God would speak to the doctor and that God would help the doctor make smart decisions in the treatments that my mom would be receiving in the weeks and months to come. It wasn't seconds later that the doctor stopped and shared that the thing that would really get my mom well was her faith in God. God winked at me and I was filled with joy. So far that has been my favorite wink. It told me straight away that if God is for us, who (and what) can be against us? I'm sure when you look closer at your day-to-day life, you will find a ton of God winks. You have to be looking though. Pay attention to His daily blessings!

So to conclude this post, I want everyone to know that my mom did this with the help of God, the support and outpouring of love from her friends and family that kept her positive (the evidence is hung all over the house in greeting card form), and her willingness and strength to take her struggle day-by-day.

I, personally, appreciate all that everyone has done for my mom these past months. She means the world to my family and me and we like having her around. Keep up the good works and the fabulous support! I love you mom!