A Brand New Blog!

I am completely humbled by how many of you read what I write here. I am thankful for the prayers that are a direct result of your interest in my health.

It's time to end my cancer blog.

I've been scared to do it. What if the cancer comes back? What will I do without this emotional outlet?
But it's time.

I'm not going far, though. Please follow me to my new blog, Big, Fat faith.

In the meantime, here is one, last update on me:

I will see my oncologist and radiation oncologist next month and continue every 4 months until April 2012. Then I'll graduate to 6 month visits and those will last for a while.

I have (probably) 2 more surgeries and one more "in-office" procedure before my TRAM flap is complete. It's been more of a process than we expected, but that's only because my plastic surgeon is trying to give me what I wanted and I guess I'm a little picky! I've healed nicely from the first two operations and I'm happy to say I've lost the tightness and soreness in my ribcage that was my biggest complaint.

I will take Tamoxifen for a total of 5 years. It controls the estrogen in my body in an effort to prevent recurrence of my estrogen-driven type of cancer.

I meet people all the time who are current patients or survivors and I pray that the Holy Spirit gives me the words to comfort them like all of you and all of Angels in Action gave me for so long.

Micah is 4.5 and Caleb is 2.5. Terry and I hope to celebrate our anniversary in Vegas next April. We'll be married 7 years. I'm actively engaged in Micah's homeschooling and it's a wonder how God is moving in this experience! Terry and I are happy to be members of Copperfield Church where we've quickly planted roots that we hope God will allow to grow as our children learn to love it as much as we do.

We'll never be able to explain enough how these last 2 years shaped us. I never could have imagined the changes God would bring to our lives. It was hard at the time, but we see how God used the trials to accelerate our change and give us hearts for His people and His kingdom.

I'd love for everyone who follows or stalks 28cancer to follow me to Big, Fat faith. And I'd love any emails, too. bigfatfaith@yahoo.com.

Thanks for being part of the journey.

Prayers for Brandy

Brandy is just now out of her heart transplant surgery. She got the call last night at 6 pm and went in to surgery around 3 a.m. It's such a miracle and Brandy, who was smiling ear to ear when I saw her last night, is definitely being protected by God. You've been such fantastic prayer warriors for me, please take the time and pray for Brandy now, too.

-Pray that the transplant is a complete success and recovery is quick.
-Pray that her husband, Travis, and children, Connor and Becca, feel His presence and comfort.
-Pray for that family who lost a loved one. Pray that they know how much he or she gave and that they are blessed because of it.

When I walked into her hospital room she was all bright and shiny, grinning and laughing! It's unusual to walk into a hospital room and find someone in such good spirits. Unless they've just given birth. But, then again, last night was an occasion of new life, wasn't it?

Three Weeks Out

Hello!! I am officially three weeks out from surgery! And what a difference every week has made! It's amazing how God created our bodies to heal so quickly! 20 days ago I couldn't sit up in bed. But, today I dragged a chair across my living room floor.

I'm not exactly supposed to be lifting anything more than 5 pounds (thank goodness this is finally up from ONE pound a few days ago!) but it's really ridiculous to expect anyone to be able to go through a normal day and not lift 5 pounds. So, I'm relinquishing my "A+ patient" title and I'm unabashadly cheating!

Here's the lowdown:
Surgery lasted 10 hours, the first two of which I think were spent on the "precautionary" mastectomy on the cancer-free side. When I woke up in the recovery room, I saw my doctor through hazy eyes and my first spoken words out of anesthesia... well, they had to do with my anatomy and it might be a little too familiar to share here. The nurse standing near me at the time laughed, and I fell back into a druggy sleep that lasted several days. I have very little memory of any hospital days. What I do remember is regret. I was in a lot of pain and I kept thinking that I'd made the wrong decision. Unfortunately, my blood pressure really dropped the day after surgery and they started messing with my pain meds to rectify the situation and the result was blood pressure that never rose back to normal numbers, and no freedom from pain either.

I spent 5 days in the hospital, 2 days (is that right?) at Mel's to avoid my hyper children and the stairs leading to our apartment. Thankfully, we've had the most wonderful babysitter helping us these last few weeks, so I pretty much spent that first week at home in a stupor of drugs and naps.

Now, three weeks out, my pain is minimal, and I only really notice it as night when my stomach and the area below my ribcage is really tight. So, I'm not getting much sleep, which most of you will benefit from because sleep-deprived Sarah is a little goofier than normal!

I am half the size that I used to be in my chest. But surprisingly, I feel no different than before. Isn't it odd that it felt normal before my diagnosis, it felt normal after the mastectomy, it felt normal wearing the prosthesis, and it feels normal now being half of what I'm used to? What does that say about how temporal these bodies are? I'm glad I'm not overly attached to it!

So, in the end, we are going to have 2 more, small operations to sort of "tidy things up." The first of which will be a week from Friday. And, I have no more regrets because my plastic surgeon made it clear that implants would have failed because none of my skin that previously went through radiation was usable at all, and the doctors had to use all skin from my stomach on that side.

Thanks for all the cards, well-wishes and prayers! Pray that I can avoid lifting so we can make it through the recovery process smoothly.