The week prior to Christmas was extremely trying.  I had three doctors’ appointments and four imaging appointments.  Very thankfully, as I wrote in the last post, we had wonderful news from the Lymphoma specialist regarding the improvement she saw on my MRI and PET scans!  I also had my first mammogram that week, and expected very little drama from that experience.  But, as the year has played out, it seemed a little excitement was in order.  As I finished the last blog post, my phone rang, and sure enough it was a clinician saying that  I needed to have an additional, more advanced, mammography to check a suspicious area.  I literally laughed out loud as I hung up the phone – really?  I’m so thankful that my gynecologist got the follow-up scheduled for the next day (versus the Jan. 9th date given to me by the imaging service), and that the additional mammogram was immediately cleared by the on-site radiologist as normal. What a relief!

The week of craziness led us into the Christmas holiday with great thankfulness and a sense of optimism we hadn’t had in months.  Jonathan’s parents spent Christmas with us, and the seven of us enjoyed going to our church’s Christmas Eve candlelight service, eating some of our traditional Christmas foods and experiencing the kids’ excitement on Christmas morning.

As we ring in the New Year, I’ll be heading into my 3rd of 6 scheduled cycles of chemo/immunotherapy.  They will begin on Thursday and Friday of this week.  Please pray that these therapies destroy the remaining cancer cells, that Jonathan and I continue to feel a new sense of strength and peace in God’s plan for us and that my physicians continue to have wisdom and discernment as we move forward.

Thank you for your love and support!  Happy New Year!!!