Living a Blessed Life

Dance Partay!!! Let's jump right into it.  On Monday, 10/26/2020, I drove to Edina to have my 6 month follow up CT scan . My sweet neighbor, G.J., rode along with me. It was so nice having her company in the car, and we proceeded to have a great time shopping at Hobby Lobby. :-) I was fully expecting to wait until my Friday follow up appointment with my doctor before receiving the results. My phone rang at 4:45PM and the caller ID said it was my Doctor's office calling. I figured they were just calling to confirm my Friday appointment, but they were calling because they had already received the CT results and they wanted to share them with me. Drumroll, please............................. The scan came back "normal!" Hallelujah! That is great news, as I have been diligently working on my daily habits in eating and supplementing in ways that will prohibit cancer growth. It is NOT easy, but it IS working! Queue the happy tears and happy dance! I have to admit that I ...

  Hello again! If that title doesn't pique your interest in this post, I don't know what will. Haha! I know that genetics can be very confusing, but I find them fascinating, and hopefully you will gain an appreciating for the role genetics play in our lives by the time you finish reading.  Maybe it is just me, but the overarching question one finds themselves with when diagnosed with cancer or a different life-threatening illness is, WHY ? Then it's, WHAT caused this and could it have been prevented? (Side note - it doesn't even matter if it could have been prevented because here we are. It's too late to look at prevention and spiral into the realm of the unknowns and unchangeable. This question is only necessary in order to look at helping others with prevention.) Finally, WHAT can I do to heal and keep this from recurring or spreading? After my surgery was completed and the cancer I had was staged, I was given the option to do genetic testing. Backing up a moment...

I can hardly believe it is almost fall! The weather this week has shocked me into that reality and I am finally embracing it. Much to the dismay of Darek, I turned the furnace on yesterday. It was 66 degrees in the house, and I was working from our basement office which is even colder! Brrr! I will add that I did wear my slippers and a sweater, and eventually wrapped a blanket around my legs to keep warm before I finally caved. My heated seat and heated steering wheel came in very handy, as I waited in the pick up line for the kids at school! The day prior, I thought I would simply use the space heater in our office and that would be sufficient for the day. It was sufficient, until it blew the circuit breaker, and I quickly decided that I was not about to do that all fall. Haha!  ANYHOW... I spend a lot of time in thought these days. I used to let my mind run wild with so many things of no importance whatsoever. I am now working very hard to intentionally think on things that matte...

My Daily Breakfast 3 Months! Can you believe it?  Well, we are actually 4 months out from surgery, but 3 months from my first checkup so please don't mind the discrepancy.  Now that we cleared that up, I would like to share my reports. Anyone who has ever dealt with a chronic illness or cancer will know that there are many moments of uncertainty - every. single. day.! Maybe this passes with time, so I will be sure to let you know as I continue to write year after year. Any little twinge of pain or negative thought can send us spiraling into an abyss of what if's and doubt. That is where faith comes in. The moment those thoughts take hold, we have to re-train our brain to think something positive and speak truth over the uncertainty. These moments of  not knowing and waiting reveal our character and our faith.  A recent devotion I was reading spoke of God's favor. (I will paraphrase the short study) The concept behind the study was that it is important who we surroun...

It has been a few weeks and I have had the itch to get a post put together. So many different topics come to mind and it's tough to settle on one. After listening to a podcast on anti-cancer foods, Plants will be this week's topic. :-) Don't run and hide just yet! There is some very interesting information here, I promise!! I am not a scientist or doctor, but I have done a great deal of research and learning over the previous few months, and the positive correlation between plant based diets and health are astounding ! (Also, gardening has great health benefits as well! Go grow your own food! It is fun, relaxing and rewarding!) I am going to attempt to list a few things that stuck out as major game changers. Did you know? **IGF1 is a growth hormone, very important in your body while you are a child, but skyrockets every time animal protein is introduced to the diet. There was a study on women with breast cancer showing the results of eliminating animal protein. When the IG...

For those who have been following along my journey thus far, you may be asking yourself how I am really doing and what I am doing? First, I am doing well. I am healing and every day I believe that God is healing my body and allowing me an opportunity to be a shining example for His glory! I am healed and redeemed of the Lord! There are moments when I feel tired, but it's in those times that I allow myself to rest. I know this is a journey, and I feel better and better each day. I will be perfectly honest and tell you that there are moments when doubts and fears creep up on me, and it is not always easy to fight them. Every morning when I wake up, I praise God for another day! I am reminded every morning (ugh) of the cancer that manifested in my body and I have to arm myself once again for the battle that tries to rage in my mind for my health and mental well-being. I know the truth and I continue to recall John 8:32 - "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free...

It is hard to believe we are already in the middle of June! Summer is technically not here yet, but as I watch my clothes sway in the breeze outside, all I can think is, "Slow Down, Summer!" I have had the opportunity to hang clothes out more often this season alone than I have cumulative since having a clothes line! That makes for a glorious spring (summer) in my opinion. :-) As I was pinning clothes on the line this morning I was feeling quite content and filled with joy. Then I remembered a time this past winter, just before Christmas, when my family was dealing with some challenging life circumstances. It was a time when there was much uncertainty regarding the future, mixed with sadness for memories lost. In the fall of 2018 my father was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia . This is a disease that affects the brain and neurological system, similar to Alzheimer's, but the symptoms come and go and change, making it difficult to navigate. (If you are interested in the de...