MRI, check: biopsy, check; chemo next

Things have been going quickly in the Fenerty department of medicine. On Wednesday I saw my doctor. On Thursday morning I got a call that a biopsy was scheduled for Friday. I went to Duke on Thursday afternoon for pre-op. I spent the night in a new hospital room and was getting prepared for surgery Friday morning. I was home that evening and back to sitting in my chair sipping coffee by Saturday morning. Talk about a whirlwind! I did manage to read about a paragraph of my church history book and do a row of knitting. Not much, but something.

The tumor is a grade 3 astrocytoma. I am going to have four treatments of chemo and I will have an MRI to see what is going on in my cerebellum, well, other than the amazing mind power I possess (read that part while laughing). This chemo is intravenous and will take about three hours to complete. I start tomorrow.

I am a little apprehensive. I volunteered at Red Cross blood drives in college as part of my sorority philanthropy.  I was put in charge of the snacks because the sight of needles made me feel faint. Needles have become a common occurrence lately. I can’t hang out in the cookies and juice area anymore.

The side effects should not be severe. I shouldn’t lose any hair. Well, if I could just lose the grey ones… I will be very tired and I have to be on the look out for blood clots and high blood pressure. Just another day, right?

Needless to say I am a bit nervous. But, God has not failed me yet and I know He is not about to start now. I can be nervous and at the same time know that the One who sent His son to pay a debt I could not pay is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than I could ask or think will be with me in the chemo room. He’s got this.