Hi

HappyThanksgiving!

We have so much to be thankful for this year. We praise God for the good results and for taking care of me through the process. I know I wouldn't have felt the peace I did without God holding my hand.

I have a check up tomorrow with my surgeon and then on to radiation which will be the traditional 33 treatments.
I should finish up the first couple weeks of the new year just in time to regain all my stregnth for our trip in Feb.

We pray that your Thanksgiving is very special and ask that you pray for some friends whose Dad died suddenly this week. He will be missed by so many but his wife and daughter our foremost in our prayers.

Drive safe, eat well, pray often.

Carol

Hi

Here it is Thursday already! i have done so well since surgery. Paul and I actually went to the movies on Sat. and shopping on Sunday. It has been so easy this time. i think it is all the prayers. i am so truly grateful for all your callls and cards and most of all the prayers. I praise and thank God each day that the recovery was so easy this time compared to last time.

We want to wish anyone reading this blog a very Happy Thanksgiving, may you have a wonderful time, stay safe if you are traveling and healthy either way.

God Bless.

Praise God!

Hi Everyone,

Thanks be to God.

I am home, everything went well. Paul and I just polished off two bags of popcorn!

No lymph node involvement which is huge good news.

Talk soon,

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers,  I am going to crash.

Carol

Opps... yesterdays post

Hi Family and Friends,

My surgery is on for tomorrow morning at 11 at North Hennepin. It will be out patient surgery. I am having a lumpectomy where they just go in and take the cancer, make sure the margins are clear of cancer cells, sew you back up and out the door you go. I have to be there at 6:45, I thought that sounded like a lot of prep time but I will just be happy to have it done and get on with life. The recovery on this will be so much easier than if I had done a complete mastectomy and the cancer recurrence rates are supposedly the same regardless. It just finds a new location.

Please pray for good behavior on my part! Wisdom and skill for the surgeon. No lymph node involvement. That is really critical. If there would be lymph node involvement that would mean taking all the lymph nodes under my right arm. We really hope that isn’t necessary.

Thank you sooooo much for all your prayers nice e-mails and cards. You have made waiting this whole month more tolerable. May God bless all of you and keep you in his care.

Trusting HIM,

Carol

Home from surgery

Thanks be to God.

Everything went well and no lymph node involvement which is huge good news.

I think i may crash now but i wll catch up in a couple days.

Carol

Good genetic results

Hi Everyone,

The genetic tests did not show the mutation we were afraid it would so i will be going ahead with a lumpectomy either this Friday or next Wed.

Thank you for all your support. This will mean I will have to go off the estrogen therapy regardless of what kind of surgery I have. When tumors are estrogen positive any tumor anywhere in your body will feed on the estrogen so please pray that the supplements I am taking will help balance my system so I don't miss those hormones.

With you, trusting HIM,
Carol

Good Report on the genetic blood test

Hi Everyone,

Well, the blood test came back negative, which is good. It means it doesn't show a mutation factor. Why
that can be important right now is that if it did it would mean the surgeon and the oncologist and the genetics folks would have leaned more towards the big surgery! As it is they are sure advising a lumpectomy since it has been nine years since i had the last tumor. They say the odds are even if i have a lumpectomy and do radiation
compared to a mastectomy and possibly no radiation.They keep saying that until they operate they do not
know for sure what they are dealing with. It is harder than i thought to make this decision. i am leaning towards the partial right now and just take the lump unless they get in there and need to do more.

Please pray for God's wisdom and guidance for me and for Paul also.

God bless you,

Carol

Appointment moved up to tomorrow!!

We will be seeing the genetics folks tomorrow due to a cancellation. My surgeon has suggested a lumpectomy all along but she said if the tests showed the predisposition for mutation factor she might think we should go for a bigger surgery. i don't know what i am hoping for really. Please pray for God's hand on all of us as we move forward. i am so grateful for all of you. I feel good, like God is holding me up.

Paul and i have been going to the Y at least every other day and i am working out a little here also. i trying to get in shape for whatever lies ahead. Paul has been great at encouraging me and pushing me a little. I asked him to keep me accountable and he is.

Trusting in our Lord and Savior,
God Bless each of you,
Carol

Had a Great Trip!

