Great Praise report from my oncologist yesterday

My husband and I went to see my oncologist yesterday to get results from PET scan done on Tuesday. We were excited to hear that cancer is stable and no new growths. Praise God. Thank you all for your continued prayers on my behalf. God continues to hear those prayers and is answering.

Doctor also told us that he is still amazed that my renal functions are great and he still can't understand it. He says test show that my 1/3 of kidney I have remaining continues to work almost as good as two full kidneys. I tell him that the answer if very simple, The Lord, my healer, continues to have his hand on me.

Doctor is concerned that I do continue to loose weight. He thinks the weight that I thought I had gained was only fluids. I am down to 109 now and he has started me on Marinol to try to increase my appetite. In one way, I am really lucky because I can eat everything and anything I want. I just don't have much of a desire to eat. When I do feel hungry, I get full with only 4-5 bites of food. He says that it is good for me to eat sugar to gain weight. Wish I liked sweets more. lol

We were also told that if I don't start to gain weight, he may have to stop giving me chemo treatments every week and cut in half. Danger then is that my cancer may begin to spread again. Danger if I continue to loose weight is that I won't be able to fight off any infections.

I am still at total peace and know God is still in control. I was also told that I would have to be on morphine for the rest of my life to help with the pain. But God has other plans for I have not had any pain for about 7 months now which means no morphine. YEAH!!!!

I am feeling sad though because my counts have been down and I will have to miss my beautiful daughter's 40th birthday bash in Georgia. Doctor does not think it will be safe for me to fly at this time. I will miss her big bash but will be with her in love and spirit.

God is good all the time and I am excited to see His hand on me and my family and friends. I am blessed daily with His love through so many people and He continues to provide rides to chemo, encouragement, love, and support through so many of you.

I read this the other day and was so blessed, I want to share it with you.

"it seemed like a dream, too good to be true, when God (gave us the victory).. Now, God, do it again... so those whith heavy hearts will come out laughing, with armloads of blessing"Psalm 126

When you have a heavy heart, when life deals you a difficult blow, God wants to turn things around in your favor. Not only does He want to bring you out, but He wants to bring you out with a smile and better off than you were before. He wants to give you the victory and fill you with armloads of blessings!

You might be thinking, "That sounds too good to be true. You don't know my situation." But understand, God wants to overwhelm you with His goodness. He wants you to feel like you are living in a dream.

The scripture says that He delights in the prosperity of His people. In other words, it gives Him great joy to bless you. You can be certain that when you stand in faith, even when it's difficult, God will reward you. He'll fill you with His peace. He'll give you supernatural strength. He'll give you the grace you need to face those challenges. You can be sure that He'll always lead you into victory and fill you with armloads of blessings.

God is allowing us to go through trials right now, my cancer, house burning down, and pressures at work for my husband. However, I still know without doubt that our Heavenly Father continues to walk beside us and will never leave us.

I love this scripture and I lean on it often.

Isaiah 43: 2
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.

He knows what you and I are going through today and it is no surprise to Him. Lean on Him with whatever you are going through and He will see us through on the other side more blessed than we can even imagine.

Have a very blessed day.

my chemo treatment yesterday

I want to thank you all for keeping me in your prayers. My friends came to pick me up again for my chemo treatment yesterday and all went well. Praise God.

My weight is back up to 113. My blood count went from 1500 to 2400 and my blood pressure went down to 138/87. BP meds are working and God is answering all your prayers on my behalf.

Feeling tired today and taking it easy on what I eat not to get sick to my stomach. Otherwise feeling good and able to play on my computer. Yeah!!!!!

I hope you are all having a wonderful day and have a great weekend.

