Quick Physical Update

Just a quick physical update. Thank you always for your faithfulness in prayer for Mike & me! Not sure what people do without God in their lives, but we're blessed to be surrounded by a community of people who really love & really pray & really believe! Wow!

I have a full heart of some things to share & will write later in the week but want to catch people up on my actual physical status, too. I saw lots of people I love this weekend & was told over & over again just how great I look! That pleases me & is true & catches people by surprise who haven't seen me for a while. Mike says my looks are a bit decieving since there's still a lot going on internally! Nonetheless, I LOVE hearing how great I look, so those compliments can keep on coming, ok?

Now that I'm a Hospice patient & under their care, the schedule is a bit different in that they come to me instead of me having appointments to go to them. There is constant monitoring & I have a direct phone line to them for any question or care I might need 24/7. This is a huge blessing to us.

I really still have 2 physical issues: one is the active cancer that continues to grow & spread & always will unless God stops it. It has caused some swelling in my chest & is causing quite a bit of limited flexibility in my left arm. I can move my arm forward & up in front of me but not to the side. It's uncomfortable with this limited mobility & swelling but I'm learning to live with it. So far, it hasn't hampered my ability to hold my grandkids, so as far as I'm concerned, I'm good to go!

I continue to heal from the lung surgery. To be honest... wow! Still have quite a bit of pain on my left back & understand I will continue to. Medications for pain management are working, though, so I'm grateful to be able to tell you this! Still have limited lung capacity on my left side & always will, so am learning to live with that, too. It does cause shortness of breath in my day to day living & also causes me to become more tired more easily. If I'm just standing & visiting with you, you would not be able to tell this is a problem, but that's here to stay, too.

Whatever Holy Spirit prompts you to pray for me is good with me. God knows me better than I know myself, so I trust Him to communicate with you as you pray for my family & me on our needs & desires. Physically, I pray every day that He'll protect my right lung from cancer growth. So far, the cancer has not attacked my right lung & I pray hard that it doesn't. I do have oxygen available to me now for a comfort measure, should I need it. This is another blessing.

I'm incredibly thankful to tell you I'm living my life! Cason's soccer game on Saturday, the trip to San Diego with Paisley, an extended family cookout, a wedding shower, a fabulous lunch brought to us by a dear friend & church today!

How's that for an update! Some details stink & some details cause rejoicing! I'd say that's living, for sure!

Blessings!