#28 GODCIDENCE & TREATMENT PLAN
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#28 After my appointment with Dr. Loehrer who explained my cancer situation, I was really confused and frustrated that the Philippians 4 peace had left me and I was feeling kind of fearful of what the future held. However, God gave me a Godcidence on July 30th. I just happened…nope it was God…looked at Facebook. Daniel & Kelly Mangas were live for about 21 minutes. I clicked on the link about 6 minutes before the end. Kelly looked really burdened. She said she didn’t know who she was going to pray for but she described that someone out there was desperate because of a situation. How she described it sounded like me. She prayed and my heavy burdened lifted! I thank God he used her.
I recognized that I was responding with a lot of internal emotion. I was not quite sure how to overcome it. My future was unknown. I was struggling to be strong in God yet I was believing Him to get me through this.
I ended up going to my daughters for a mini vacation. She needed help setting up her classroom for school. I went there for 4-5 days.
On my way driving there I talked with a friend I hadn’t talked with in months. She said on June 24, 2024 she had a dream with me. The bible talks about God speaking to people through dreams so I was curious to hear what the dream was about….
We were in a vehicle. I tried to plow through a hill. As I did this, she bent over feeling the push of pushing there. Each time I pushed it was like sand flying in the air like fireworks. The fireworks ended up forming a rainbow. This happened 3 times. The I turned the vehicle into a grassy area and 2 brilliant white dogs appeared, one little and one huge. They wanted us to pet them and love on them.
I wasn’t sure what all this meant but I interpreted it that the first hill was when I found out the news that it could be cancer again. I was pushing through the facts believing in God and that rainbow was the unbelievable Phil 4 peace God gave me. The second hill I believe was when fear and uncertainty tried to consume me. I pushed through and God sent Kelly through her live Facebook to pray for me. The rainbow was again the peace God gave me. I believe the third hill hasn’t come yet. My 17-year-old granddaughter is praying for a miracle that doctors can’t explain and it baffles them on all God heals me. I believe me plowing through the circumstances now is the 3rd hill and the rainbow will come when God answers that prayer. I wasn’t sure what the dogs meant.
During that time, I also attended a Woman’s Conference at my daughter’s church. This was also a God divine appointment. The speakers really spoke to me in several areas. After the last session, 2 women from the church prayed with me. They believe before praying to ask if there is any unforgiveness. I told them I had tried to forgive but still felt stuff afterwards. They helped pray through deliverance and broke chains from generational stuff. Prior I felt a knot in my chest, in my soul. Praise the Lord is was gone after they prayed and I felt freedom like I did when I got saved!
One of the ladies also discussed the dream with me. She agrees with my interpretation of the hills. She says rainbows are God’s promise. She says she isn’t totally sure what the dogs meaning is but she says white is something good. Maybe they are taking away my fear. I have a fear of dogs….not that they are taking away my dog fear but the fear of the unknown.
I knew I had been under a lot of stress from the fact that cancer had returned. I then had an ocular migraine July 25 at work…I experienced blurry vision off to the right side. Then again July 29 I was in a meeting at work and I got full blown ocular migraine. I called the eye doctor. He said it’s stress induced and will go away in half hour. Then August 3 waiting for symphony program to start at my daughter’s park I had another one. I couldn’t figure out why I would have had it then. Anyhow thankfully I haven’t had any more since then.
August 4, 2024. I recognize the enemy has been trying very hard to defeat me with fear of the unknown and uncertainty. I knew I needed to make more time to dig into God’s word. I needed confirmation that God would bring me through this journey.
I know God is allowing all of this for His purpose and he will walk with me through it. I must focus on His promises instead of the lies of the enemy. I must praise and worship my Lord.
Join me next time when I share the beginning of my cancer treatment and what I experienced.
August 2024, I began taking 4 pills of Capecitabine in the morning and 4 pills in the evening, 12 hours apart, one week on then one week off.
I was told that if someone else were ever to give me the chemo pills, they would have to wear gloves because it could hurt them. That caused me a lot of anxiety to begin with. I put the pills in a daily pill container by tilting the pill bottle and pouring the pills into the pill container without touching them. If others shouldn’t touch them, then I didn’t want to either.
I didn’t want to put that harmful stuff in my body but I felt I had no choice. The pills were delivered via Fed Ex from the pharmacy. I had to be very careful opening the box and placing the pills in daily pill containers.
I had a few side effects of indigestion and tongue tingling. The main side effect I experienced was Hand And Foot Syndrome. This is where the hands and feet turn red and can hurt. The also get dry and it was recommended to use a cream that had Urea in it to help heal it. At one point my feet hurt on the bottom every step I took. At that point I called the doctor to see if I could get a handicap sticker so I wouldn’t have to walk far from the parking lot into the stores. My doctor happened to be on vacation so the doctor on call told me to stop taking the pills until my doctor returned. As a result, I was off the pills for about 10 days. At that point he told me to resume them but write down daily my side effects.
Shortly after that on November 4th I had another appointment with Dr. Loehrer. He said the recent CAT scan showed it was shrinking. That was great news! He also suggested instead of 4 pills to lower it to 3 pills. Once I did that, I have not experienced Hand and Foot Syndrome again. For a couple of weeks, the heals of my feet were dry and peeling but the horrible pain I had felt was gone.
January 2025, I met with Dr. Loehrer again after an updated CAT scan. He said they had shrunk again. I was disappointed because the result of the CT said negative. My local oncologist explained later that if it is less than 1 cm, they consider it negative. However, Dr. Loehrer actually looked at the CT and was able to still see them there but smaller.
He explained he prefers me to be on the capecitabine for 6 months to a year. Then if I’m doing well at that time, I can take what he calls a “holiday”. I could go off the treatment for a while but I would continue to have routing CAT scans to monitor my condition. If scans would show it growing again later, then they might put me back on the same treatment plan or change it.
While I’m on chemo I am not supposed to use other natural methods of treatment because it can make the chemo not as effective. I’ve heard someone who had terminal cancer use lemongrass tea. She is cancer free today. I discussed this with my local oncologist. He said he could never tell me to do it because he could get sued. However, He said if I did, I could come in for routine blood tests to make sure I was doing well.
Therefore, I’m hoping by next August I can go off chemo and begin using lemongrass tea. I am truly believing that God will again make me cancer free so that I can have farm more years than the medical world predicts to be used in ministry for the Lord.
What is interesting is I have not had any symptoms that the cancer returned. Only the CAT scan showed it. Once I got the Hand and Foot Syndrome gone, I really have no symptoms at all. I praise the Lord, I FEEL GREAT!
I’m trusting God will continue to give me opportunities to share my journey and what God has taught me through it to encourage others when they go through trials.
Next time I’m going to share something a little different. I will share how God showed me Trials are a blessing!
