Turkey time update

Oops, it has been awhile since my last update! Next week is Thanksgiving already! Here is my current health status:

• I continue to get Herceptin infusions once every three weeks in Tyler. The medicine enters my body through the chemo port under my skin below my left collar bone. (Herceptin is a liquid I.V. medicine that takes 30 minutes to enter my body.) Tomorrow I go in for infusion #14 of 17.
• I feel that the fatigue I’ve had since radiation is starting to go away some. I have more energy than before. I’m not back to normal yet, but I’ve made some progress.
• My voice box has some problem, as it did earlier in the year. My voice is very raspy and no one can understand me. I’m not sure if Herceptin, radiation, or something else is causing it problems. I sure would love to be able to sing songs at church and during the Christmas season, but right now my voice just cracks.
• The tight muscles in my neck and right shoulder are still very tight. None of the doctors, nurses or physical therapists that have seen it have seen anything quite like it before. The neck and arm muscles are a constant source of severe pain. I can’t move my head or use my right arm very well. I go to a physical therapist three times a week, and her massage and exercises have left me in worse pain than before I started physical therapy. I am unable to do very much because the pain is strong 24/7. A day in my life is something like this: get up in the morning, go in the living room and rest on the sofa most of the day, then go to bed at night. I try to make it to church on Sunday mornings, drive into town for physical therapy three times a week, cook my own meals and take my dog on a walk a few times a week, so that mixes up my schedule a little. I would really love to be able to spend my last months at home doing something more meaningful, like spending quality time with family and getting out and about some. Please pray for a timely miracle for my neck. It is my number one prayer request for myself. The physical therapist is trying something new, so I am praying I’ll have good news to report soon.
• A surgeon at MD Anderson said if my neck muscles don’t relax by the end of January, they could go in and cut in half the one muscle that is the worst. I can’t imagine having a muscle flopping around in two parts in my neck, but it is a small muscle and my physical therapist assured me that this surgical procedure is not unheard of in certain situations. But God’s touch on my neck before then would mean so much more to me, so I’m praying for His intervention.
• I started doing a little work in October. I check email everyday and sometimes I have to answer some of the emails. It is truly useful work, yet it is not very time consuming and it is not stressful.
• I’m still on schedule to return overseas in the first quarter of 2016. No date is set yet. Just the thought of sending my sweet little mess of a dog back overseas to face quarantine … well, it leads me to long times of prayer, that’s for sure.
• My hair is still not long enough for me to go without a cap in public. It’s not growing very quickly. I’m not sure why.

In other news, my mom had knee replacement surgery on her other knee on November 10th Her recovery is going well so far.

I was blessed to travel to Virginia and New York in October, then see college friends in Brownwood, Texas, later in October. I survived these trips fairly well. The road trips (during which I drove myself) were much harder on me though than the flights were.

Thanks for your continued interest in my progress. I’m expecting great blessings from God to touch my life in the days and weeks to come, and I welcome your prayers on my behalf!

Me with a college friend, Kathy, during homecoming activities in October.