Well, the big meeting with the oncologist has now come and gone, and at the end of a pretty long day, in looking back, once again, His faithfulness is so evident. I am so in awe of it again and again, and while that might be a bad reflection on my lack of trust (to be somehow surprised that He would be faithful) it’s still the case that I am amazed.

I was talking with my roommate Rachel tonight and we saw how, in looking at all of this, it’s totally a situation where “coincidence” happens far too often to attribute it to some mere random force of fate functioning in this broken world. Instead, I go back to the verse that made me cringe when editing our high school yearbook since just about every parent wanted their senior’s page at the end to list it: Jeremiah 29:11. While probably overquoted and made to fit any and every situation, it is nevertheless TRUE! Only He knows the plans for us, but they are to prosper us, NOT to harm us. Furthermore, these plans, despite their first impressions at times, are to give us a hope and a future. If nothing else, I cling to that verse and its hope, knowing that God’s got something bigger than me or my family going on here, and while cancer might be uncomfortable, painful, and just plain hard to deal with short-term, His plan is for our good, which, in the long run, I’m ok with–in fact, I want that. (which reminds me of Romans 8:28–shoutout to my TCA friends who could probably STILL sing that song from “The Great Race of Faith” from 4th grade with me).

So ANYWAY, back to the oncologist’s report. Dr. Gordon was great–he spent an hour with us, talking through background, treatment regimen, and every single question we threw at him. Talk about good bedside manner. His nurse came in and talked to us for 40ish minutes after that, and she was great and will administer the treatment, so I’m glad to have someone personable and talkative for that.

The logistical stuff we came away with was that I am going back downtown tomorrow for some blood work, bone marrow testing (to make sure the cancer hasn’t spread there, I think), and to schedule about four or five subsequent tests I will need all in the next week or so. They still have to finish staging my lymphoma, so we’re praying that it will, indeed, only be stage IIA as they suspect and not have traveled to my abdomen or organs. I’m on the schedule to start my first treatment of chemotherapy next Thursday, December 11th. If we start then, with the general plan for treatment, it will wrap up around Thursday, May 7th, and I should graduate Sunday, May 10th. That’s the standard schedule, and, assuming that all goes according to the usual procedure, I am, once again, floored by God’s impeccable timing.

Now, “What IS chemotherapy?” you might ask. That is something I’ve had to ask (feeling shameful of my apparent total ignorance) over the past couple of weeks. In case you thought it was some sort of rays (you know, like Radiation is one kind, X-rays are another, etc.?), don’t worry, you are not alone. 🙂 However, as I discovered last month, chemo is drug treatment usually given intravenously (through the veins, not usually orally).The specific treatment planned is called ABVD, which are initials for some long names of four drugs that poison/kill the cancer cells in the tumors. Basically, they administer each of the four drugs separately and in rounds. So, 2 “chemos” is 1 round, and this overall treatment includes either 4 or 6 rounds, so 8 or 12 chemos, respectively (and 6 rounds is more common for them, I think). They do one chemo every other week, so 1 full round (2 chemos) a month, which all equals out to the fact that, if we start Thursday, it should end that week before graduation. So cool…and confusing details…but still really cool timing.

Now on to prayer request updates: as we finish up staging, please pray that it will go well and the cancer won’t have spread. Also, we’d love continued prayers as we finish working out some details–obviously it’s such a huge praise that we even got in today and can realistically start chemo next week, but there are still some things (like tests on my lungs, heart, and other things we have to talk to doctors about) that we need some wisdom on for timing. Also, we’re still trying to figure out some travel for my mom to come up for my first treatment and maybe a couple others, so general prayer for wisdom and administrative assistance would be highly valued. Lastly on the timing, I have two more days of class this week, five days next week, and then two days for exams, so it’s probably not as ideal timing for my stress levels as I try to finish up 3 more papers, a presentation, and 2 exams, all while making the 45 minute trips to the hospital. So, prayer to finish strong, take one day at a time, and be all here would be great.

I hope you don’t get tired of me saying this, but thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your prayers–God is so good and definitely has His hand in this, but your prayers are so precious to us. I have never felt so covered and supported in my life, and that is so humbling to see how He’s blessed me and my family in ways I could never imagine. Additionally, I don’t think I’ve ever been SO thankful (or really thankful at all) for the TCA grapevine as I am now. Within a week of finding out, faculty, parents, my former classmates, and even my mom’s kindergarten parents were praying for me. So, needless to say, I’ll probably be less cynical about news traveling at the speed of light within the Trinity community in the future. 🙂 Seriously, though, y’all have really been an awesome support, so thank you dearly. As for all of the other prayers and support, I would love to list you all (but I’ll keep name-dropping in the future, so stay tuned and yours, too, could be listed!), but for now, I need to sleep. So many have asked what they can do, and since we are probably as unsure of that answer as you are, know that your prayers are HUGE in and of themselves!

On Christ the solid rock I stand,

Hannah