Well last blog I said I would give an update every 3 months. As we all can see, I didn’t do that and I am sorry. God continues to bless us with his kindness and generosity.

Theresa is now three years from her diagnosis of Stage 4 breast cancer. Her recent Breast MRI came back clean as has her last visit with her Oncologist. She sees him every 6 months now. In our new normal, Theresa still has limited shoulder movement, yet no pain. This makes it hard to dress and manage her hair, so she is keeping her hair short. She has been having issues with lymph edema in her right arm and has to wear an arm sleeve most days to keep it from getting too tight. As it is her dominant arm, she finds it hard to write or use her arm when it is tight. Theresa’s spirits are good. She finds she wears out pretty easily still. She finds that naps help.

Theresa has reacted to a good number of medications over the past three years. She has been on Tamoxifen for a year or so and recently had a fixed drug reaction. We stopped her Tamoxifen and it took a month for the rash to go away. I checked into it and she was on one generic form of it for a year, then went to a new generic form about a month before her rash. So once the rash was cleared, we went back on the first generic form to Tamoxifen and so far so good, no return of the rash.

Metastatic cancer definitely changes you. For one we are more cognizant of how we respond to each other, more gracious and forgiving. We are more aware of the brevity of life and the value of living intentionally and relationally with our Father and with each other. Priorities change, perspectives change, and we are more comfortable recognizing our dependency on our loving Father. We see the world getting darker, life more fragile and it is easy to worry. But if we keep our eyes on him, and digest what He says, then we believe “the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining”(1 John 2:8). We recognize He is always in control and looking out for our best interest. And it feels good to actually trust in his perspective and not our own.

Thank you for your continued prayers and concern. Will try to be more consistent in writing.