Roller Coaster Ride

You wait in line. You hear the screams of the other riders. You finally sit down in the car and get strapped in. You say a prayer and hold on for dear life. The car slowly inches up the first hill. Your heart starts pumping. You pause at the precipice. And then ... throw your hands in the air and SCREAM as the coaster takes you down massive hills, around turns, and up more hills only to fly down another until the ride is over and you swear that you'll never, ever do it again.

Well friends, that's how my life has felt since the middle of March. Ups and downs and lots of wild curves.

To "briefly" get you up-to-date with all the medical stuff, here goes:

March 16 - CT scan & doctor's appointment. After drinking the yucky contrast, the CaT scan went as scheduled. I had a few hours to burn before my doctor's appointment, so I grabbed some lunch at Panera & wandered through some shops. I arrived back at the office in plenty of time for my appointment. I was even taken back to the exam room almost on time!!! However, I then sat in the lonely exam room for almost 2 HOURS!!!!!!!! Finally, the doctor came in and advised that my scan looked good & the liver cyst was smaller!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!

March 18 - Regular primary care doctor's appointment. All good!!!

March 21 - Blood work.

March 22 - 4th Date with Mr. Chemo

Fun socks for Date #4

April 11 - Blood work.

April 12 - Doctor's appointment & 5th date with Mr. Chemo. My numbers were good and my CA-125 was down ... again. PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!

May 2 - Blood work.

May 3 - Doctor's appointment & 6th and final date with Mr. Chemo. At least I'm hoping. Doctor said numbers looked good, but really wanted me to have another date (or two) with Mr. Chemo. I told the doc that I had a life and I had made plans and the earliest that I could possibly have another date was the beginning of June. He wasn't happy, but ordered another CaT scan and he would see me in 3 weeks.

Ringing out

Ring this bell
Three times well
Its toll to clearly say,

My treatment's done
This course is run
And I am on my way!

— Irve Le Moyne 


May 18 - CaT scan. Always a great time drinking the yucky contrast. Not!

May 23 - Blood work.

May 24 - Follow-up doctor appointment. With a mighty army of prayer warriors surrounding me and the results of the scan, I waited for the doc. He came in and did his normal exam and then told me the results were good and I didn't need to see him for 3 months. I think he was a little shocked, but I told him, "That's the power of prayer!!!

Next doctor appointment - August 23

Now for the non-medical stuff:

I don't even know how to begin, but while waiting for my 2nd chemo on February 9, there was a couple of women chatting and laughing. I then heard someone call my name. There in a wheelchair sat my former co-worker, Corinne. I hadn't seen her in over 2 years. She was there for her treatments, too. Say what??? Not her, too. Corinne was vibrant and funny. She kept us laughing many days, but she was a good worker and helped me many times. She loved her family fiercely.

She was called in to start her treatment before me. I promised I would come visit once settled. I visited with her & her Aunt for close to half an hour or more. We caught up with where we were in our lives. We laughed and remembered all the funny & crazy things that happened in the office. Here we are before, I went back to my chair.

When we said goodbye that day, I never in my wildest imagination thought that I get a text from her husband a month later that said the doctor had given her one week to a month. I received the news from another friend and former co-worker that she passed away on March 20.

I don't mean to be morbid or scary, but we never know when our last day will be. I'm so sad and ashamed that I didn't take the time to find out if she had ever professed faith in Jesus Christ. 

With the events of the past week - the murder of Christina Grimmie after her concert, the murder of 49 people in a nightclub, and the horrific death of a toddler on the beach at Disney, we must realize that no one knows the day or time that God Almighty has ordained to be our last. 

When tragedies happen, we all tend to point fingers. We point fingers at politicians. We point fingers or shake our fists at God. We question, how could this happen? We question, why did this happen? We want answers, Marty Berglund, my pastor gave this answer on his Facebook page:

In the second story of the Bible, we are informed that we should expect such things to happen because sin has entered the world. You see, after Adam and Eve picked from the tree God told them not to pick from, humankind fell under the domination of sin. God warned them not to, but they were enticed and choose a life apart from God’s good design. So, after they made such a decision, God tells them of the terrible consequences for generations to come, but also tells them there is a ray of hope in that God Himself would seek to redeem humankind from sin and its ultimate consequences of complete separation from God for eternity. 

Then in the third story in the Bible, God tells us of Cain and Abel, the two sons of Adam and Eve. We learn that Cain, the nasty, domineering brother, overtakes his nicer, more accommodating brother Abel and kills him. Yep. That’s right. The third story in the Bible is about the bad guy winning. The unrighteous person killing the more righteous person. What’s the point? Why is this story in the Bible? I think it is clearly there to tell us what life in a sinful world will be like for generations to come. And, it magnifies for us the needed plan of redemption that God goes on to lay out in the entire Bible. Redemption is what the whole rest of the Bible is about - how a loving God seeks to redeem a lost, sinful, destructive world to Himself; how He longs to spend eternity with us. But now the only hope of being with him is this: the good news that God sent Jesus Christ to earth to die on the cross for our sins so that through Him, we could have eternal life. 

Come to Jesus. It’s your only hope. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16.

I'm going to leave you to dwell on where you stand with God & whether your future is with Him or not. I'm also going to leave you with Christina Grimmie singing "In Christ Alone." She was unashamed of her faith and her relationship with her Savior & Lord and she is singing for Him today and for all eternity. #ripchristina

Prayer Warriors:

Please pray for renewed strength and the time and energy to get to the gym. I really need to increase my stamina and hopefully lose a couple of pounds in the process.

Pray for my fellow cancer conquerors - Kathy B., Rhonda B., Ray B., Milt W., Ed S.

Pray for my doctor's appointment on August 23. That my CA-125 number would either remain the same or that it would be lower.

As always, thank you all for your continued prayers & encouragement. I cannot do this journey alone.

Only by His Strength,
Sandy