Hi Everyone,
I've decided that surgery that removes something that is supposed to be removed from your body (i.e. babies born via caesarian section) is much easier to recover from than surgery that removes something that is designed to stay in your body (i.e. ovaries).
It's now the fifth day since my surgery. I feel "okay," but it's a "meh-okay." My right side hurts more than my left. The pain level is very manageable with ibuprofen . . . and I've not even taken that for a day or so. However, I just don't like feeling uncomfortable in my skin. It hurts when I first stand up or sit down and it hurts when I get out of bed. If I don't move, everything's fine! :D
I've been resting a lot. I'm not a very good "rester," but when my body doesn't have a choice, that's just what it does. I have gotten together with friends, so I haven't been cooped up in the house, but I've been far more tired than I'm used to. Thus, I'm posting a picture of Jesse in his curled up resting position . . . nothing shows contentment like that, does it?
I've been continuing in my Bible project and am now midway through Exodus. So far, I feel like I'm learning a lot about the Hebrew story-telling tradition . . . there's a lot of repetition of details! I can see why people question some of these details as some of them appear to contradict themselves. An example of this would be that the fifth plague of Egypt supposedly killed all the livestock of the field (Exodus 9:7), but in the seventh plague, the Egyptians are warned to bring their livestock in from the fields so they wouldn't die in the ensuing hailstorm. Where did the livestock come from? Same goes for the horses that pulled the 600+ chariots in Exodus 14:7 . . . where did they come from? How were those animals spared from the plagues of the land?
I'm not really looking for answers to these questions. (Perhaps horses aren't considered to be "livestock" so that takes care of that question, anyway!) The bigger picture is so much more important that being mired down in details. However, I'm enjoying the details that I'm encountering through this method of study. I look forward to writing out the Bible each day and if I happen to miss a day, I feel like I have missed out on something. It truly is a special way to read God's word.
My mind played head games with me this week. As I sat in our living room, I had an almost blinding realization that I still have cancer. Yes, I *knew* that, but I think I had slipped into a "surgery-is-used-to-remove-cancer" mentality. If I had to go through the pain and recovery of surgery, then surely that is because cancer was removed.
No. Not true in my case. My ovaries were removed to shut down estrogen production in my body. My cancer is fueled by estrogen, so the removal of the ovaries is to close off a fuel source. I am continuing to take an anti-estrogen medication and will most likely switch over to a different kind that will address estrogen produced elsewhere in the body. The goal of the surgery was not to remove any cancer, although biopsies will be run on the ovaries to see if they had any problems.
I so want this cancer to be gone. I consider it to be a plague in my body. I continue to ask God to remove it and I ask you to be faithful in asking the same thing.
The next step is my scans on April 19. I will have a PET/CT scan of my whole body and I will have an MRI of my neck and spine. Hopefully, the results will be available for my appointments on April 22.
Rachel asked me if I was anxious about the scans. Anxious isn't really the word I would use. More like "impatient." I want to know what God is doing in a physical way in my body.
Michael is dealing with a sore throat and I have a tight feeling in my chest (been going on for a couple of weeks). Tis the season for allergies and whatnot. Rachel and Art are well.
As always, thank you for joining us in our "walk on the Wen side." I'm not sure how much I will post before the 19th, but we'll see.
I've decided that surgery that removes something that is supposed to be removed from your body (i.e. babies born via caesarian section) is much easier to recover from than surgery that removes something that is designed to stay in your body (i.e. ovaries).
It's now the fifth day since my surgery. I feel "okay," but it's a "meh-okay." My right side hurts more than my left. The pain level is very manageable with ibuprofen . . . and I've not even taken that for a day or so. However, I just don't like feeling uncomfortable in my skin. It hurts when I first stand up or sit down and it hurts when I get out of bed. If I don't move, everything's fine! :D
I've been resting a lot. I'm not a very good "rester," but when my body doesn't have a choice, that's just what it does. I have gotten together with friends, so I haven't been cooped up in the house, but I've been far more tired than I'm used to. Thus, I'm posting a picture of Jesse in his curled up resting position . . . nothing shows contentment like that, does it?
I've been continuing in my Bible project and am now midway through Exodus. So far, I feel like I'm learning a lot about the Hebrew story-telling tradition . . . there's a lot of repetition of details! I can see why people question some of these details as some of them appear to contradict themselves. An example of this would be that the fifth plague of Egypt supposedly killed all the livestock of the field (Exodus 9:7), but in the seventh plague, the Egyptians are warned to bring their livestock in from the fields so they wouldn't die in the ensuing hailstorm. Where did the livestock come from? Same goes for the horses that pulled the 600+ chariots in Exodus 14:7 . . . where did they come from? How were those animals spared from the plagues of the land?
I'm not really looking for answers to these questions. (Perhaps horses aren't considered to be "livestock" so that takes care of that question, anyway!) The bigger picture is so much more important that being mired down in details. However, I'm enjoying the details that I'm encountering through this method of study. I look forward to writing out the Bible each day and if I happen to miss a day, I feel like I have missed out on something. It truly is a special way to read God's word.
My mind played head games with me this week. As I sat in our living room, I had an almost blinding realization that I still have cancer. Yes, I *knew* that, but I think I had slipped into a "surgery-is-used-to-remove-cancer" mentality. If I had to go through the pain and recovery of surgery, then surely that is because cancer was removed.
No. Not true in my case. My ovaries were removed to shut down estrogen production in my body. My cancer is fueled by estrogen, so the removal of the ovaries is to close off a fuel source. I am continuing to take an anti-estrogen medication and will most likely switch over to a different kind that will address estrogen produced elsewhere in the body. The goal of the surgery was not to remove any cancer, although biopsies will be run on the ovaries to see if they had any problems.
I so want this cancer to be gone. I consider it to be a plague in my body. I continue to ask God to remove it and I ask you to be faithful in asking the same thing.
The next step is my scans on April 19. I will have a PET/CT scan of my whole body and I will have an MRI of my neck and spine. Hopefully, the results will be available for my appointments on April 22.
Rachel asked me if I was anxious about the scans. Anxious isn't really the word I would use. More like "impatient." I want to know what God is doing in a physical way in my body.
Michael is dealing with a sore throat and I have a tight feeling in my chest (been going on for a couple of weeks). Tis the season for allergies and whatnot. Rachel and Art are well.
As always, thank you for joining us in our "walk on the Wen side." I'm not sure how much I will post before the 19th, but we'll see.
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