February 6, 2022

There simply is no substitute for having your own positive attitude.  Gill Hasson – Author

*****************************************************************************************************

Happy Sunday Funday y’all – Before I begin to tell you about the next few days I want to tell you about how wonderful God is and his perfect timing.  To hear this story I must go back a long time to set up.

When I was in elementary school I met my friend, April, in kindergarten.  We were in every homeroom class together because her last name started with an S and mine with a T.  We became fast friends, waiting at the bus stop together, riding the bus, hanging in classes and during recess, and running around the neighborhood together as kids.  April and I spent a lot of time during our summer and school breaks in different art classes together working on all kinds of stuff from basket weaving to clay bowl making to drawing, etc.  April went on to perfect her skills is now the owner of her own freelance graphic design business.  I, however, did not continue down the artist path but do dabble in some small sketches every now and again.  In fact, most of my artwork from childhood proudly hangs in my garage – my picture of Vince Neil of Motley Crue that won awards in middle school, my picture of ET, etc. – Why the garage you ask?  Well, because I have no idea where else they would hang.  But I digress…

The last time that I saw April was at our 20-year high school reunion in July 2009. It was a blast, like catching up on old times again as if no time has passed at all and as we all know we all promise to keep in touch and talk more often but life often gets in the way.   In fact, Mano and I had just started dating after we attended my reunion and in a very short time after this (7 months) we were married and I moved from Florida to Texas and overnight became a wife and a mom of our boys Nick and Christian who at the time were 4 and 9 years old.  Just from knowing that you can understand how my life got in the way of staying in touch.  

But we tried – for the past 10 years we have exchanged Christmas cards, sponsored each other for our mission trips and I know that we have prayed over each other through the years.  But this week, God was really moving, I received a message through Facebook from April that she had sent me an email to which I had not responded to and she was guessing it was an older email address and therefore had not been delivered.  She admitted that she is not on FB much anymore, however, Linda had told her this week that she had been praying for me during her morning prayers and she encouraged April to get on FB and get caught up on what has been going on for me.  So she did, which of course, prompted her to reach out to me.

I was so excited to hear from her as she’s always been one of my favorite people and I agreed that Saturday would be a great day for us to catch up (you know steroid Saturdays – energy day!)  I couldn’t wait.  

Yesterday we were able to catch up and it was so wonderful. I was able to share what has been going on with me and to share so much more than that.  We talked about my cancer, and family, and told stories of how we came to Christ.  See all while growing up April was always so close with God. She was from a young age “preaching” to all of us and sharing the word.  April was a regular attendee at church and youth groups – often inviting the rest of us to join her.  I recall attending a few times but nothing regularity.   My sister and I were raised in a non-denominational Christian church and attended with family each week.  My grandfather was a minister who preached at revivals and traveled all over to do so.  During the summers of staying with my grandparents, I remember traveling all around the Tallahassee area and staying in their travel trailer while granddaddy preached.  Let me tell you, some of those revivals were a bit scary of a religious experience for a little kid.   April admitted that she had prayed for me often through our childhood that I would find christ and be in heaven with her one day.  I laughed and told her that her praying finally paid off and chuckled and said that I was sure that between my mother and her, God was tired of hearing those prayers as that journey took a long time to happen.  

I accepted Christ into my life at the age of 38 – June 2009 to be exact.  I remember it well because it was Father’s Day weekend and I remember my dad, in his typical fashion, offering our minister an extra $20 to hold me under just a little bit longer, because he was sure I needed some extra redemption.  (Now maybe you see where some of my humor comes from).

April has shared my journey with her small group of ladies, who are now lifting me up in their daily prayers (PRAISES!) and I now have some new ladies to add to my village.  So welcome – Barbara, Donna, Judy, Joy, Dianne, Dottie, and Jane.  I am so happy to have you all as part of my prayer warriors and Thank you for including me in your daily prayers.  

I wanted to share this story today for a couple of reasons.  First, we can never underestimate the faithfulness only found in our God.  There have been so many times while I’ve been on this journey that randomly people have reached out to me to share their story that God was poking at them to pray for me that day or that moment and they did.  Often when those stories were shared with me and I traced back the day/time that God was doing the poking – well it was often at a time that I was going through something – either a bad AC moment, a moment where I was scared, or doubtful, a moment where the devil was trying to get to me and during those moments, unbeknownst to me, they were praying for ME! Do you see how amazing this is?  Also, I know that as we pack up and head to Houston today for new scans tomorrow, it’s not a coincidence that I now have more people praying for me and lifting me up.  I honestly believe that it’s because of all of you (my village) and the constant coverage of prayer and hope that my tumor shrunk 82% with just the first 4 rounds of chemotherapy.  I can’t wait to see the new scans on Monday – can you imagine what the results will be now after 8 more rounds of chemotherapy?  (Stay tuned for Monday’s post… PRAYERS needed, PRAISES coming).  Finally, I KNOW that I am covered in prayer and that God is with me, even in the darkest of days and the crappiest of moments that I’ve had.  I have told many people that I can feel his presence and I knew that I am not alone in those times.  Especially during the AC chemotherapy evenings.  Those were the times that I felt him the closest to me.  Covering me.  I knew I would make it through it all. (PRAISES for his faithfulness!)  Our God is also a God of restoration, see what he did yesterday, in just a moment he connected and restore my friendship with April as if time was not even a thought.  We picked up right where we left off.  God is so good y’all! (PRAISES!)

This week is a big week for me at MD Anderson – as you recall, we are meeting with my oncologist, getting new scans, meeting with the breast surgeon, the breast reconstruction surgeon, and the radiology oncologist.  This trip has been the final appointment that I have been waiting on to get my questions answered so I can make a decision about surgery.  (PRAYERS please for this trip to get the answers and for positive scan results).  I will be sharing the scan results through my blog once I have them back.

The next steps are:

• 02/07 – MD Anderson visit:  Consult with my breast reconstruction doctor, new ultra-sound to check the progress of the tumor (prayers for shrinking and even less mass than before), meeting with my oncologist.  (PRAYERS please for safe travels, positive results in the new scans, good meetings with all doctors)
• 02/09 – MD Anderson visit:  Consult with my surgeon – prayers to secure surgery date tentative scheduled for 04/08, consult with Radiation Doctor.  Prayers that these will provide all details for me to make a decision for my surgical path (Prayers please for answers to make the right surgical decision).
• 02/11 – Taxol #4 (Actually #9) – Down to the last 1/4 of the race!!!
• 02/17 – Follow-up with ENT for the fluid in my right ear – moved from 02/03 due to bad weather
• 02/18 – Taxol #3 (Actually #10)
• 02/25 – Taxol #2 (Actually #11)
• 03/04 – Taxol #1 (Actually #12) – LAST DAY OF CHEMO!!!

Prayer requests for the week are:

• Safe travels to and from Houston
• Positive scans for tumor reduction or even that it’s all gone!
• Productive and informative meetings with the doctors at MD Anderson
• Answers so I can make my surgical decision 
• Prayers that my surgery can now get scheduled for April as planned
• Prayers for my fellow cancer warriors – Kelly, who just had surgery to remove her tumor, and my cousin, Sabrina as she prepared for reconstruction surgery at the end of March.

Once again, thank you all for the continued outpouring of love and support. The cards, letters, gifts, text messages, emojis, memojis, gifs, etc. ALL. OF. IT! You guys are just the best and you will never know how much you all mean to me.  I KNOW how BLESSED I am to have such amazing support.  Thank you never seems like enough but THANK YOU!  

I will talk to you all soon – 

xoxo,

Tracy