#27 UPDATE
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Welcome Back! It’s been years since I’ve updated my cancer journey. As you will notice the background is different. We moved into a different house so I won’t have the gorgeous fireplace behind me anymore. However, we mainly live on 1 floor now which helps as we head into older age.
I decided it was finally time to update you on what has been happening in my cancer journey. It is now February 2025. I retired in January and now have more time to focus on ministry. Therefore, I have a lot to share with you. I plan to break up my news into several short episodes instead of sharing all at one time.
As a reminder, God healed me of breast and Thymoma cancer September of 2021. Every 6 months after that I had to get a CAT Scan just to make sure that nothing had returned. On June 19th, 2024 I had my routine CAT Scan. It showed 3 places in my left chest cavity that looked likely cancerous. Needless to say, this emotionally upset me because I did not want to go through another horrendous cancer journey.
My 17-year-old granddaughter heard of my situation. She believes in the power of prayer and sent me the following prayer she was praying for me:
“I have been praying and going to war for you. I bind every attack of the enemy that you are made whole not just physical but also mentally. That your heath is restored and refreshed. I pray for a fresh breath of air in your lungs that you can rejoice for whatever news you may hear. You are healed and free and I am believing and declaring it over your life. I pray for a fresh sense of peace over your life and over Wes’s life that there will be no doubt or worry that there will be faith and trust in God. God will work all things out for the greater good. I pray that you will continue to minister and preach and speak his goodness and all he has done for you even through the good or bad that just because you may be going through a trial you can continue to praise God through all things. Your word says in psalms 103: 1-6 ” Let all that I am praise the lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like eagles! The lord righteousness and justice to all who are treated unfairly.” I am believing and declaring that over your life that all burdens and bondages are broken off your life all generational curses are gone that there is freedom in your name Jesus. I pray for your joy and praise to fill up in your heart that you can rejoice for all to hear. There will be a growing presence over you that people will come up to you and ask what is making you feel and look the way you do because of God. I pray against any spiritual attracts that they are broken off right now and you are released and will have a deep and meaningful want for more of God and his word. In your name Amen, I believe that it is finished and Gods will, will be done in his name. In just the mention of his name Jesus it will be done. So continue to call on to God and he will listen to your cries. I will continue to pray for you, I love you.”
I taped the prayer to my bathroom mirror. I reread that prayer daily for a while which helped to give me confidence that God has this situation. The words she spoke were life to me.
Several things she prayed came true. She prayed that I would have freedom and joy and praise the Lord. She prayed people would come up to me and ask why I was reacting the way I was. That is exactly what happened. I had God’s Philippians 4:6-7 peace where it talks about do not be anxious for anything. Bring your requests to him. Then that indescribable peace would flow. That’s exactly what happened to me. I went around with such peace all over me, people came up and asked how I could be reacting the way I was with the news I had received. They could not comprehend it. It was such a great testimony of what God was doing in me at that time.
I want to encourage you. If you know someone going through a trial. Pray with them. There is power in prayer agreement. Pray scripture. There is power in doing that. It can be such an encouragement.
I have a lot to share and don’t want to take too much of your time right now. Therefore watch for my next post where I will begin to share details of what has happened since the June CAT scan news.
#28 On July 9th 2024 I had a Pet scan which confirmed there was high activity in my left chest area. I met with Dr. Ceppa from Simon Cancer Center on July 10th. She confirmed something was going on but the only way to know for sure was to have a biopsy. She said they only had to biopsy 1 of the three places. However the locations were not good. So Dr. Ceppa called Dr. Noon a pulmonology specialist to see if she could do a biopsy down my bronchial tube. I got a call on July 11th that they could schedule the biopsy the next day. Right before the biopsy I was told where she had to go was in a difficult location and she wasn’t sure if she could accomplish it. If not I would have to have surgery to get the biopsy.
Here I was again having to go through testing I did not want to. At least this time I would be asleep and not have to watch them put a long needle through my lung like they did in 2020. However, I wasn’t looking forward to being put asleep for the procedure but I knew we had to in order to know if it truly was cancer.
