Praises + Prayers (7/11)

Your prayers are working! There are many updates to be thankful for this week!

Praises

+ The biggest praise has to be the response to chemo in the last 5-6 days. The doctors have all been extremely pleased with the progress made from the first round. My symptoms have all but gone away and we are back to where I was before I went to see my OB the first time 3-4 weeks ago. There is clearly still a very long way to go as there are still massive tumors and the entire breast is full of cancer, but this is excellent progress and I'm so thankful for visible improvement just like everyone has been praying for - thank you!

+ The trip to Houston went very well as you can read in the last two posts. There were no labor scares on the drive to and from, the doctors at MD Anderson were helpful and encouraging, and we had a great time celebrating our anniversary.

+ I continue to have very little to no side effects from the chemo which seems like a miracle to me. It is amazing to see the chemo doing its job on the cancer and not feeling a thing myself. Pretty amazing!

+ My spirits are very high right now. It is crazy to think that I have gotten this pretty horrible diagnosis but somehow feel complete peace and joy in the midst of it. That is also a miracle and I believe a direct result from the hundreds of prayer warriors out there lifting me up to the Lord daily. Thank you to everyone that has sent encouraging words through email, texts, facebook, cards, gifts, flowers, meals, hugs, and phone calls. You have allowed yourself to be a physical extension of Christ's arms to remind me that He does have this under control and that He does love me through all of this craziness. Thank you!

Prayers

+ My white blood cell counts (WBC) are continuing to drop. Because I'm pregnant I wasn't able to get the standard steroid shot that allows chemo patients to only wait 2 weeks between treatments (it helps boost the WBCs and makes the recovery faster). The WBCs will continue to drop until it bottoms out and then starts to recover. The doctors have to wait to deliver or do the next round of chemo until after my WBCs hit a certain threshold. Currently that is looking like late next week maybe or early the following week, delaying chemo for an extra week and a half. My doctor told me not to freak if the tumors start growing again (how am I not supposed to freak out over that??). 

Please pray for two things: 1) That my WBCs rebound at heroic rates next week so we can deliver sooner rather than later, and 2) that the baby is delivered safely with no c-section or any other complication that would require me to take antibiotics and delay chemo even more. Right now chemo #2 is scheduled for the 24th but I'm really praying that gets moved up so there isn't 3.5+ weeks between treatments.

+ Continued prayers that the cancer continues to recede, break apart, and make its way to a "complete response" with chemo. Please pray that when we do the scans after delivery that the cancer has not metastasized to any other organs and I can "just" be Stage 3B or 3C.

+ This one is pretty minor in the grand scheme of things but I'm told I should lose my hair in the next few days (no thinning or anything yet though, maybe it is going to come out in one big chunk?). Pray that I see it as it really is - just proof that there are drugs inside me killing cells that replicate quickly, which is a very good thing. I hear that losing your hair is pretty traumatic, especially for a woman, and especially for someone that gets a lot of joy out of doing hair. I logically see that it isn't and shouldn't be a big deal, but I hear I might feel differently when it actually happens. Pray I'm cool about it.  

Thanks to everyone who has been following our story. I'll continue putting these specific requests out there because it seems to be working! God has been hearing your prayers. Thank you for taking the time to lift me and my family up!