Hey everyone!! Can you say that God is AWESOME? WONDERFUL? ALL POWERFUL? INCREDIBLE?, etc.? I know I can!!! I am so thankful that I serve an AWESOME God and that He loves me unconditionally and He listens when we pray. I truly believe in the power of prayer, and I know as my prayer warriors, you do too. It is ONLY through God and prayer that I am here today to write this blog.
Update on me: I had a doctor's appointment last week for bloodwork. All of my bloodwork came back in normal range...WOOHOO!!! -an answer to prayer :-). I also started back to work this week. Yep, starting to get my "normal" schedule again. My employers have been so great and are letting me work part-time for a little while to regain my strength, not to mention the fact that they kept my job available over the past nine months. I am working half days right now and I am hoping to go to 3/4 days by mid next week and then full time in March. Today was my third day and I LOVE being back at work, but I am worn out and very sore. I feel like I have been working out like crazy. My back and legs are killing me! My doctor said it will eventually work itself out so I am just trying to deal with it and only take pain meds when I can't stand it anymore. All in all, it has been a GREAT week so far!
Now, more on the power of prayer. Over this experience, I have asked you to pray for others who needed it. Some of these came through the blog and others through email. I would like to update you on them, so here it goes:
John Jerome:
I met Johnnie and his wife Karen when I was in the hospital hallway reading (I got bored with my room sometimes). Johnnie has myelodysplasia (MDS) which is a group of disorders in which the bone marrow does not function normally and produces insufficient number of normal blood cells (
www.stjude.org). On October 30, 2008 Johnnie came in to the hospital for a blood transfusion. He developed some infections and was facing surgery. They had to redo his PICC line because of infection and was in ICU. He ended up not having surgery which was an answer to prayer and was finally released the day before Thanksgiving. I spoke to Karen tonight and Johnnie has been receiving blood transfusions every two weeks the past two months. They have exhausted the options at ETMC so now they will be heading down to MD Anderson for some experimental treatments. Please pray that one of these treatments will work. Through all of this, Johnnie continues to teach Sunday School at their church.
Su Su:
I also met SuSu while in the hospital. Our housekeeping lady introduced us. She had been recently diagnosed with Leukemia and had no insurance to pay her medical bills. She was released from the hospital in time to make it to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Light the Night walk. At the walk, survivors carry white balloons. Well, unfortunately, I was still in the hospital, so I asked my mom to carry my balloon for me. SuSu went up to her and told her that she was very happy to see a survivor there. My mom told her that she was carrying the balloon for her daughter and SuSu said "you're Vanessa's mom." Mom was totally shocked because I had just told her about SuSu the day before. Soon after, I went back into the hospital and one of my nurse's broke the news to me that SuSu came in with neutropenic fever, ended up in ICU and lost her battle with cancer. She left behind a very sweet daughter and a precious granddaughter.
PapaDuck:
A few months ago, I told you about my friend's dad. He had some spots on his kidney that turned out to be a tumor. They went in and removed the kidney. During a checkup, they found some cancer spots on his other kidney. They are going to try and remove them by needle aspiration. Well, he had a biopsy and it turned out to not be cancer...YEAH!!! Please keep him and his family in your prayers as he will continue to have to have checkups and he is living with just one kidney.
Darlene:
This is an email from my friend Crystal so it's in her words: My aunt's name is Darlene. She just turned 50 and was diagnosed with breast cancer. She didn't even know she had cancer until she couldn't walk anymore due to the cancer 'eating' up two vertebrae in her lower back. The doctor and chiropractor thought it was sciatica because she has only been in pain for about two months and only from the lower back problems. No other symptoms -none! She has probably had the cancer for a while since it has spread. I don't have any details on prognosis but the doctors are very optimistic. She will start chemo after Thanksgiving. I think hers will only be one 4-hr treatment every three weeks with some shots and other stuff in between. One BIG additional prayer request- she has NO insurance. So please have everyone pray that the doctors will continue to have mercy and compassion and give her excellent treatment. So far it has been miraculous to see how her treatment team has been so wonderful and supportive and treated her like it's not even an issue. Also, last Monday she had back surgery to stabilize her spine. They put in some screws and pins and cleaned out a lot of the cancer from there. she is still recovering from that and has been a little down the last few days. she can't walk hardly at all because from not moving AT ALL for about the last 6 weeks there are NO muscles. (This was in Nov. 2008). I spoke to Crystal on Monday and asked how Darlene was doing. She said that it has been a complete miracle. They did a scan on Darlene and the cancer is almost gone. The doctor's say they can't explain it, but we all know what is happening. Please continue to pray for her.
Claudia Steen:
This is one of my aunt's best friends and one of my faithful prayer warriors. She was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. I'm not sure which one, but they're all cancer. From what I understand, her treatment is going to be in the clinic every few weeks, but for the rest of her life. I don't think they have found a cure for the type of lymphoma she has, but with treatment she can live a long full life. She is so sweet and truly prayed for me through my struggle. Please keep her in your prayers and I will try to get a better update on her.
And for a new one...
Stuart Smartt:
Stuart and I have actually never met, but I feel like I know him and I keep him and his wife in my prayers every night. Stuart has also been diagnosed lymphoma. He is undergoing the same treatment that I did and he has the greatest attitude and love for the Lord. He just started his third round of chemo and has had a few complications already. Remember all the lovely lumbar punctures that I had to endure? I didn't realize how good I had it. Stuart had some issues and after numerous times of trying to get the needle in, they decided that he would have to get a port put into his brain for that particular chemo. I told him that he gave a new meaning to the term "chemo brain." If you would like to follow his blog, please go to
http://stuartsmartt.blogspot.com/ and his wife Candace's blog
http://candacesmartt.blogspot.com/. He was also told on Tuesday that he is in remission. I'm so excited for him. He still has a long battle ahead of him so please remember him.
Well, I think that is it for the prayer requests. Again, thank you so much for all your prayers for me and my friends. You guys are awesome!
With God, WE BEAT IT!!!
This is the row of cubicles...there are 4 of us in this area. There are 6 offices around us for the 4 partners and then 2 extra for other uses. 
This is the outside of the building (only half of it). We are in the far left building.
My desk. Normally, it would be covered with papers, files and notebooks, but since I just came back, it is still pretty clean. It won't stay that way for long I'm sure!
