Monday, February 23, 2009

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I am ready for Spring that is for sure. Hard to believe I survived living in Madison Wisconsin for 10 years!
We are all fighting sickness in our house. We took Claire to urgent care on Friday night. This facility is really good. They just bill you like a Dr office. You save alot of money instead of having to go to the ER. She has another ear infection. She has had a rough morning so we are going to see our regular DR this morning. Incidentally, we go to Riley next Monday to see about tubes. I am really excited about this. I have notices her equilibrium off lately and I know this is why. I feel her walking and speech will really take off once she gets them in. Hopefully after our consult, we won't have to wait too long. I am not excited about my baby being put under, but that is OK. I have a sore throat, but no cough. Dennis is just getting over his "stuff" from last week. Goodness!
Our photo shoot went well yesterday. I had a blast. Tammy Hayes is a remarkable woman. She is an inspiration and very strong. I cannot wait to see the photos. Hard to believe that people all over the world will see them! Very exciting! I have to admit though, she had to prompt me to flirt with the camera. Obviously I am not a model! Ha! I just don't have that kind of drama in me!
Getting anxious to start chemo and get on schedule. My hairdresser Erin offered to shave my head for me. Beth Anne offered until her hairdresser mentioned that it may be too emotional. I will let her make that call. All I know folks, is be ready at the last minute to come to the "head shaving" party. As soon as I see the first sign of hair falling out, it is off my head! No patches for me.
I know I have said this before, but I am amazed at how many women I am meeting that has or is going through chemo and cancer. We all have the same worries and concerns. Lately it seems like I am worrying more on the financial side. People don't realize that even when you have insurance, you have to pay the 20% and sometimes that can add up to be alot. I have had 5 scans alone in the past few months. You pay the radiologist as well to read them. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. We are blessed to even have insurance. I cannot imagine what people who cant get it or don't have it do. I can see why people go bankrupt over medical expenses though.
Today I am grateful for the sun. Enjoy your day!
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2 comments:

Beth Schultz said...

Today I am grateful for my sister and her strength. SHE is an amazing woman. Of course, I understand most of you think I am a little bias and yes that is true. But anyone that has met, spoke with or emailed her during this will know she is dealing remarkably. Just wish in a weird kind of way I could be there more for her in the sense that I only had radiation and not chemo. Thank God she has found some great survivors, that have had or are currently going through chemo, to communicate with about her fears. These people will be key to her emotionally handling this.
Tammy Hayes was great at our photo shoot. She does great work that is so on target with the feelings of who she is shooting. Look her up for your next photos!
Molly Marshall has really helped Mary also in a way that I am sure she doesn't realize. We have been reading her caring bridge site. These sites really help others walk the journey with the patient. Sometimes good and bad of course, but always helpful!
Everyone, please pray for Mary as she starts her chemo on Wednesday. We all have fear of the unknown, but know that God is in control and that helps us all.
Blessings on your week!
Beth (better known as sissy)

February 23, 2009 at 10:01 AM
Unknown said...

Hi Mary,
Let me just say that I believe that God still has significant plans for your life. You are clearly a great mom and wife, and you have a striking testimony, where you continue to praise Him in the midst of your trial.
I opened the Daily Bread devotional today, and I couldn't help but think of you and how you must be feeling. It was called "Managing the Mess" and the scripture was the story in Ruth1:15-22. In case you don't have this devotional, I'll include the significant points:
"When we meet Naomi in the Scriptures, her life is a mess...She and her husband had gone to Moab searching for food during a famine...and life was good--until her husband and sons died and she was stuck, widowed in a foreign land. Though honest about her pain, Naomi obviously had a sense of who was in control: 'the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me' Ruth 1:21
The Hebrew word for 'Almighty' indicates God's sufficiency for any situation. The word 'Lord' refers to His faithfulness as the loving covenant-keeping God. I love how Naomi put these two names together. In the midst of her complaint, she never lost sight of the fact that her God was a capable and faithful God....
Remember that Naomi's God is your God as well. And He specializes in managing our messes to good and glorious outcomes. Thankfully, He is both capable and faithful..."(written by Joe Stowell)

I remember one of the biggest messes in my life was when my son was born (both the happiest and hardest day of my life). They thought he was having a simple issue of transitioning from the womb to air breathing. Every time we would see the docs, they would say "he should be out of this anytime now" I still had not held him, and finally as he kept getting a little worse and a little worse, and then he started to tire out, they had to send him to a better NICU facility for care about 36 hours after he was born. He spent 11 days in the NICU due to severe respiratory distress. The doctors would not and could not offer false hope. Either he would get thru it, and they could remove the life support and conclude it was a newborn infection, or he would not get thru it, in which case they would conclude it was a condition called surfactant dysfunction, for which there is no cure. Those days of seeing which outcome it was were the most excruciating in my life. I could not even pray. I would just sob to God, with no words, and I believe the Holy Spirit communicated for me...we know He hears our hearts more than our words, anyway.
In the end, I was so helpless and unable to help the situation in any way, all I could do was stand back and see what He would do. I felt like the Israelites when they were trapped at the Red Sea. And God did part the seas for us. Our son came out of it. The docs concluded it must have been an infection (which they could not prove). The people that had been praying for him felt it could easily have been the other lethal condition, and God simply healed him. Today he has no residual effects from that rough start in life.
Mary, you are clearly one of His, and you have behaved honorably thru all this. I pray God parts the seas for you so that you can continue to sing His praises and declare what He has done!

February 24, 2009 at 1:11 PM

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