Heading back to the 'Cancer World' tomorrow...

Do you ever get annoyed when the nurses call you to confirm your appointments…like you didn’t already know? Well, I found out today why they call. It’s because of people like me! If they wouldn’t have called on Friday to remind me about tomorrow, I would have shown up on Wednesday like I thought. I can still blame chemo brain can’t I?? So tomorrow I get to spend a glorious day at the hospital full of testing. De je vu if you ask me! I feel like I am back in July again…anxiously waiting again for the news of what my future holds! I start tomorrow with fasting until 10:00 when I get my PET scan done. They will test my sugars and then inject me with the radioactive stuff. Then, I sit in that dark room without moving for an hour. After that is all done, I have to stay away from children for 24 hours. I get to have lunch with my sister Sarah after that and at 1:30 I go to get my CT scan. Both of these tests will show the tumors…if they are there :) Remember I’m trying to be optimistic that maybe chemo did a super-duper job and I don’t have to get radiation. But I am also realizing that I am becoming more of a realist through this process…so I’m ready if they tell me they are still there. Although I am very interested to see the progress I have made and rejoice in it, I also have to be prepared to hear the reports on my lungs. I am happy to report that if I had to say if my lungs are getting better or worse…I would say better, but just a little. The CT scan could report that there is scarring on the lungs from the Bleomycin medicine and that is what they will call lung or pulmonary fibrosis. However, because I communicated the discomfort I was having to my doctor early on, I have been off of that IV drug the past 3 rounds of chemo. That means that if there is scarring, it could have been a lot worse if I wouldn’t have told them about my lungs so early on. We will just have to see what the reports say and take it from there. It really isn’t in my hands right now so no need to get worried about the things I can not control :)

So if you have room in your prayers tonight, pray that my body keeps healing and responding to the chemotherapy, and that it will show on the scans that are being done tomorrow. Oh, and I have a confession to make…I went to work on Friday. We do not have students on Fridays and I really wanted to wrap my head around teaching again before I head back with the kids. It was nice to be there, see some familiar faces, and get my hands back into the work I was made to do. I’m glad I wrote this blog while I was sick though. It gave me something to do and feel like I wasn’t alone when this house can get so lonely. You have provided me a place to release my frustrations, share my heart, and ask for your prayers. Thanks for listening, even in the boring times. Tomorrow I go back to the cancer world…wish this Warrior Chick good luck!

Your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.
Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. president