A little something

This morning a devotion I read encouraged you to begin your day by writing down one of your favorite Scriptures, keep it with you and meditate on it throughout the day. I really love Psalms, so today I chose Psalms 18:2-3.

It says, "The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise , and I am saved from my enemies."

So at breakfast I thought I would start the kids day this way as well. Laynie chose John 3:16, but she said she likes singing the song better than just saying the verse, so she sang it for us! :)

I turned to Jones and asked him what his favorite Scripture was. Without missing a beat he said, "Mark 20:28." I quickly turn to Mark and find there is no chapter 20, so I say, "Did you mean Mark 1:28?" He says, "Yes that's right Mom." So I read Mark 1:28 to him--it says, "News about him (Jesus) spread quickly over the whole region." Jones says, "Yes, that's right! Jesus was a little baby and news spread." Then he said I will sing my song:

"God was a little baby boy, and he knew what to do...He knew the best...the Lord God is with you...and it's a Cheeseburger, a little Cheeseburger...the Lord God is with you and the best...He knew what to do."

He's a Veggietale fan, and his above words were sung to the Cheeseburger Veggietale tune! It was priceless! Laynie said, "Jones cheeseburgers are NOT in the Bible, and he said, "Oh, I know that Laynie!"

What a great way to start the day with my children! :)

Travis Cotrell will be performing at our church here in town tonight, and I get to sing with him! That's right little ole me! How you ask? I'm one of 100 members of the Combined Celebration Choirs from FBC VB and Butterfield Assembly of God. Let me just tell you it is going to be an awesome evening. I've been listening to these songs in the car so much that my little boy can tell you the name of the song after a couple of beats! Too funny!

Well my I had to get my testimony together for this event and since yesterday was the offical 3 year--cancer free mark, I decided to post my testimony as well. Let me warn you I cut it down to 2 pages and it's still really long! There is much more that I could have added but this is the gist of it. If your bored, read on!

God is SO Good, and He has His eyes on all of us. In every detail, big and small, He’s watching us. No matter what circumstances life throws at you—GOD WILL ALWAYS BE THERE WITH YOU—In Deut. 31:8 It says “The LORD Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” In May of 2006 I turned 30, and it wasn’t as bad as I had imagined! Little did I know that in just a few short months I, a healthy, young stay-at-mom of 2 small children, would be diagnosed with Stage 1A Clear Cell Ovarian Cancer and undergo 6 rounds of chemotherapy. What an unexpected turn of events for my life! This is just a little piece of my story:

In July of 2006, I woke up with severe abdominal pain on my right side, which I thought could be appendicitis and immediately went to a doctor. The CT scan revealed a mass. That night, I was admitted into the hospital, and an ultrasound showed a 6 cm abdominal mass on my right ovary. My doctor treated me for 3 days, and sent me home on antibiotics for 2 weeks with a follow-up appointment scheduled. At this time—we had NO IDEA it could be cancer. I went home with no symptoms for the entire month, and wondered why I even needed to go back for follow-up.

At the follow-up visit in August of 2006, another ultrasound revealed the mass had grown to 7 cm. My doctor still was not really too concerned—he was pleased at how healthy I was & that I was so young—but in his words “the mass needed to come out.” That day a blood work test called CA 125 was completed. Normal range is 0 to35; I was 38. This perplexed my doctor a little because my blood work was not within normal limits; however, he wasn’t terribly concerned because cancer patients’ levels are usually are above 200.

My doctor’s plan was to perform surgery by taking out my ovary & then have a biopsy done while I was in surgery. If the mass came back as cancer, a surgeon would do complete cancer staging at that time. That’s a lot to swallow right there, but then he said before surgery, which was 5 days later, I had to decide IF there was cancer, did I want to have a complete hysterectomy. Well immediately—I began to cry and thought NO WAY—we still want to have more children. He explained if it is cancer not having a hysterectomy would put me at a higher risk for reoccurrence. He told me to really pray with my husband about what God would want us to do. He told me would be praying for me, and if it was OK he wanted to share my story with his family so they could pray to. I will forever be grateful to my doctor who took my request to The Great Physician—WOW!!

My husband and I prayed & talked and within a matter of minutes into our discussion we decided I would have a full hysterectomy if I truly had cancer. I felt as though I needed to do all I could to keep myself around for my family—I was at peace with that decision thanks to the peace that passes all understanding! But we had come to terms that things could turn out really bad—there was a great possibility that I had cancer.

On August 21, 2006, I went into surgery and awoke to find out I had Ovarian Cancer. My ovary looked so clean; the doctors were shocked when the report was given that it was in fact cancer. They felt they had detected and removed the cancer very early, but really wouldn’t know for a couple of days. The biopsy was sent off and the results showed I had Stage 1A—Clear cell ovarian cancer. I didn’t even know cancer had stages—that’s how little I knew. I had just been focusing on getting out of bed and up walking—it NEVER crossed my mind that this cancer could have spread. My family was so relieved and I was in awe that they even thought it could be bad news. God had given me such a peace over those 3 days that everything was going to be OK—I never thought otherwise. In my case—the cancer was just a dot in my ovary and had not spread anywhere—Praise the LORD!

