10 days after surgery

Praise God we made it to the worship service this morning!  (albeit 40 minutes late because James seemed to think he could wash my hair, blow dry it, and have me slowly get dressed in a way that doesn't injure me all before getting himself ready, in a matter of 10 minutes)   As much as I complain, James has really been such a blessing to me in so many ways.   He's been my nurse, which allowed me to come home from the hospital and be with my boys.  He sterilizes my skin, brushes my hair, changes my dressings, and drains fluid coming out of the tubes in my sides.  Yes, I still have drains coming out of the skin under my arms, and these are quite painful, but I don't think that the pain gets worse with activity.   Thankfully my chest is only slightly sore if I remember to keep my arms down ( I did accidently lift Cale yesterday and was left with a large yellow-gray bruise . . . don't tell my mum or she'll give me the angry eye!)  My under arms hurt more intensely than anywhere else.  This is good in some ways because it reminds me not to lift my arms (and babies!)  The skin looks healthy which is great because necrosis (skin death) is quit common. 

The picture above is from our Thanksgiving festivities at Aunt Kathleen Barber's home.  I look fairly normal but this was a 2 hour labor of love between my friend Rebecca and James to get my hair done and get me dressed.  We have much to be Thankful for is true, but at the same time I wouldn't necessarily say that we have more to be thankful for now than normally.  We have a new nephew, LEVI, which is awesome!  But ultimately we never deserve anything that we have.  God is always good. We can never be thankful enough.

 I couldn't resist sharing this picture of my sister Mel and I because she is just cute and I love having her as our new roommate in our home.  (She moved in a few weeks ago as her parents are going to be moving out of the country to SHARE CHRIST in Columbia.)

 We are still awaiting the pathology results, and as we wait I've been researching risks and benefits of various ongoing cancer treatment regimens (even though the doctor's already feel that the cancer is gone, even if they are correct (which we are praying they are) I am at drastically increased risk of reoccurrence vs. the general population). Because of this there are preventative chemo regimens as well as long term hormone blocker therapy, both of each increase survival rates for cancer survivors.  But, this is not without the possibility of tremendous side effects.  We are praying that chemo of any kind will not be recommended.  This is normally the case if the cancer was hormone fed, slow moving, slow growing, stage 1, and not in the lymph nodes.  We have already checked off some of these criteria!  We are also praying that whatever is recommended medication-wise, that we will have confidence in our decisions and that the doctors give us all options and recommendations with God given wisdom.  It doesn't seem to make sense to tear down your body in order to prevent cancer.  Please pray for us.  I'm still praying that if its God's will, they will find NO cancer in the removed tissue, nor anywhere else in my body.  (We will have a PET scan to check the rest of my body for cancer cells in the next few months.)  God can do amazing things, but I know He loves me regardless. 


So we have some incredible friends that have helped us with the kids, which is more needed than I anticipated.  James has been home with me but over the weekend he realized he was having a difficult time being mom and dad (which definitely made me feel loved). Our house is a bit of a disaster.  I did try to pick up toys while keeping my arms by my sides and had some success.  So, our friends the Wysses (amoung many who have helped with the kids) took the kids this afternoon so that James could run some errands.  Having a wife that you can't leave with the kids definitely makes replacing a broken dryer more of a chore!  (Yes, he did it this afternoon!)    We also took the opportunity to go to together lunch due to being kidless:

As you can see we are doing quit well . . . . <3

Prayer:  Please praise God with us that surgery and healing have gone well thus far.  Please pray for doctors, pathology results, and our decisions as we move forward with further treatment/cancer prevention.  Particularly please pray that no chemo is recommended and that less toxic options are available to me.  Please pray for strength for my kidneys.  Please pray for strength for James and my relationship as we grow weary with dealing with medical issues and pain.  Praise God for his provision for us in so many ways!