This will be just a brief update. It has been a good, busy week, and my continued struggle is to trust God and release the worry that sneaks up on me now and then. It is hard to forget about everything when it greets you in the mirror every time you go to the bathroom, and each time you wash your face you question if you are feeling scar tissue, normal swelling/irritation from the radiation or something else . . . It is an ongoing battle.

I’m somewhat of a hermit at the moment. I’m just not very comfortable getting out much – I’m self-conscious of my appearance, concerned about picking up germs and I get easily exhausted from a lot of conversation. Because of this, I haven’t been to our church yet.

In the meantime, I’ve been encouraged and kept more focused by watching either Andy Stanley or Charles Stanley’s messages (father and son with Atlanta area churches, and 2 totally different styles of teaching). Funny how the timing has been perfect with messages on: decision making and how to walk through crises in your life.

Here’s a link to an Andy Stanley series called Starting Point. They are short segments that are great for either affirming your faith as a believer, or if you went to church at one point but lost your faith, or if you are just searching. I highly recommend it.

Also, as I said above, I have to constantly stay focused on trusting God through this. This song has been playing in my head a lot, and helps me redirect my thoughts. Thank you for your continued prayers for complete healing and letting the worry go.

p.s. A BIG thank you to all of the men who helped Jonathan with yard work and outdoor projects yesterday, AND to all of the ladies who have been supporting us with delicious dinners!

It has been wonderful to be back home. We hit the ground running with making school lunches, coordinating 3 different school schedules (preschool, elementary & middle), homework, housework, etc. My parents stayed with us the first several days to help us reorient ourselves with our busy family schedule. Funny how you lose speed and the ability to multi-task with 4 months away (I suppose recovering from the treatments contributes a little bit to that too.) Anyway, we’ve chosen to let some things slide and instead have chosen to enjoy more family time.

During this time, we have also come to a decision on whether or not to pursue an allogeneic (donor) stem cell transplant. Thank you for your prayers. As you know, this is an extremely challenging decision – one that the doctors can not make for me because there simply isn’t the data to show a clear direction. We have given this thorough consideration – reviewing what was told to us at MDA, meeting with 2 Vanderbilt oncologists to see how they’d logically consider the options, lots of prayer and seeking spiritual advice from our church minister and an elder (the same ones who flew out to Houston and prayed with us at our apartment).

As aggressive and proactive as we’ve tried to be with each step of medical care and treatment, we have a great peace that for now, we should not move forward with the allogeneic (donor) stem cell transplant. Through scripture, prayer, speaking with other believers, and the faith-related experiences we had in Texas, I feel confident that this is the right choice. It is a peace that surpasses understanding.

I called my stem cell doctor’s office on Thursday and left a message for him – letting him know that I do not want to pursue an allogeneic transplant at this time. It is a big weight lifted to have this decision made.

As far as how I’m feeling, I’m surprised at how sometimes I physically feel pretty much normal. However, in no time I can completely crash. I nap almost daily, and getting to bed early is a must to keep up with the pace of the family.  In addition to all of the previous support, we also have dinners from friends being delivered every-other-day starting today and Jonathan has a crew of church friends coming next Saturday to help with some outside projects. Once again, we are extremely grateful.

Our church also held a blood drive at the beginning of the month. They collected 30-35 units of blood! And even had to turn some donors away because of a larger response than expected. Thank you to those who donated (& to those who tried) for replenishing all that I used during my treatments, and for the additional units that will increase the supply to help others.

Again, thank you for your prayers!  Please continue to pray specifically that I’m cured, and for an overall healing for our family – it has been physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually exhausting and a complete upheaval from normalcy – YET, we don’t want to be “normal” again.  Also, I will return to MDA the week of 10/20 for scans and to meet with the stem cell MD, ophthalmologist, dermatologist and radiation oncologist – a busy week. Please pray that we will not be anxious, that the doctors have wisdom and that I’m on the road to good health.

We just got back home to Tennessee last night. aaaaaahhhhhh. There’s nothing like your own bed and rainfall to lull you to sleep. We are so so happy to be back together in our home. Here are a few pictures of our reunion in Florida.