Miracles

Last week was a rough one, but in the end I was able to have the chemo that will hopefully stop the growth of the tumors in my brain. Had the chemo on Saturday - January1. What a way to bring in the new year!

I have started this blog twice and not finished it because I am not sure how to relate the miracles that God has performed for me in a delicate way. However, I am so grateful to Him that I cannot let this go by without a public praise. Hopefully this will inspire others that God does listen and He is interested in the "small" stuff.

Just to catch you up - over Christmas we noticed some advancement in the symptoms related to the tumors in my brain. Specifically, my left eye no longer closes all the way. I sent an email to my brain Dr. and they started scheduling tests right away so I could start the brain chemo ASAP.

On Wednesday I had an ommaya tap (insert needle, take out spinal fluid for testing), a cisternogram dose and 2 cisternograms (inject a tracer into spinal fluid and take 2 pictures to see how fluid flows and make sure there is no blockage). Then on Thursday I returned for 2 more cisternpgrams (pictures) and an MRI of my entire spine.

Here is where God comes in. If you have a queasy stomach, just skip this paragraph. One of the side effects of both of the chemos I am taking is diarrhea. Very often there is absolutely no warning. Based on having a chemo on Saturday, I knew by Thursday there were going to be some issues. I could just imagine an incident all over one of their very expensive machines. Sorry for the visual, but I was stressed! The two cisternograms on Thursday were 25 minutes each and the spine MRI was two hours. I prayed Wednesday night that God would just handle all the timing so that I didn't embarrass myself - and He did! I had an hour and a half window between the last cisternogram and the MRI and KABOOM! I know this may seem trivial to you, but I assure you it was not trivial to me and I was quite relieved (pun intended).

As you can imagine, I was quite happy as I was called into the MRI room - until they had me lie on the table. Remember that I had had a needle inserted into my spine the day before. It hurt, but wasn't all that bad. Then I had to lie on a table 4 times for the cisternogram pictures and I felt just fine. Now, however, I could not lie down. The pain was so bad in my lower back, I just couldn't do it. How was I going to be still for 2 hours when I couldn't be still for 2 minutes??

I kind of started crying because I was frustrated, but I asked the technician to just give me a few minutes and I started praying. I told Jesus if I was not supposed to have this brain chemo - fine. I would get up and leave. But if he wanted me to have it, he had to take away the pain. I have a sort of Jesus chant I do sometimes. This one was along the lines of Help Me Jesus. I was slowly able to lie back down. My lower back quit hurting - no kidding. There were times during the test that it would start to hurt again, so I would focus on Jesus and the pain would go away.

After the test it hurt so bad I had to lie down in the back seat of the truck all the way home and lie on my side for the rest of the evening. It still hurts if I sit the wrong way.

You can think what you want, but I am telling you I experienced some miracles from God.

Happy New Year!
Kelli