The Wreck

This part of my journey begins on March 27,2008. I was leaving work at a little before 5:00 and was approaching the elementary school on Jackson Trail. As I got closer to the teacher parking lot, I noticed a convertible with the top down approaching the exit and not slowing down. And as I had feared, she pulled out right in front of me, not stopping but actually accelerating! I hit her broadside! Her car spun around and hit a tree. I pryed open my door and was afraid I was going to see a terribly injured person. She just had a few scratches on her and was able to climb out of the car. She immediately talked about how I was going to sue her and she was so sorry. In a panic, she had pushed on the accelerator instead of the brake! I assured her that I was not going to sue her, but was she injured? The next words out of her mouth were ones that I didn't want to hear: It wasn't her car; she didn't have a driver's license; she didn't have insurance; she wasn't wearing a seat belt and she had found out the day before that she was pregnant! I insisted that she get someone to take her to the emergency room. She did receive a couple of tickets. An examination at the e.r. showed that she had a concussion but the baby seemed okay. Tragically, I found out later that she did loose the baby a couple of weeks later.
I felt all over my body and didn't seem hurt. Unfortunately, our precious 14 year old truck did not fare so well. It was totalled. Luckily, we had uninsured motorist coverage with our insurance so this helped us find another vehicle - a cute little P.T. Cruiser. I went on for a couple of weeks before I noticed that I was having headaches and my left arm was beginning to hurt terribly bad and my pointer finger was going numb and tingling. Eventually, I went to my doctor, Kathy Brooks, and she sent me for an MRI and to a surgeon. Amy went with me to the surgeon and he confirmed that I had 2 bulging discs in my neck and would require fusion surgery and a metal plate put in my neck! Well, along with paying for my truck, my uninsured motorist covered my surgery and lost wages associated with it.
I did really well during the surgery and 9 week recuperation. The worst part was probably the neck brace that I had to wear! In preparation for the surgery , there is all the pre-op testing. Part of the tests is a chest x-ray. On the afternoon before surgery, the hospital called and told me that I might have to postpone my surgery because a mass was shown on my x-ray. I couldn't believe it. Kerri called Kathy Brooks and Kathy called the radiologist who read my x-ray. She told him that she would follow up with checking out the spot on my lung after I had the neck surgery - so I was able to go ahead with the surgery the next day. Kathy was my hero!
True to her word ( and mostly her concern for me) about a month into my recovery, she scheduled a CT scan of my chest. She went ahead and scheduled me to see a lung surgeon(Dr. Macias) and get the reports. Ronnie and I saw Dr. Macias on July 14th. He said that the ct scan showed something that needed further testing. He scheduled a PET/Ct scan which would show up any cancer in my body. I had this test done on July 16th. On July 23rd, Ronnie and I went to Dr. Macias office to hear either I had cancer or I didn't. Well, that's not what we found out. The test showed mild to moderate activity in the mass in my lung but was inconclusive as to whether it was a malignancy or not. More testing needed! This time I went for a biopsy on July 30th. The radiologist who did it was almost certain that it was not malignant but we needed to wait to get the report back from testing . I had made an appt. for Aug.14th to find out the results. But, to my surprise, the dr. office called and said the results were in and to come in on the 5th.
Kathy called and said she wanted to meet Ronnie and I at Dr. Macias office at 3:30. With the 3 of us in his office he said the dreaded words "I'm so sorry but we got the results back and you have adenocarcinoma - lung cancer!" We were stunned! He said that this kind grows pretty quickly in women so we needed to do surgery quickly. By the time I had breathing testing and all the pre-op done , surgery was done on Aug. 8th. I again did very well . They removed the lower left lobe and the surrounding lymph nodes and part of the upper lobe that the mass was touching. The results of the biopsy for this showed that it had spread to one lymph node but not into the blood vessel next to it. Because of the activity in the lymph node, I will have to undergo chemotherapy and possibly radiation. It is scheduled to start on Sept. 22nd and go for 16 weeks straight - one day a week.
I am not afraid because I feel God holding me in the palm of His hand. I do realize because of what Mother and Wendell went through, that it won't be a picnic, but I remain positive that I will make it through it all and come out a better person - because I know that I couldn't do it without God and without all of you praying for me!
God also blessed me with a wonderful husband. Ronnie has waited on me hand and foot for the last 3 weeks. I do realize that I am also blessed with a wonderful support team that would come anytime I asked.
I ask God daily to protect my precious children through all this because I know how hard it is on them.
I covet your prayers on my behalf and hope that when I'm called on to help someone, that I don't hesitate to do whatever I'm called to do.
I am listening for God's whispers!

God Works In Mysterious Ways

You know how you sit and wonder what changes are going to happen in your life within the next year? Well, a year ago I would not have thought that my future would hold three surgeries and a life-altering diagnosis. But "God knows the plans He has for us." (Jer. 29:11)

I have begun a journal of the things that have happened to me and decided that I would share it with those who know me and love me. (Besides, at my age, my memory is so bad that if I don't write it down somewhere, I will forget the details.) I also hope to use this as a way to keep everyone updated (in case I forget to call you).

Most of all, I want everyone that reads this to say a special prayer for me each time you log on because I know that prayers are powerful and effective.