CT and Bone Scan Results 5/21/2024

  CT and Bone Scan Results

Have you ever been in shock before?   The kind that leaves you almost numb & completely speechless for a bit… where your eyes sometimes leak tears to release your feelings.   It’s the one where your mind just can’t begin to stop and attempt to comprehend.  Remember there are good shocks & bad shocks.  There are also sad tears & tears of joy.

Let’s test this out for a moment.  Here is a shock for you:  this is going to be a SHORTER update!!!  I’ll let you be the judge on whether it is a good or bad shock.  Just please don’t tell me whether this makes you happy or sad.  

When you are shocked, which part of the shock do you tend to hang on to?  Why?  What makes you feel safe.  How do you process?

Do remember the Swiss Alps guy on “The Price Is Right”… he falls off the cliff if they guess a price too high?   Last night God nudged me to check and see if my test scan results were on-line, on the NB Health Website.   I braved the waters with God and checked…  “Trust & Obey”…  you see God knows exactly what we need & when we need it.   To my surprise my Bone Scan was there!  Reading it would help me to prepare for my next days phone appointment with my oncologist.  Everyone who knows me, knows I can be Miss Preparedness.  Though this journey has taught me to be more spur of the moment & to enjoy each day God has given me.  The news on that report made me fall off the cliff for a while, as I processed it.  For me, on this journey, I need to face things, comprehend them, then process them with God & Jamie.   Honestly, you have to get past the shock to do this.  Jamie is also wonderful at stepping in & helping me.  He even helped me print out diagrams, so I would understand where the cancerous areas were in my bones.  We labeled them by when they appeared on my journey during my three previous scans & on this new current scan.  It makes it so I can comprehend the speed\progress of this disease. 

From what I understand there is only 1 “new uptake” in my bones, it is in the T12 of my spine.  The most intense & prominent area is in the R humeral head of my shoulder & only a mild increase in this area & increased uptake in one other area.  Honestly you have to be a scientist to read the terminology in these reports.   Each technician who reads our scans also has a different approach to compiling the report. 

Bottom line through my bone scans over this last year, the bone cancer is in my T8, L4, T12 (new), Bilateral Sacrum (tailbone), both shoulders & my the delicate symphysis.  The tail bone & one in the delicate area are why I sit on my pillows.  I now KNOW that I am totally justified to sit on my puffy pillows.  Or should I say “ONCE” puffy pillows.     After all I am still carrying Angela Joy, who seems to be partially food induced.  Cheetos & coffee ice-cream sundaes are two of the named suspects.  Anyway, it turns out my pillows were a wise move on my part many months ago, when I started to indulge myself with this comfort\relief.  If you see me carrying a pillow, you will now know why. 

I believe God allowed me to see the Bone Scan results in advance, so I could process this before receiving my CT Scan results the next day.   God is always perfect at making a way for us in the ways we need. You see He blessed me\us the day before by being able to go to Angela & Mark’s cottage & share a delicious lunch with them.  In case you didn’t know it, Mark is amazing at using the grill.  It was such a blessing to have this blessed afternoon before opening that  Bone Scan report.  Sometimes God does things like that to soften\cushion what you are about to receive later.   Has He ever done that for you?  I absolutely love how God knows the beginning from the end and makes a way in advance for where we will walk.

In preparing to receive the news regarding my CT Scan with my oncologist, Jamie and I both read my past CT Scans.  I don’t open that box until the night before my appointment.  There is no point in dwelling on these things all the time.  It serves no positive purpose.   For me instead I like to focus on God & appreciate each day I am given.  Never stop counting your blessings, no matter what journey you are on.

So you may be wondering what my CT Scan results were? Well they were a shock too, but I did not fall off “The Price is Right” cliff in my Swiss Alps outfit.  Remember I told you there were good shocks and happy tears?  The Lymph nodes in my breast, and the breast nodules were smaller and a couple of right lung nodules were smaller too!   Are you hearing me, SMALLER!!  That’s right you’ve got it now, SMALLER!!!!  From the bone scan there is mild progression in a few areas & a new uptake in my T12, BUT since January 2024 we have “SLOWED the pace” of the progression of the disease a little bit.  This is the FIRST time on this cancer journey since April 2023, that I have received positive news from the conventional medical scans.  In my mind’s eye, God wanted me to process the bone scan, so I could celebrate the good news of the CT Scan & celebrate I did.  Elaine Tidd ‘s husband, Danny & two friends (Wendal & Steve) caught me THREE fresh brook trout yesterday.    Elaine dropped them off at my door this morning & Jamie panfried them for lunch today!  Little did they know that this would be my celebratory lunch with fresh potato salad (thank you Angela Wade ) & organic peas.  I hadn’t had fresh caught pan-fried trout since my early 40’s! 

God also blessed us with a wonderful weekend before receiving my test results.  We got to see some family members (Aunt Sonja, Uncle Dan, Aunt Elaine, Uncle Kevin, Cousin Davine & JJ and Cousin Chris Stevens).  Then we watch our grandson graduate from High School on-line.   Technology & I have a love/hate relationship.  This past weekend we LOVED it!  We are so very proud of Ethan for Graduating Summa Cum Laude, with a certificate in web security from Johnson County Community College in Kansas too.  Also he is now ready to take his private pilot’s test.  In the fall he has plans to attend flight school.    This is an example of what prayer, the love & support of family & friends can do.  CONGRATULATIONS ETHAN.    Of course there was also church with my wonderful USABC family.

Remember that there are no questions too small to ask, if they help you process your journey &  help you heal.   Always remember, there is never a time without things to be thankful for, even when you don’t understand.  God is always going before you to make a way. Thank you to each of you for your prayers, love & support.  It means more than my heart can express in words.  Heather Roth, thank you for sending me my new health adventure to try on my journey,  Essiac Tea .  Yes, I started it, let the adventure begin!  I “double dog dare” one of you to taste it!   Jamie brews it for me, just ask him about it.    Also Congratulations  to Aubrey Fasulo on her engagement!  Love you so.  Remember praying for her, well there is also  NED (No Evidence of Disease) now either!  Prayers work! 

Be sure to take the time to celebrate those you love however you can.  Whether you live near or far you can celebrate them.

Which part of the shock do you tend to hang onto?  I try to hang to the good within the unexpected and give the rest to God.  Why? Because God tells me that is where His peace is found.  His peace is very different than what the world offers for peace and His is eternal! 

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”  John 14:27

“The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”  Psalm 121:8

“Though you have not see him; you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy, now that you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”  1Peter 1:8,9