HI Everyone,

Just got back from Detroit a few minutes ago. Enjoyed time with my good friend Lin Whiteman and her 100 year old Mom! She is so amazing and my friend also treats me like a queen while i am there. Good food, good bed, good chauffeur, good conversation. It just doesn't get much better.

I saw the Dr. of holistic health yesterday and she gave me a big assignment in terms of health and general well being.Too much to put out in a blog.

The results are back from the genetics profile.i will get to see them next Tues.

I am a little tired so am going to crash for awhile before we go to workout at the Y.

We will likely be in a holding pattern until next Tuesday and then go ahead with a decision.

Carol

Halleulia!!! Eye passed inspection!

Hi,

I went to the eye specialist this morning and he is not concerned. He is having me get a picture so they can recheck in six months but he sounded really certain this is not a melanoma.

That is really a relief to me. I was thanking God on the way home and you for praying.

Today we are going to pickup Paul's 1957 Chevy. He had the transmission reworked and Thursday is "Alexis day". Alexis is the daughter of one of my best friends and she comes to visit me on Thursdays.She is an amazing young woman in many ways.

I better run,

I feel good and i feel that peace that can only be a gift. Thank you for all your prayers! I know they are the
answer.

In HIM,

Carol

Carol

Not Funny!

OK, yesterday was a really challenging day. To keep it short, I had three appointmernts. One took 11/2 hours, one took three hours and the last one was with a psychiatrist....how fitting.(only 1/2 hour, which was all we could afford considering the rest of the day.) The worst news of the day is that I am not going to be able to take hormones regardless of if I have a complete mastectomy or not. That one really sent me realing. I have struggled as many of you know when I cannot take the hormones. Hence the trip to the psychiastrist. Paul went with to the last one. After hearing about the ticket a got between the first one and the second and the fender bender after the second I think he felt it was in all of our best interest to have him drive.. She allowed him to come in with me so he got a better understanding of why she may be able to help. We both liked her a lot and felt a little reassured.

So today starts out good, the cleaning lady came and that is always a good day, well usually. I have a lunch date with Krista (who is at Nothwestern College this year) where I get to go to college vicariously each week at Wed. lunch and I thoroughly enjoy it. My only appointment for the day was to get new glasses. How hard can that be? Well as it turns out I have a freckle on my eye that may be nothing or it maybe a melanoma which than could be cancer. I really wasn't ready for this one so I'm meeting with an eye speciailist tomorrow morning at 8:45 and feel really lucky to get in that soon also a bit concerned at what they said in that little back room to get me in so quick. Hopefully the results will be good like the repeat ultra sound I had
 yesterday. It didn't show anything so no second biopsy. YEH! Praise God and thank you for your prayers.

Please pray specifically for courage in the face of the strorm, Faith and trust in God's will for my life and for God's love and support for all those whol love and support me

To top that off, our baby, Paula, turns 40 on the 29th, which makes us really old as one of my little friends

said. She is no longer my friend!!!

Update on this rascally cancer!!!

 I picked Carol's chair for my Blog because they (Mike's Chair) have a song called "Let the Waters Rise" that expresses a lot of how I felt, after I first heard I had cancer again. I was driving in the car about 10 minutes after I heard the diagnosis and  turned the radio on and said OK God, please give me a song and the first words to come out were " God I trust in you" then it goes on to say "you were faithful before, you'll be faithful again" I'm holding your hand.There's a raging sea, right in front of me, wants to pull me in, bring me to my knees, so let let the waters rise if you want them to-I will follow you, God your love is enough, you will pull me through. I am holding on to you."


I do take comfort in these words that were so right there when I needed them.God has spared me the fear the first part of the song talks about so far and I pray that he will continue to give me peace. Please pray that I might honor HIM in all that I do regardless of the plan he has for me.




Well, they did the MRI yesterday and found some other suspicious something or other on the other side so now we are back to base one!! Tuesday I have another mammogram/ ultrasound and if need be a biopsy of a different location than the first .ECH! After that I go to Genetic testing so the girls in our family can be tested to see if they carry the same gene.


That's it for today. Joey is here helping me Houseclean the kitchen!'


With you, trusting HIM,


Carol