I prayed she would accomplish the biopsy with no problems and thankfully it was successful. The doctor told my husband it definitely was cancer but they would not know the kind or treatment until it was sent for testing.
I always pray for God to give me opportunities to minister while I’m going through the cancer journey. God opened ministry doors during recovery. The first one, a nurse’s dad was a pastor and she admitted she was not been following God. I encouraged her to do so. The second opportunity, she said she was a Christian but not where she should be. I shared Philippians 4:6-7 that talks about don’t be anxious and pray and God will give you peace. I saw her write it down. She said that her husband could use it.
It took 11 days instead of the 2 that I was told it would take to get biopsy results. On July 23 Dr. Noor called with results. Said it was cancer and I would need chemo. She scheduled me the next day to see Dr. Loehrer and Dr. Ceppa.
Prior to this news I had unbelievable Philippians 4 peace. People I testified to couldn’t believe how well I was handling everything. However, after getting the pathology report something changed. I guess my brain focused on how bad treatment etc was in 2020 and 2021. Because I was told I’d have to have chemo I assumed I’d have to have a port, lose my hair, experience bad side effects from chemo, radiation, surgery etc. I really struggled emotionally after this news. Yet I knew God was in charge and I had to look to him for strength and encouragement.
The next time I will continue with my visit to Indianapolis to see Dr. Loehrer who I call the Thymoma guru. He is so knowledgeable. So until next time.
#29 On July 24, 2024 I saw Dr. Loehrer. He is who I call the Thymus guru from IU Medical Center. On the way there I prayed God would give me some good news. Dr. Loehrer walked into the room and said have I met you before? I said no. I told him we were supposed to see him in 2020 and his office kept canceling my appointment so we gave up. However, in 2020 he was instrumental in working with my local oncologist to choose the type of chemo I had. He was VERY pleasant. He thoroughly explained how in 2020 there were other small things that showed in scans. After chemo they were gone by 2021. He said the first chemo was very successful. The cancer tissue was totally dead when Dr. Ceppa removed the tissue. He said there is like a billion cancer cells in 1 cm. He now believes that I never totally got over the Thymoma cancer. He thinks it has been there all along just not big enough to show activity. He says it’s definitely Thymoma cancer. (the pathology report said lung vs thymoma).
God answered my prayer for good news even though I did find out this time the cancer had progressed to stage 4A because it was in more than 1 place.
- Because it was stage IV there would be no surgery. They only do surgery on stage 1-3.
- I would not need radiation.
- Chemo at this point would not be the harsh stuff. I would take Chemo pills, therefore I would not need a port nor lose my hair at this point in the journey.
However, he says I will have to deal with this for a life time. I will be on chemo pills. I will have periodical testing to see if it’s working. I may go off of the treatment for a period of time. If it shows up again, then they might put me back on the same treatment or change it.
I found out only about 1000 people in entire US have Thymoma cancer. I’m one of only 3-400 people in the US that have my type of Thymoma Cancer.
He says because I’m healthy otherwise this is what I probably will die of. He said I probably have 5-10 years. I’m not accepting that doctor report. I am believing God will heal me because I want to live till in I’m in my 90s. I desire to live a life serving the Lord.
Dr. Loehrer said he would like to do an article on me. Prior to my first chemo treatment, he had thought about doing a combination of chemotherapy drugs to treat breast and Thymoma cancer at the same time. Then my situation came along. So he tried it. He was VERY pleased with how successful it was. Therefore he wants to share with other practitioners what he did because he thinks it’s a better treatment than they are using now. That made me feel good.
After my appointment they did a lot of blood tests and took 5 vials of blood….however they did 4 and then the blood quit running so they had to stick me again. I hate needles so I wasn’t thrilled about this
He also later had them do DNA testing where they tested the tissue. I told him they aren’t going in again to more tissue. He said hopefully they would have enough from the first biopsy to test. I left encouraged and really appreciating Dr. Loehrer. He talked with us for over an hour. Where do you go to the doctor now a days and they take their time and are with you for an hour?
The DNA test came back not showing it was hereditary.
Because I won’t have surgery, I did not have to see Dr. Ceppa.
The next episode, I will share what happened to me emotionally and how God sent others to encourage me through prayer and a dream.
