Celebrating 5 Years; Celebrating Today

December 6 was my pre-CT scan blood draw.
December 12 was my every-6-month CT scan.
December 19 was my every-6-month appointment with Dr. Malviya.

"No changes" (no return of cancer)!
So I am celebrating my 5-year anniversary!
(Surgery was Jan. 28, but I am starting now.)

This does not mean there is no chance of return.
It means it has been 5 years, and it has not returned.

I am thankful!

Doctor-and-test-time tends to be a reflective time.
I seemed to concentrate on two themes.

1)  Waiting at Advent.
A theme of the season of Advent is waiting.
That seemed to coordinate with my own personal schedule of waiting.
Waiting for test results.
Waiting to see my doctor.
Waiting and wondering.
Hoping for something good.

2)  Vulnerability and needing a Savior
I rejoice at healthy test results.
Yet, I also know something about my human vulnerability.
There is both joy and mystery.

When I was a child, I knew I needed a Savior, mainly because that is what I was taught.
But I generally depended on my parents for any needs.

Now, I know that needs in life go beyond the help of any human.
I NEED a Savior that is beyond human.
Beyond parents or doctor.
Beyond myself.

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Psalm 18:2 NIV

You will keep in perfect peace
those whose minds are steadfast,
because they trust in you.
Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.
Isaiah 26:3-4 NIV

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

June 5
was my every 6-month CT scan.

It is humbling when someone looks inside of me:
whether inside my body, inside my head, or inside my soul.
It reminds me of my humanity
as opposed to
God's deity.

Maybe I would look back and say, "I thought there might be poor results on a CT scan,
because the tech did not talk to me as much after the procedure."
Or maybe I could say, "I knew it would be fine,
because I just knew it."

But the fact is, I did not know.
I could not guess.

I can have faith that God will take care of me.
But that is not the same.

God will take care of me,
whatever the CT results.

As we say,
"God is good...
All the time!
All the time...
God is good!

Whatever the circumstances.
God is God, beyond me, beyond my understanding and wisdom.
Available, dependable.
Almighty.





June 13
was my regular 6-month appointment with Dr. Malviya.
Quality time.

Drum roll:
The CT scan was clear!
-  "without evidence to suggest metastasis or recurrence of the tumor".

Dr. Malviya answered my list of questions and addressed necessary issues.

John and I checked out with (dear) Maureen, and left the office while it was still daylight!
John took me to dinner, and we celebrated.

I stopped by John's meeting and invited, "Ask me how I am."
"Wonderful!" I bubbled.

I am celebrating 4 1/2 years since my surgery.
And I am celebrating moments.
With thanksgiving!

Thank you for celebrating life with me!



"...even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand-
when I awake, I am still with you.

Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:12-18, 23-24  (NIV)

(John just used this passage in last Sunday's sermon.)

Lessons at a Grocery Store - Medicine Aisle

Wednesday,  I stopped at the store after my foot doctor appointment (Dr. Mozen said,  "It is healing well;  come back in a year!).  As I walked through the aisle of medicines, I briefly noted that I did not need anything in that aisle.

And I gave thanks. 


We ponder your steadfast love,  O God,
in the midst of your temple,
Your name, O God, like your praise,
reaches to the ends of the earth.
Psalm 48 9-10