Monday, November 2, 2009

Let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. Hebrews 12:28b

We're back from Iowa City and had a good day. Once again, the tumor is "stable" as the doctor's called it. They said that it is basically the same size as before. We were able to look at the scans and a couple of the images looked as if it's slightly smaller, but the doctors explained that this could be because of how my head and neck were positioned each time during the MRIs.

We were able to get some questions answered and I also have more appointments set up - with an ENT dr and also my eye dr. I'm feeling great and it's so encouraging seeing my hair start to grow back, being able to eat foods I couldn't just weeks ago, and noticing slight changes in my vision and hearing. I've got a ways to go, but seeing progress! My next check-up is in February.

Short post tonight, as I'm super tired. Hope to talk to you all soon!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Trip to Iowa City

He is my loving God and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge.
Psalm 144:2

It's already time for my next MRI. My last one was August 19 and now we're heading back to Iowa City tomorrow morning (Nov 2) for my next check-up. The last few months have included lots of highs and also lots of lows. I've been sick on and off as my immune system is weak due to the treatment I went through. I seem to catch every bug that's going around. I've had strep throat, a cold, a sinus infection, and the latest is a rare skin rash. But the positive through all of it is that I've had no major headaches!

On the bright side, in the past few weeks, my hair has started to grow back! My sister, Haylie, the stylist, had to take a look and we were all so excited that it was just starting to peak through. And even better is that it's the same color as the rest of my hair (there's a chance it could have grown back differently). The other good news is that I'm starting to gain back my taste buds. I haven't been able to eat cooked tomato foods (like pasta sauce, pizza sauce, salsa) because of my taste buds. They would leave a horrible, bitter taste in my mouth. However, in recent weeks, I've been able to eat these again! We also have hope that my hearing is getting slightly better. I was able to talk to Zac on the phone with my "bad" ear and feel like I could hear him better than before. But we'll need to have it checked in months to come. One by one, things are starting to heal.

Please pray for my MRI and appointments Monday. We are praying for a great report from the MRI. We are also hoping for answers to some of the questions we have. Pray for great wisdom for my doctor's and nurses. We will keep you updated on how things go!