Tag Archives: chemotherapy

“The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.” –Psalm 145:13b

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Happy New Year! So sorry it’s been a while, but I hope yall had blessed Christmases and New Year celebrations as well! We have enjoyed the holidays here in Fairview, and even more than the time to rest, I was thrilled with the 80 degree weather we had yesterday. In January. That’s amazing. (although, of course, it’s 43 right now. all good things must come to an end, apparently).

Anyway, how about a recap of the past week or so? I had my 2nd treatment on Wednesday (Christmas Eve) down in Dallas, and it was definitely a different experience than my treatment at Northwestern in Chicago, but it was such a blessing to get in even–especially on Christmas Eve. The doctor was a little more frank, but it gave my dad, my friend Caroline, and I some laughs as the doctor said, “You could be dead” in a very blunt manner. I mean, it’s a true statement when you think about it, but when sitting in a hospital room on Christmas Eve, it nevertheless made us laugh a little and say, “Well, yes, that’s true. I tell myself that every day when I wake up.” So, treatment happened, and I felt great on Christmas, which is a huge praise! Thanks for so many prayers for that! I got a little tired, but then again, at one point, about five of us McGinnis cousins were sleeping around my grandparents’ couches, so I can’t really say whether my fatigue was isolated to chemo or not. The day after Christmas (Friday) I also felt pretty well–again, just a little tired physically–or maybe drained is a better word, since it’s not like I was falling asleep at meals or anything, but I just felt fatigued.

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“But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign LORD; in you I take refuge…” –Psalm 141:8

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Ok–this is one for the record books of the shortest post (to date). BUT, I just wanted to update about treatment #2. God really is so sovereign! Praise Him for His incredible peace, too. So, details were still not worked out until like 11:30am today about my 2nd treatment (that needed to happen tomorrow), and as much as my parents were on my case about getting it on the books, praise Him for working out all the details and completely giving me peace that, whether it fit into tomorrow or next Monday (thus changing every other treatment), He was sovereign. And He IS! So anyway, I was getting to 11:30am…so the scheduler from Dr. Fay’s office at the Baylor-Sammons Cancer Center in Dallas called again then and asked if 8:30 Wednesday (tomorrow) morning worked, to which I quickly assured her it was perfect. So, I have my 2nd treatment tomorrow morning at 8:30am. PTL!!!

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“Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life…The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me…” -Psalm 138:7, 8

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Greetings, once again, from Fairview! It’s been an eventful past week or so, and I’m finally finding some time (and peace of mind) to sit down and give an update. With so much to tell, I think this one will be somewhat of a chronological look back over the past 8 days, starting with a week ago Saturday.

Let me first, however, start out by giving a shoutout to Erin Groth who, after reading my note in the last post about maybe wanting a snack because it was a long one, actually got out a bag of popcorn, popped it, and then continued to read my post. Haha, I love my friends.

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“O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption” -Psalm 130:7

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1 down, 11 to go. When you think of it like that, it’s manageable, right? Plus, “12” was always my number…I don’t know that you’d call it lucky, seeing as how I’ve had a very mediocre career at points in volleyball, but it is, nevertheless a very recurring number in my life, and as hokey as this sounds, it’s endearing. So, of course there WOULD be 12 chemos to go through.

This is going to be a long one. You might want a snack or to break this up over the next few days (when I will be silent on here due to EXAMMMSSS…grr). Let me give you a little more info and then I’ll talk about Chemo Numero Uno (number one for those of you outside of Texas…).

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“Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits–who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases” -Psalm 103:2-3

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The title of tonight’s post is a verse that my Aunt Erin sent to me among a great collection of verses about God’s power to heal and faithfulness, and it seems a fitting verse for this week as I am now finished with tests and all set to go for treatment on Thursday. I realized that Thursday will mark the first time of healing in this process rather than what up to this point has only been tests–prodding me with needles, coring me, or giving me all kinds of radioactive material possible for some sort of scan or other.

As I sat in 4 waiting rooms today, I watched a good amount of the day’s news while trying to work on a paper. Ultimately, I realized that there are 2 things I’m proud of tonight:
(1) I drank two whole bottles of barium sulfate “masked” by a “berry” flavoring–and I mean to tell you, I downed the liquid without a thought of gagging or throwing up–PTL. If you know me well, you know how great of a feat this is. Add this to the list of “10 foods I eat” that everyone is always asking me about expanding. (if you detect sarcasm about the barium sulfate and the fact that everyone thinks I eat only 10 foods, you are correct).
(2) I am also proud that, although I (temporarily) reside in the “Most Corrupt State in America,” I feel like I have come out fairly unscathed (although the jury on that has to wait another semester for the final verdict). Really though, who was surprised that an Illinois official did something corrupt?

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