Forgive me for not writing, but the last few days have been up and down for me. The Lord is good and I know He carries me to the next day! I could not do this battle on my own.

Today was the day that I met with the surgeon about the results from the mastectomy. He had to draw some fluid out of the mastectomy site and I had a slight reaction to the adhesive from the bandage under my arm. He did give me some cream to put on it. I am sure that this will help!

Much good news and some little bad news.  My main tumor measured 7cm, but was mostly DCIS, a non-invasive cancer.  That was wonderful news!  I do have a 4mm invasive papillary carcinoma tumor.  This takes my cancer back to stage 1a!!!!  Wonderful News!!!  The stage goes by the size of the invasive tumor.  The invasive tumor has invaded the lymph vessel, this was not so good news.  The lymph nodes they took were negative, this is GREAT news.  Today they started me on Aromasin, which is a hormone inhibitor.  Radiation is not necessary at this time.  I start my chemotherapy in about 4 weeks.  It will last a total of 6 months.  Half way through they will start me on herceptin, which will block the HER2 that is a +++.  I will lose all the hair, all over my body.  I’m hoping that my chin hair that started to grow after menopause will be the first ones to go!!!

Most of this will be outpatient.  However, the doctor said that due to my nausea problem, he will probably admit me for a couple days each round to be sure I am ok.  Also, they will be keeping an eye on the node near my collarbone and the small spot in my lung.  Please continue to pray.  Pray that the chemo attacks any little cancer cell lurking in my body.

On a very important note, I want to thank so many people that have helped me through this time so far.  First and foremost, the Lord.  “I believe to see!”  Second, is my wonderful, caring husband!  I have NO idea how I would get through this without his many assurances and constant devotion. 

Thirdly, our darling daughter Christa!  She is a rock and is single handedly making sure that Christmas comes to our home!  She has been baking and shopping to keep up with everything.  Today we were at the hospital for 4 hours.  When we arrived home we found a new delicious cranberry chicken dinner waiting for us!  What a wonderful daughter the Lord has given to us!  December 15 we celebrated the day the Lord brought her into our home 23 years ago!  We are truly blessed!

Fourthly, Dan and Terri Gardner.  Fellow Minnesotans that have been in Japan for over 30 years and what a blessing they are to Japanese and Americans.  They were in the middle of their Christmas Children’s Program and they moved things around so they could spend part of Thursday and Friday morning with us at the hospital.  They did a lot of translating for us.  Terri went with me for checking in and for a scan I had to have.  They are a busy missionary couple who have many demands on their time and yet they managed to be there for us.  We love them and appreciate them more than we could ever express.  Please pray for them.  They have their own trials, but never use them as an excuse to quit serving the Lord.

Lastly, in this post, I want to thank all the members of Foundations Baptist Church!  You have risen to the challenge and filled so many needs.  The meals, the cards, the prayers, the visits, the gifts, the prayers…Thank you for letting Him use you to be a blessing to me.  I love you.

PS To all readers:  forgive the many mistakes in this note, I am just too tired to proof it!!!