RCR!

What is RCR? Radiological complete remission One of my four medical appointments the other week was my pre-surgical MRI. Friday. Valentine's Day. Having been through the saga of reading my ghastly October MRI on my own, I was too afraid to open the report when it was resulted in Epic on the following MOnday. I waited for three days but then my appointment with breast cancer surgeon, Dr. Suliat Nuradeen, was coming up on Thursday. After praying for peace, I resolved to look at the report in the middle of the day on Wednesday. After all, I would possibly want to process the results overnight before the visit. I have held on loosely these whole past three and a half months, with response to treatment no guarantee. What to my eyes did appear on the report? No evidence of the cancer!

There is still a chance that the definitive results on surgical pathology would still show cancer, so I am not completely out of the woods; however, Dr. Nuradeen called this excellent, with a glow of a smile. I have been so relieved all weekend and am working on building up my strength for surgery on March 5th. I am also bustling about preparing to be away from practice for a time and also preparing my household. My dog Zeke met his host family yesterday, and it will be a go! 

I shared the following report with my church folks who have been praying and want to express gratitude to all of you all who have also been praying. I have felt those prayers, and it makes a world of difference. Prayer IS action, so please keep praying!

"Please join with me in praising God, first for reminding me to turn my eyes upon Jesus during this long season of treatment and waiting. Also, praise God for last Friday's MRI report which I finally got the courage to read yesterday. It showed that the cancer is no longer apparent! The final pathology report which will come after surgery will hopefully show the same complete response to all this treatment. I have said that if the effectiveness of the treatment is proportional to the side effects, this cancer should be gone! Of course, we know that all healing comes from the Lord, and I have often felt the prayers of the saints lifting me out of the mire. I would ask specifically for the following ongoing prayers:

1. Healing of my eyes:  I developed tremendously dry eyes when I went to Colorado for Christmas. This only worsened in January to the point that I could hardly see to work. I was found to have damage to my cornea (front of the eye) but not beyond repair. Early treatments were very effective; however, I have been having intermittent blurring of my vision which doesn't seem correctable with glasses. Because my work as a doctor has me in front of a computer all of the time, this issue has almost forced me to stop working. It has certainly slowed me down. I think it's due to taxol, chemotherapy which finally ended two weeks ago. Please pray for healing. 

2. Calming of my gut: for almost the whole past few months nearly everything I eat has run right through. I have been helped by low FODMAPS meals FCFers have been bringing me since January. It is a lot better than it was but still recurring. Would you pray for my gut to heal and calm down? I still have more treatment after surgery which will be every 3 weeks until December.

3. Surgery March 5th : Please pray for the surgeons Drs. Nuradeen and Rada. Please pray for a good surgical outcome, healing after surgery without complications, and for that final pathology report to show pathological complete response. Please also pray for family and friends who will be coming to stay with me, for their travels and for encouraging time together.

4. Restoration and return to work: Please pray for wisdom on how to use the time away from patient care, that I will not be too sad or lonely without spending time with my patients. Please pray that the timing of my return to patient care and other activities would also be right.

I praise God that no suffering is wasted. My biggest prayer is that my life would bring honor to Christ, that He would continue the work in my life to draw me deeper into loving obedience and gratitude for all that He has done. When I sit down to count my blessings, it seems not possible to do in one sitting."