Good afternoon! I hope everyone has had a wonderful day getting ready to celebrate the new year! First, I would like to update everyone on my last appointment at St. Jude. They removed my stitches and put another bandage on my neck. I did not get to see the scar without the stitches but my mom did snap a picture before they put more protective stickers on it! It looks great and the doctor says that it is healing wonderfully! I can tell a huge difference in the way my neck feels. Before the surgery I had a lot of pain in my neck and it got to the point where I could not even touch the scar or the area around it without extreme pain and discomfort. It is still sore from the surgery, but it is a different kind of pain that I was experiencing before and I cannot wait for it to heal up so that I will be able to move my neck without any pain. I am so so so so thankful for my team of doctors and everything they have done for me to make me as comfortable as they possibly can. I am in great hands and I am so incredibly blessed to be a patient at St. Jude. Fighting my everyday battles would not be the same at any other hospital and there are not enough words to describe how truly wonderful St. Jude is. I will be heading back to my second home on Wednesday for the start of second round of keloid treatment. Please keep me in your prayers that the treatment will be effective and the keloids will not come back. This treatment is very painful because it consists shots into my scar, which is still sore, so please pray that God works a miracle and reduces the pain. I am not looking forward to Wednesday, but being able to see my St. Jude family makes it so much easier. If I were a patient at any other hospital without a huge team of people all fighting cancer together, this journey would be so much more difficult, and for that, I am eternally grateful for St. Jude. The year 2012 has been such a blessing. I am getting closer and closer to winning my battle against cancer. I have been blessed with another year of life, another birthday, another summer, another Thanksgiving, another Christmas, and most importantly I have been given 365 days of serving my Savior, Jesus Christ. Yes, there have been hard days for me this year but they are not important when viewing the big picture. Those moments when I was at my lowest, have helped mold me into the person I am today. The LORD has worked through my stuggles with my health to teach me the most important lessons and these lessons without a doubt trump my struggles. If I had the chance to I would not take this year back for anything in the world. If battling cancer means that I would be given the opportunity to learn the importance of depending on the LORD for every single thing, then I consider cancer my biggest blessing. My battle against cancer is so beautiful because each day I learn something new about my magnificent Savior and what a wonderful thing! Each day I am blown away by his unfailing love and constant faithfulness. My daily struggles do not even compare to the privilege I have of learning to depend on my Great Healer in every aspect of my life. Tonight as you reflect all of the wonderful and not-so-wonderful things that have happened in the year 2012, try to find your "cancer". Maybe you do not have cancer but there is something that has happened to you this year that has made you into a better person. Something difficult or something wonderful has happened to you that has played a role in shaping you to be the person you were designed to be. If something difficult has happened to you and you haven't been able to view it as something positive, I challenge you tonight as you think about this year to look at your trials from a different perspective. Coming to terms with trials is a process and you do not simply wake up the next day at peace with everything, but tonight can be the night you start the healing process. Tomorrow is the first day of 2013 and I pray that the difficulties that come our way will be viewed as God woking in our life for our benefit and that we together will serve him in all that we do. In this coming year we will all want to be loved, accepted, healthy, and happy. There will be moments when life is going smoothly and there will be moments when life gets rough, but on the mountaintops we need to learn to give glory to God and in the valleys, learn to depend on him for strength. I pray for everyone's safety tonight and that 2013 will be filled with countless opportunities to fall deeper in love with Jesus.
My lovely new scar from my last appointment
My friend Luis who is also a patient at St. Jude and is cancer free!
And on a lighter note please enjoy this extremely glamorous picture of me fresh out of surgery aka my lowest point. I asked my mom to take a lot of pictures so I could put them on my blog. I remember her taking this picture and thinking to myself "I can't wait to see that picture I know it was great". I seriously thought that it was possible to take a good picture post-surgery but boy was I wrong! Hope everyone has a wonderful night and stays safe. :)
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