Cancer

  If that isn't a dreaded word, I don't know what is!  However, add the word 'survivor' next to it, and it changes everything completely, and that's what I intend to do!  A week and a half after my mom passed away I received the diagnosis of bladder cancer.  My first desire was to spend a week at a Hallelujah Acres Lifestyle Center only 25 minutes from my house in Plant City, so a week and a half after my diagnosis that's what I did!  I was there from Sunday Sept 7 - Friday Sept 12, and it was phenomenal!  There were 7 other people who stayed there and our group had a great time learning all about ways we can use foods to help our bodies heal, along with eating some amazing food!  It seems to me there are 3 ways our bodies can heal.  One is through prayer - I've heard many testimonies of people being healed through the power of prayer.  Another way is through medicine.  We all know of many examples of people being healed through traditional medical routes.  And the 3rd way is through diet.  Again, many people have reversed diabetes or high blood pressure or other ailments, even cancer, through changing their diet.   Sometimes all 3 methods are incorporated.  Of course, the opposite is true as well.  We know examples from all 3 methods of healing that did not heal.  So what's a girl to do?  This has been my struggle - more than just having the diagnosis of cancer - it is knowing how I should respond to it that has been the hardest thing for me.  I'm very glad I went to the Lifestyle Center and my body is definitely feeling better in many ways since I have incorporated the recovery diet they recommend.  My family has been incredibly supportive holding down the fort while I was gone and then helping me juice and praying for me.  Tim has been amazing in all he has done to juggle working and being here for the family and for me - I'm so grateful for him and his love and care of me!  I truly have a lot to be thankful for!

  So - back to the question, what's a girl to do?  I was supposed to start my first of 6 scheduled weekly chemo treatments last Tuesday, and I just couldn't do it, so I cancelled it.  I then scheduled an appointment with my urologist doctor, Dr. Lockhart, and the first they could get me in was this morning, during my 2nd scheduled chemo appt, so I cancelled that one, too.  This morning's meeting with Dr. Lockhart went very well.  He spent a lot of time with Tim and me and answered our questions as best he could, but he suggested we get a 2nd opinion from a research doctor since we had a lot of questions regarding what research has been done on people who didn’t go the chemo route.  My doctor is 71 and has tons of experience, but he said mainly with people who follow the medical protocol.  He said if people don’t follow that protocol they typically don’t come back to see him.  So I have a call into the research doctor he referred us to and am waiting for their scheduling department to call me back.  In the meantime, we asked Dr. Lockhart if there is any way he could follow up with me to see how things are going.  He said he could order a cytology report and if it came back negative he would want me to repeat it 2 more times and if all 3 reports came back negative I think he said he would want to biopsy me just to be sure and if that came back negative then I would be good for now, but since this is a cancer that recurs so often he would want to follow me closely.  He went ahead and took a specimen today at our request so a cytology could be done on it and the results will come back hopefully by Monday.  That’s where things stand right now.  So, my first prayer request is for complete healing (obviously) and my next request would be for wisdom and direction beyond what we are already doing.  I realized today that I had told many people I would keep them posted, so I think using this blog is probably the best way to do that.  Feel free to comment or ask questions - I'll get an email any time you do and will try to respond asap!  Blessings to all!