The End of Round 1…..we hope.

…2 words that no young wife/mother wants to hear

…but through her journey, Tarah is holding strong and depending on her savior.

You’ll be so encouraged as you read this part of her journey.

…and yes, please keep her on your prayer list. The few weeks will be tough ones.

It’s been over two months since I’ve written an in-depth update, and for those that follow my updates closely, I truly do apologize. The truth is, I don’t like to complain that much. I don’t want my friends and family hear the incessant whining that so often going ’round and ’round in my head. And, even now as I’m writing this, I feel guilty. The last two months haven’t been all torture. Well, physically, it has been close, but God has done some pretty awesome things that continue to remind me that He’s in the forefront of this battle. For so long I felt like Satan was all up in my face, staring dead into my eyes, and just daring me to be the one to look away first. I haven’t yet, but I feel like God kicked him out of my range of sight for a while.

Well, let me give y’all a physical rundown. On March 12, we started the new round of chemo at MD Anderson. Each round was so strong that I could only have it every three weeks. On top of the intravenously administered chemo, I’ve been taking a pill type of chemo. Each one has been rearing its ugly head more and more in terms of side effects. First was the allergic reaction that I have each time, which involves a poison-ivy-like rash that shows up on my arms, then goes away just in time for the next dose. Then my fingers started going numb. They gradually got worse and worse until the point that they’re at now, which is that my pinky is the only finger that can feel texture. Obviously my fingers still work, because I’m typing, but it’s little things. Like, I can’t tell if I’m holding small objects. Yesterday, I went to hand my mother a bandage that I needed her help putting on, only to realize that I had dropped it several steps back. It’s really pretty funny. There are some non-funny ones, too. Each of my toenails are being held on by good wishes and band-aids. There are others that I won’t tell you about.

My chemo was only supposed to be four rounds. Last week we went in for all of my testing and it all showed that the chemo has worked magnificently! At one point, I was scared it wasn’t…I asked my doctor about it and he said “It had better work. Because there isn’t a stronger chemo to put you on – you’re getting the strongest!” But, it did work. More specifically, the tumor that was one big orange-sized 9.5cm ball, is now in small pieces, the biggest of which is only 2.4cm! God worked a miracle right there already!!!

The issue that remains is that the cancer in the breast tissue is still pretty bad. That’s why I have to have at least one more chemo. I couldn’t have it last week because my side effects were getting too severe they were worried about serious damage, so I have to wait a week (until this Thursday, June 9th), to have my next chemo. After that, I meet with my surgeon on the 22nd, who will then schedule the surgery for the following week. If he doesn’t schedule it by the 30th, I will have to have another chemo then.

It’s pretty amazing to see what God’s doing through me and my situation. There have already been so many people who have been touched one way or another by the way God’s taking care of me and my family. I don’t know if you all remember my first posts or if you’ve googled “Inflammatory Breast Cancer”, but I think that it’s the furthest thing from fun that ever existed. It’s really hard not to complain sometimes. Heck, it’s hard not to burst into tears sometimes. But, God’s working on something. The lesson He’s teaching me: Just keep looking forward. It doesn’t matter how I was diagnosed or how rare this is or how spectacular that is; that’s just the more spectacular God’s show is going to be in the end.

I’m getting really tired now (which is beyond normal lately), so I’ll try to update more often. I apologize that I haven’t. I pray every day that God blesses every one of you as much as He will. I love y’all!!!

God bless!!

Tarah

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