Almost devastation turned victory!

Hey all! We are home from Houston...yay!!! Whew, I have so much to write. First of all, thank you so much for your prayers Thursday..they were so vital to me and God answered them. You all are amazing.

Thursday, I had my port pre-op appointments with some of the nicest ladies yet. Then, I went to get my bloodowork and had the sweetest nurse who confided in me that she was pregnant and hadnt told many people yet..so,so sweet. It is crazy how close you can feel to people that are working hard to not hurt you and just want to take it all away. She was precious.

After my bloodowork, we grabbed lunch and shopped a little and headed to an outlet mall about 30 minutes away. On the way there, we tried calling some of my nurses to see if they could tell us how the bloodowork came back. It took forever to get to someone who could actually tell us something. We finally talked to Joy in the infusion therapy department and she was able to compare my blood work from last week to this week. The part they are concerned with is my ANC count (similar to white blood cells). It is supposed to be at 1 or higher. Anything lower than that puts you at an increased risk for infection and doctors typically do not feel comfortable administering chemo below 1. Last week, my ANC was .95 and this week it dropped again to .86. Joy was nervous they were not going to be able to give me chemo, so she contacted my doctor. We were at the mall for 10 minutes when we received a call from Joy to say that they wanted to give me a shot that night to try and boost my ANC level. So, we headed back to MD Anderson! We laughed that we had driven all that way to turn around again! Thankfully, I have an amazing husband and mom that were more excited for me to get the shot than to stay and shop and get a break from the hospital.

Soooo, we headed back! Traffic was crazy and we moved about 10 miles in an hour, but we made it:) I got the neupogin shot and it went well. It burned pretty badly as it went in, but other than that, it went well. Esmie, my nurse, said that it could cause some bone pain, but so far, so good!

Joy informed us at the time of my shot that we had to wait 24 hours to get chemo for the shot to be in my system, so, at that point my chemo changed from this Friday morning to Friday night. We planned on leaving this Friday afternoon, but then we learned my chemo changed, so we thought we would have to stay the night, but no, God is bigger!!!

I had my surgery this Friday morning and it went well. It took about an hour and I am really sore, but it went well. I said some pretty funny things and did some crazy things...that provided some entertainment:) My collar bone and neck just hurt badly! It hurts to talk! It should go away, but this catheter is in my jugular and is just very uncomfortable. It will get better as I get used to it though.

Now comes the good news!!! They took my blood through my port during surgery and remember my ANC was at .86 Thursday? Well, Friday it was at 8.11!!!! Yes, crazy high!!!! All it had to be at was 1 and it ws 8! We were thrilled and so thankful. It is amazing how the Lord orders our steps.

Because of this, we could have chemo whenever and didn't have to wait until Friday tonight. So, we had chemo around 12! Talk about change of plans..God's plans are so much better than our own. Because he knows the future and just because of who He is, He goes before us and knows what's best. He knows the end of my story ends in victory. He just wants me to trust Him, and I will trust him- no matter what.

I am standing on His promises! It has really hit me in the last few days just how long this process will be. I am such an organized person that wants to check off dates and move along, and that will happen, but it will take a while. I will wait patiently for the Lord. Praying this moves along quickly, but I will wait as long as He has me wait.

"Rest in the Lord asnd wait patiently for Him." Psalm 37:7 "But those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up on wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint?" Isaiah 40:32

He will save me. I will live and declare the works of the Lord!!!

"I will not die. Instead, I will live to tell what the Lord has done!" Psalm 118:17

 On the way to Houston on Thursday morning.

 Shot on Thursday night.

 Ready of my port surgery Friday morning.

This creeped us out a little when they put this on her foot. Josh asked why and they said to identify me during surgery so that they do not have to interrupt the "sterile" zone near the actual surgery site.

Still a little odd.

Round 4 in the books. Again, for whoever blessed us with the iPad2, please look on my lap and you will see just one more time we have used the iPad. It has been a blessing.