Living in Freedom as a Woman

It was a typical Thursday morning in my house. I was scrambling to get my kids out the door to summer camp. We were rushed and running late as usual. For some reason, I stopped to look at my phone and I saw it. A text that read "It's cancer. Please pray." I literally sat down right where I was in my house. My legs felt weak. My hands felt numb. I don't even remember what I texted back. I know I said I would pray and I did. I have not stopped since. I live in California. I moved here in 2009 with my husband, Rob. Despite the distance, Holly and I are as close as ever. Maybe even closer. In the days after Holly was diagnosed, a sort of slide show of her and I played in my mind. Memories flooded in as I tried to process the reality of what was going on with my best friend, my soul sister.  I remember the exact moment Holly and I met. She had started her orientation as a nurse in the pediatric ICU at CMC three months before me. She was- and still is- sharp, intell

From a Mother’s perspective… by Lisa Thomas From the time you were born, you have always been our headstrong child. Sometimes it was a good thing and some times it wasn't. You were the one that always asked “why not” when you were told you couldn't do something.   After the third time, I would tell you “because I am the mama and when you get to be the mama you can do what you want” .   Now that you are a mama you might understand “why” better. We have been through a lot during your growing years, but his by far the toughest. You called me on Saturday before your surgery and said you would be going to the doctor Monday because you felt “something” in your lower abdomen. We were worried but knew it wouldn’t be anything bad. However, when you called back on Monday and said you were having surgery on Tuesday for the mass it was a little bit different feeling. When Cory came out after the surgery it was a great day. The first pathology report showed it to be benign. Pra

Sharing in Suffering – by Aly Pray I received the text that said "it's cancer." I was sitting at the salon getting my hair cut and I just remember feeling like I was going to puke everywhere. The room got quiet, I felt chills all over my body, and the room started spinning slowly. I wasn't supposed to be reading those words on a text showing up on my phone from my friend. I sat down in disbelief, with thousands of thoughts and emotions racing through my mind. You would think that when you hear news like that from a close friend, you would be prepared with a beautiful response filled with truth and encouragement, but I had nothing. I started texting my response about 10 times and deleted every single one. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to feel. "Getting my hair done now and I'm shaking in my chair. I don't know how to handle this except pray!" And I did, for hours it seemed. It was all a blur and I don't even know ho

Week 3 started off well. We spent the weekend at the lake house for a quick, last minute getaway. It was nice to get away. I spent a lot of last week down and out for the count. Friday, things seemed to turn around and I had a great weekend with my precious family. I went this morning for my weekly Tuesday treatment and labs. Tuesdays (on the off weeks) are my quick and easy days. I expected the same this morning, but I haven’t really followed the rules yet so far. Maybe it’s the dreaded “curse of the nurse” J I got my IV and was ready to go and my sweet nurse Stephanie came and showed me the CBC results I just had drawn. My white blood count and neutrophil counts were both really low. Your white blood cells are the part of your blood that fights off infection. She called my Dr. and he said to skip my IV med today and that I would need a shot today and tomorrow to stimulate production of my white blood cells. I was pretty bummed. This was not in the “plan”. I am not sure what it

            “I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry.             He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire.             He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.             He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed, They will put their trust in the Lord.” Psalm 40:1-3 Let’s start with the positives J   Last week I completed my first round of 5 days of chemo. Monday was my first day. I had labs drawn and then met with Dr. Oh. We had impatiently been waiting on my PET scan results for a week. Thankfully, the PET scan was all clear. No signs of cancer anywhere. A lot of you have asked then why is chemotherapy necessary? Because of the high grade of my tumor (aggressiveness), it has a high likelihood of coming back without it. But, with chemotherapy regimen, it’s like a 95% cure rate. So now we press on…. Day 1 tre