Day 1 - in the books!!!

Psalm 103:1-5

Praise the LORD, O my soul;

all my inmost being,

praise his holy name.

Praise the LORD, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits -

who forgives all your sins

and heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit

and crowns you with love and compassion,

who satisfies your desires with good things

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

We made it through the first day. Praise the Lord! God is so good!

We started out bright and early this morning with our first app't at 8:00 AM with the eye doctor. This was to get a baseline reading of my vision to compare throughout the process. Then we headed straight to radiation oncology for treatment #1. I was fitted for all the equipment last week so we were ready to go. I basically lay on a table (they cover me with a blanket and rubber band my feet together to help keep me from moving). Then they put a mask on me that is fitted to my face, along with a mouthpiece. All of this is to keep me as still as possible. If I move even a millimeter, there are sensors on the mouthpiece that tell the computer I've moved and it shuts down the radiation. They then have to come back in and adjust me back to my original spot. This is all so that the radiation hits exactly the precise spot it's supposed to. They said I did great - I didn't move at all today!! Last week when I tried all this on, it was hard to relax and breathe easily. It's definitely easier today, but pray that I can stay relaxed through this process. It's fairly quick and also painless, which is a blessing!

Please pray that the radiation beams will always hit EXACTLY where it's supposed to. Pray for the staff, that they will be alert and focused. I've really been praying that God's HAND would guide the radiation, and also the chemotherapy and other drugs to EXACTLY where they need to go to be most effective.

After this we stopped at Hope Lodge to check in. We will post a picture, hopefully tomorrow, of where we're staying and give you more details. Then we were off to an oncology app't to discuss the chemo with my doctor. We were told in more details the side effects of the chemo and our doctor explained at length that it will cause infertility. This has given us new things to pray about. Please pray for us as we meet with our team of doctors tomorrow to discuss this more.

Thank you so much for your prayers. It's been a long day and we're exhausted so we'll write more tomorrow. We love you all and are humbled by your support! God Bless!!