love and hugs,

My embarrassing moment

Have you ever been embarrased by trying out a new recipe? No? Well I managed to do just that, I love to cook and try new recipes.I wanted to make a new recipe and can't even remember what it was now because it has been over a year ago. The recipe called for arrowroot. I am embarrassed to say, I had NEVER heard of it before. I figured ok, it has root in the name perhaps it is something like gingerroot. Well, I was totally wrong.I went to our local grocery store and could not find this treasured arrowroot. Went to Walmart and again no luck. I figured, ok, I will go to Sun Harvest, surely they will have it there. I walk into Sun Harvest and low and behold, there is the arrowroot. Unfortunately, it was in a 1/2 gallon container and I had to put it into a plastic bag. No problem. I get my plastic bag and put it up against the opening of the jar. Good, got it into the bag with no problem. Oh Oh, Problem. I forgot to put the bin number on the bag. Again, no problem. I sealed the bag shut so I will just write on the bag. I began to write the number on the bag and all of a sudden it looked like I had sent out a smoke signal. There was arrowroot all over the counter, tops of jars, and in between the jars and counters. Of course, I look around to see if anyone was watching. Good, no one saw me. I start to look for a paper towel, tissue, something to gather the arrowroot to pick it up. There was nothing around. I ALWAYS have tisses in my purse but not this day. Can't find a thing to clean my mess and still no one around. I look for an employee to get some help, none around. Ok, I can do this. I begin to scrape the arrowroot from the tops of the jars onto the counter and gather it together with the side of my hand. Good, I finally get it all in a neat little pile. Now, I go to pick it up in the palm of my hand and poof, looked like I was sending out more smoke signals. Still no one watching me so I again gather all the arrowroot into a small pile with the side of my hand. This time, I am going to gather it with my fingers so not to send more signals. I gingerly try to scoop up the pile of arrowroot from the counter. Poof, now looks like several mini smoke signals going through my fingers. I am still watching to see if I am being watched. No on around yet. After all, I don't want to be embarrassed.I finally give up and walk away with the mess still there. I then realize that there are hardly any customers and I could only find one employee. I said "excuse me sir but someone made a big mess on the spice isle that needs to be cleaned up." I walk away and there on the isle where I found the employee was a small jar of arrowroot with all the other spices. I did not even think to buy it, I just wanted out of there fast. I also look back and wonder, why didn't I think to scoop the arrowroot off the edge of the counter into the bag. But then, I would not have such a fun story to share.As I look back, it dawns on me there were no employees in the store because they were all in the security room watching me on video. I also think the one employee smirked as I told him about the mess and he was trying hard not to break out in laughter.Well, I hope you enjoyed reading my embarrassing moment and it brought a little joy to your day. I am feeling a little down today and wanted to bless others who may be feeling the way I do.God Bless and keep you,

No chemo this week

I was picked up for my chemo treatment this past Thursday by my dear friends, Frank and Angelica. When we got to the hospital and my vitals were taken I was surprised.
My blood pressure was 147/107, temp was 99.3, and I have lost another 6 pounds in 7 days. I am now down to 106.

Did get hooked up to IV for treatment but nurse saw my vitals and paged my doctor to let him know what was happening. They were also concerned because my white blood count was 1500. Should be around 4000-5000. 1500 is the cut off point for receiving chemo. Good news is my fiends did not have to wait for me 2-3 hours and I have a little more energy today. Bad news is my dear friends had to drive around 55 miles one way to get me to the hospital.

I was blessed though because I got to spend time with them before they begin to travel again.

Progress with the fire on our home is going slowly but going. At least my hubby and I have gotten over the complete shock of loosing our home and personal things that can never be replaced. We can't help but get frustrated and anxious at times but know that God is still in control and He is walking beside us through all this.

I don't understand why our Heavenly Father would allow this to happen now with my cancer and all but do know He has a reason. My prayer is that whatever it is he wants us to learn, we will do so with flying colors and honor and glorify Him above all.

With all the negative in our lives at this time, I continue to see our Heavenly Father's hand in it all. He continues to show his love through so many people in so many ways. His blessings far outweigh the negative in our lives. I read recently that when we are walking in the way of the Lord, Satan is not happy. He is not happy and is trying to discourage us and make us give up on God. Well Satan, speak to the hand because I am a daughter of the Most High God and will be for all eternity.

May you have a very blessed day.

I was totally blessed at Tokyo Steak House

Yesterday, my hubby and I were taken to Mother's Day dinner by our very dear friends David and Josh at Tokyo Steak House since I will be at my mother's on Mother's Day.

David, without our knowing, had called the restaurant ahead of time and told them about my fight with cancer and my prognosis. He also explained to them how my hubby and I had saved his life by sending him for surgery when he was dying.

The staff went way out of their way to bless me and the guys. After we had completed our dinner, seven of the staff surprised me by singing Happy Mother's Day to me and presenting me with a cake which said "Happy Mother's Day Shirley". I was so blessed, I was thinking how there were seven people from the restaurant singing to me in Chinese but how seven is also God's perfect number. Coincidence? I do not think so.

With all we are going through, I do not believe that was by accident, especially since one of the staff laid hands on me and prayed over me. God is soOooo awesome and continues to bless my hubby and I and show His perfect love through so many people.

We are truly blessed,

The aftermath of house fire

Still feel like we have been punched in the stomach from loosing our second home to fire last weekend and still trying to catch our breath again. We know that God has allowed this to happen for a reason and He is still in complete control. We do wonder why He would allow this to happen at this time with all we are going through with my cancer. But it is not for us to question his souverignty. We continue to hold on to our faith with the help of prayer warriors that are lifting us up in prayer.

There are times when I feel weak in inner peace and strength but then I focus on Him and His strength lifts me up again and His Word brings me comfort.

Through this, we have been truly blessed. God has brought friends back into our lives that we had lost contact with and we have been blessed with many new friends and prayer warriors from around the states and the world. I thank God that He is bringing His love, encouragement, and comfort to us through so many people. I would never have imagined that I would be blessed with new friends because of a fire.

God does work in mysterious ways indeed. I do ask that you continue to keep us in your prayers as we work with our insurance company. My hubby needs prayer as he worries about my health, work issues, and now the fire and really needs to be lifted up daily.

Thank you all for being such a blessing more pecious than jewels in our lives. Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement and hope to keep us going during this time of trials.

May you have a very blessed day in the Lord,