Cyndis back home

Wow is all I can say. I had prepared myself for bad news on the pathology results for the 18 remaining lymph nodes she had removed on wednesday, dont get me wrong, I have tremendous faith but it has been hard news one after the other here lately so I was ready for more. No cancer in any of the other nodes,WOW! I thank God and all of the people who were praying for my beautiful wife. My other post told about the miracle of the Lord pushing the surgeon a bit harder to remove an additional unmarked lymph node that turned out to be the only cancerous node she had, if she hadnt, we wouldn't know about the additional cancer and the likelyhood of the cancer spreading to the rest of her body through her lymph nodes would have been great. Her road is still hard, she still has to do chemo, but it could be alot harder. An answer to prayers and Thank you all!
She had to stay an extra day in hospital due to complications but we have our Cyndi home now and I am hoping she can begin again posting here with her own words. I know that she would want me to say we love you all and thank you is just a small token of how we feel,words cant describe how grateful we are for your support.

todays surgery

Well, the second surgery went well. She was in alot of pain for about two hours once she got to her room but finally got some rest. Funny how she calmed down,stories of her fab four boys. Things that make them so special,hopes, dreams and what the heck we're gonna do when the throngs of girls start showing up.
The surgeon seemed surprised she could do both procedures of the surgery thru one of the old incisions, I wasn't,people are praying for my beautiful bride. Lots of people. We find out on friday the results of the additional pathology reports for the remaining lymphnodes that were removed. That, from what I understand, will dictact the level and regiment of chemotherapy she will endure. I am still in awe at the quality of freindships we have, from people staying in our house to help with anything to people coming from out of town to take the three older boys for a mini vacation. The funny thing is that I didnt know what a blessing either of those selfless acts would be. Not only is our house super clean, it's relatively quiet and Cyndi could rest before surgery.
Cyndi got in to see my regular doctor on tuesday and he had some great (but hard) things for us to hear. She now understands better why she hasnt slept, off the hook anxiety,rollercoaster emotions, she has cancer. The thyroid thing is a minor issue that he thinks was partially misdiagnosed, there was no additional testing to say the thyroid was working right or wrong, it was high in the first test but just barely, so he looked her in the eyes and told her to focus on each day. We devised a plan of attack for during chemotherapy and she went home much better.

I just wanted to say thank you to all who are surrounding me thru this journey in prayer. I am so greatful for my loving husband who has given up his life to serve and hold me up right now in this difficult time. All my family and friends who are helping, calling and praying. As Eric noted God has given to me a miracle thru this already and we are only 33 days into this fight. If this doctor would not have took the time and located the extra lymph node, then I would not have gone thru chemo and the cancer could have spread. I feel God has given me a new lease on life, because He loves my children more than me , I should be around now to see them raised , so now I am like "Surgery and CHemo, bring it on!!!!" I am so completely blown away by God's huge love for me, He is meeting me every step of the way, each doctor appt, each day, I can see His hand in my life. I cant begin to explain how I am seeing His hand prints all over this journey, He makes all things work together for my good. I could blog a hundred pages on what He has shown me thru this hard path, but I dont even have the time to explain it all. I feel so loved by my father in heaven, I just thank Him each day for bringing me thru this. I know it is hard and I am so encouraged right now, but I know I have a big rough road ahead of me, But Jesus keeps showing me that He is with me thru it , holding me and taking care of me. From the doctor He gave me, to all the medical bills being paid, to the people that are taking care of me and my family, to all the people holding me up in their prayers. I am so greatful for this journey, I know that sounds crazy but God is meeting me in such huge ways, I wouldnt wish this on anyone, but thru it all I am experiencing the Living God. He is giving me words, and dreams and scriptures to hold on to when it gets bad, I am at the end of myself physically dealing with not sleeping much with an overactive thyroid on top of the battling cancer, but it is like when I am week then God is strong in me. I cant explain it, but I have four beautiful little faces to come home from treatment to, and a loving husband to stand with me thru this, I am truly blessed.
Ps 27:13 I am still confident of this, I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