After only 5 days in the hospital, I went home and recovered very slowly. My husband and I met with an oncologist to determine the next step. We were all leaning toward NO Chemo, especially me, I was scared and selfishly just didn’t want to go through it. We had discovered that my type of cancer “Clear Cell” was very rare and no one was even sure if the drugs would work on this type of cancer—my oncologist had only had one other patient with this type of cancer before. He recommended that we go to MD Anderson to get a second opinion on the type of treatment they would recommend, if any. He was going to a medical conference in Harvard, and he would ask them the same question, but he said they NEVER agree on anything. We had so many people, and doctors giving us their opinions that we really didn’t know what to do. Some said no chemo, some said a little chemo, and then others thought I needed very aggressive chemo. So immediately my husband and I began to pray that if I did not have to go through chemo that the Lord would let MD Anderson and Harvard disagree on their treatment options. On the other hand, if I needed chemo, let them recommend the same treatment course. Well wouldn’t you know that’s exactly what happened—they both suggested I undergo 6 rounds of chemotherapy using Carboplatin and Taxotere. So that’s what we did.

I had my first chemo treatment on Sept. 28th, and I was scared to death. I didn’t want to hurt or be sick & not be able to take care of my husband and kids—I just didn’t want to do it, but I knew I had to because God had sent an answer to my prayers. Remember God truly does know the plans He has for us. It may not be the path we would have chosen, but He alone knows what our future holds. Some of my friends were involved in Beth Moore’s Bible Study of Daniel at this time in my life. They told me how she talked about the times in life when you are faced with tough circumstances in your life that there are 3 options. You will be delivered from the fire, delivered through the fire, or delivered by the fire. They said they could only think of and pray for me as they watched (and helped) me walk through the fire. I would have liked to have skipped the whole fire, but I was able to walk right through the fire of Ovarian Cancer with the Lord right by my side!

MY verse throughout chemo was 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18—“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you.” God’s will for us all is to be joyful, pray continually and give thanks—He has blessed us so much—He cares about us and knows exactly how much we can endure.

MY Song throughout chemo was In Christ Alone. ‘And as He stands in victory, Sin’s curse has lost it’s grip on me; For I am His and He is Mine; Bought with precious blood of Christ. No guilt in life, no fear in death; This is the power of Christ in me; From life’s first cry to final breath; Jesus commands my destiny.’ Once I could hear those lyrics and sing them in praise to my heavenly Father, I knew I had truly accepted His Will for my life—whatever it might be.

The absolute worst day—harder than finding out I had Cancer, was the day my hair began to fall out. I didn’t know how I was going to make it—but once again He saw me through and this time He used my friends. I had the most wonderful group of friends at that time in my life. Just a few things they did for me were: praying for me continually with a prayer breakfast in my honor; turning my hospital room into a floral shop; showering my family with meals for a month; listening to me and crying with me; and when my hair was beginning to fall out, they didn’t know what else they could do to help so they all went together and bought my wigs! I still cry when I think about how much they care for me. They just tried to make the best of a not so fun situation.

My husband was really an answer to prayer also. He encouraged me daily, & got me back into exercising quickly. He allowed me to cry with him and express my fears—even though I knew God had taken care of my cancer initially there were still days that fear would get the best of me—especially at night. I would just quote Philippians 4:8 “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” This verse kept my mind focused on getting better. I finished chemo in January of 2007; stopped wearing a wig in April of 2007; and turned 31 in May—what a year!

Now for the crosses! My wonderful friends decided we should have a Relay for Life team in my honor, so the OC Girls Team was formed, and it was then that I learned how to make your beaded crosses. Our fundraiser for the Relay was, Crosses for a Cure, to raise money for the American Cancer Society. My friend had given me one with the Ovarian Cancer colors—teal, and it really sparked my interest to learn how to make the crosses. Since then my family has relocated to Van Buren, AR and I have begun making crosses and teaching others as well. I do make crosses with beads in specific colors that represent certain cancers. One of my new friends put it beautifully when she said, “I guess that’s really all you can do when you find out you have cancer; take it and put it on the cross for Jesus to take care of.” WOW!! That’s really all we can do isn’t it?

Here are a few statistics and symptoms of Ovarian Cancer.
Occurs in 1 out of 68 women
20,000 women are diagnosed per year;
15,000 women die because of it each year.
The deadliest of all gynecological cancers.
More than 90% of women survive beyond 5 years IF it is caught in the early stages!
Main symptoms: Bloating; Pelvic or abdominal pain; Difficulty eating or feeling full quickly; Urgency or frequency to urinate
Additional symptoms: Persistent Gas, indigestion or nausea; Unexplained changes in bowel habits; Unexplained weight loss or weight gain; Loss of appetite; Pain during sexual intercourse; Persistent lack of energy; Low back pain; Shortness of breath

If you or someone you know experience these symptoms daily for more than a few weeks, please see a health care professional! For more information, go to www.ovariancancer.org .