THE BIG 'C'

In May of 2000 I was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer. I was given 3 months with a 3% chance of survival. I asked Daryl, “Why am I going through the chemo, surgery and radiation if there is only a 3% chance?” His reply, “Because the kids and I need you.” Morgan and Amber were 18, Rachel was 16 and Rebekah was 12.

Every week we traveled 2½ hours to the cancer center in Lubbock for treatments. I received 3 different types of chemo, a shot of steroids and a shot of a chill out drug. The summer passed with building stress and dread. My hair loss at the beginning caused me deep distress.

We began to receive calls, cards and email from people all over the United States and other countries saying that prayers were being offered up for me. We could see God’s finger prints in every little aspect of our lives. Yet, my life still hung in the balance and stress was beginning to take its toll on the family.

In October I was scheduled for surgery. The surgery didn’t take place; the chemo had stopped working. The cancer doctor began to pour over his papers looking for the next ‘rabbit’ to pull out of the hat. Two new cancer drugs were introduced. After the first treatment there was a noticeable difference in my symptoms.

In November I was admitted to the hospital with chest pains. After extensive tests were run it was determined that the chemo had caused massive ulcers in the esophagus.
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January 2001 came and I underwent a left mastectomy. Two weeks later the lab results were in and the cancer doctor sat stunned. There were no signs of any live cancer cells in the tissue that had been removed and tested, only skeletal remains. I would continue to receive chemo for another 16 months. We all continued to hang on for dear life.

Summer came and I began 27 days of radiation on top of the chemo. Each treatment left me weak and more lethargic than the last. My mouth had sores; my chest wall was badly burned and blistered. Could my body withstand the possible cure?

August rolled around and I had completed my radiation, with only 9 more months of chemo left. It also saw me in the hospital with a staff infection. After a week, I came home with an I.V. attached to my hip and antibiotics to be administered daily.
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Four weeks later I was back in the hospital with another staff infection. Again I came home with an I.V. and different antibiotics to be taken daily. The infections delayed my weekly chemo. Birthdays, special holidays, normal childhood events passed with little notice.

October brought about a deadly blood infection. I spent 8 days in the hospital, 3 of those days barely hanging on by a thread. Daryl, the kids, family, friends and ones I didn’t know continue praying, praying, praying. For the third time I was release from the hospital with an I.V. and antibiotics. But this time the doctor said, “I wanted you to have 6 more months of chemo, but we’re through. I’m afraid we are going to fool around and you are going to die and it won’t be from the cancer.” It was like the sentence of death had been lifted. I felt free and ready to take on the world. I was naive; I still had a long recovery. Like Humpty Dumpty I had been pushed off a wall and it would take the ‘King’ to put this old egg back together.

Today 2007, I continue to have chemo related health problems. Physically I’m not the same person I was 7 years ago; spiritually I’m not that same person either. I see people, things and time through God's eyes. The Big 'C' changed my life forever! The Big 'C' was a life altering experience! The Big 'C' was a blessing!

There is so much more to this story than can be written on these pages. From time to time I will write in more detail about how we found laughter when there was no hope, tears when God answered prayers, extra tidbits of humor and insight and how each child reacted differently from the other.

John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."


Like Paul Harvey I will post "the rest of the story" Wednesday after Top 10 Tuesday.