just so you know

I wanted to let you all know how thankful we are for each and every one of you. The support and prayers have been amazing. Cyndi has had kind of a roller coaster week with ups and downs,frazzled emotions and the hardest thing of all 'how could this happen to me?' rolling around her head. I think that as the second surgery nears, all the feelings ramp up regarding the pain and struggle ahead.
It's early and I am already getting sidetracked, I wanted to tell you an answer to prayer. During the first surgery the doc told us she was going to remove between 1-3 sentinel lymph nodes after the lumpectomy. They inject a dye into the tissue that finds its way into the nodes and 'lites them up blue' in order for the doc to identify. (We found out what happened during this procedure not from the surgeon herself, but when we had a second opinion review of Cyndis chart). Here's the part I believe prayer guided the surgeon, she removed three "lit up" nodes near the tumor area, in the report it says she felt there may be another in the area and searched awhile longer. She found it, it wasn't lit up, she removed it anyways, it was the cancerous lymph node. Jeez, prayer works,our God has a plan for us, please keep praying for Cyndi and our family. Eric

First Day of work

Well, this morning was the day we sent our son into the workforce. He has been a bit confused about the fact he needs to get himself to work on a bicycle but I am confident he'll figure it out. He has started training at YAKS coffee shop on hilltop to earn money for missions and to replinish his savings,besides he loves people and what a great place. He got himself up at 5 am,dressed,breakfast and even a cup of java. I heard him rustling in the kitchen so I got up with him to check out his gear,give him support and remind him how proud I am to be his father. He did just fine getting prepared with water,change of clothes, remembered his comb to fix his faux hawk when he gets there and a headlamp cuz it was darker than I thought it would be. He is a rather awesome young man, and yes I am quite biased. As he road off at 5;25, I stood in the street to watch as any proud papa would,when a pure white deer and her fawn that calls this area home came out, looked around and went on their way. was there a significance?Not sure, but it was definitely cool.

2nd surgery

Preparing myself mentally and spiritually, I soak in worship , and feel much better knowing there is a Big God who is taking care of me and my boys.
Some of the words I got before treatment are
God always PRovides where he leads. I can see his provision from all the doctors bills being paid to assigned the best doctor in town.
God will use this in me to help other women go down this path.
Help with my family thru this all.
I will go to oncologist docs every 3 months after treatment for a long while. God knows all, He sees all, He is not suprised by my going thru this, He is still God

1 st surgery

well after meeting (the next day I got the news )with the breast surgeon, I soon was in for surgery after a bone skan and MRI that came back no other new cancer that we could find. I had a lumpectomy that took out only the lump in my breast that was 1.8 cm-small and some surrounding lymph nodes, this was because they are the first blood sourse that drains from main tumor in breast. It was in/out surgery the same day, and after 2 hour surgery, and 5 hour recovery (supposed to be 1/2 hr) I was at home, on pain meds. It was hard as a family to take in the news, we told younger boys mom is sick, and Elijah,13, about the c word. We all took the news hard, but it will be alot of hard work until the treatment is done. I am at a level 1 and after surgery , we found out all tissue around breast tumor is clear-praise God, but one of the 4 lymph nodes had a .5cm tumor. So now we are at a level 2 cancer and another surgery. Before surgery we were going to do 1 surgery and 6 weeks radiation, now chemotherapy added in the mix. I do not want to loose my hair, that will be freeky, but all my boys will shave their heads too, as support. Before 1st surgery I felt strong in God, alot of prayer, after hearing news I feel so in shock it is hard to process anything. I feel like this is a bad dream and I am going to wake from it. I dont have time to be sick, my greatest concern is the energy thru chemo and radiation to take care of my baby. I thank God for my best friend Lalenna who came and took care of me after surgery and my mom who will also take care of my boys while I go thru chemo, and my good friends here who come and visit me, it is a lonely place feeling like a patient more than a persoon for a week after surgery.

1st news

got news from routine mammogram-I turned 40 so I called soroptomist for free mammogram-like I should when I turned 40 , and guess what it was there, they called me back 3 times to do more testing before I got the call on June 24th from the doctor, there was some cancer in the lump they found. I felt the lump now, because I knew what to feel for but 3 months previous when I had my doctor do a breast exam in the office her nor me knew of any lump, I was just getting over nursing a baby a few months previous, with 4 boys, one being only 1 and 1/2, turning 40 this was the last thing on my mind. I have always been so healthy, ate right, exercised, didnt drink, I had none of the risks,plus I was only 40-wow, I never did my once a month exams in shower, didnt think It would happen to me-how wrong I was.