Maileen's Journey - July 28

July 2011

Can it be my Last chemo day???...Praying

Having my last chemo of Abraxane tomorrow (Thursday) morning.  

On August 2nd, I have my CT scan done to see if my liver is clear of cancer.  

We are praying that our conversation with my Oncologist in Augusta, on August 4th, will tell us good
news and hoping no more chemo cycles will be scheduled.

I will continue to receive a drug called Herceptin every 3 weeks.

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For your information on Herceptin:
(or skip this part and continue below)

Herceptin (trastuzumab) is a monoclonal antibody. Antibodies are substances the body produces to help fight infection or other foreign particles. Monoclonal antibodies are made in the laboratory, and some are designed to attack specific cancer cells.
Herceptin targets cancer cells that “overexpress,” or make too much of, a protein called HER–2 or erb B2, which is found on the surface of some cancer cells. Herceptin attaches to the HER–2 positive cancer cells and slows or stops the growth of the cells. Herceptin is used only to treat breast cancers that are HER–2 positive. HER–2 positive cancers overexpress the HER–2 protein or have amplification (too many copies) of the HER–2 gene.
Approximately 20 to 30 percent of breast cancers overexpress HER–2. These tumors tend to grow faster and are generally more likely to recur (come back) than tumors that do not overproduce HER–2.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/therapy/herceptin
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I had my first official class of yoga, a destressing way of exercising and increasing my oxygen level, at the Family Center of Warren Baptist Church.
(Warren Baptist Church is my sending church to the mission field since my first year in college.)  

I went with a girlfriend this past Monday...and loved it.  

It was so calming to work my muscles and calm my being to Christian praise music.  It was instrumental music and very tranquilo.  The exercise was energizing and different from just running.  I am praising God that I have not had minimal side-effects this week.  God is good.

I keep praying for my husband, Peter Simpson to continue to heal from these last few months stress and exhaustion...of trying to work on Marissa's papers, packing and everything else that has happened.  We are still praising God for giving us guardianship of Marissa Nicolle and all He did through others and time to get her to be able to travel, up here so we can be united as a family.

As a family we are trying to find a good routine and adjust to our current situation together.

Marissa Nicolle is enjoying being the three of us again, she is enjoying time with my parents, my brother and becoming very familiar with my hometown..noticing lots of landmarks,
especially my schedule with the medical field.  

Marissa Nicolle still worries when we are not together in the same room or location within minutes...and has a very strong desire to keep us together.

Peter and I are really appreciating your prayers as we are now in the part of the journey to heal and learn to rest and recover as individuals and as a family. 

Honestly, it has been difficult to share with you how to pray for me now that the urgency and prayer requests are not just for Peter and his mounting tasks that never seemed to end or these 40 months of trying to move forward with Marissa's papers towards a completed adoption.  For some reason, my issue of having aggressive breast cancer that has spread to my liver, seems so small in comparison to what the weight of these last few months have been.
 

God can move mountains blocked by paperwork, stubborn fallen beings, politics, odd time constraints, and doubt, for His glory.  And I know He can heal and restore our brokenness...But I wasn't designed to be an island...none of us were meant to be facing our circumstances alone.

I have been thinking that it seems selfish of me to ask you to pray for me.  

But it has been my own pride that has kept me from sharing
how I need others to pray for us...for me.

I know that we need each other to get through our circumstances. 

We were designed to be relational.

We grow and discover God and His divine design for us through our investment in each other.  

We are intertwined as fellow soldiers in serving His will for each of us in His grand plan.

He asked us to lean on another and come before Him in prayer...and He will be there.  

I don't want to see His answer to this cancer He blessed me with alone...I want to see His answers with you, just like I saw His answer to your prayers with me for Peter and for Marissa Nicolle's guardianship being given to us and getting a passport and visa so we can be
a family to heal and be united.

I hope you also learn to lean on others to help you through the layers of issues you face (small and large).  I hope you are studying the scriptures to discover God's blessings and lessons to protect you and help you become wise with how to confront what you face.

There is nothing impossible for our God...He still knows when a leaf falls and the exact second it will touch the ground as He has a hold of the other details in nature, in the world, and in the universe.  And He states that you are more important to Him, you are the "ONE" of the 99...and very interested in you.  Are we as interested in Him?
Do we put that value in each other as He has in each of us as the 'ONE'?

Some of you have asked how I have been and how we are as a family...Thank you for asking and encouraging me to share...I am sorry I have been silent for a couple of weeks.  Please keep praying...and thank you for reminding me I/we need you and that you are so absolutely valuable to what God has planned.  And I am praying for many of you who have shared with me...and I am praying for many of you who have not shared but God has brought to my mind.

I have been blessed to pray for those of you that have shared with me your personal circumstances, growth process, challenges, joys and concerns.  You each have had a wonderful part in our lives whether it is but for a few moments, through another, or directly for a longer amount of time.

I look forward to see how God has for us this coming week...
and will share with you as soon as we know. 

Oh, and so that you know...will continue the adoption papers again in August of 2012.
And we are planning a trip to Honduras as a family in January sometime to work on the
renewal of our residency.

Grow in Truth, Seek Wisdom, Learn to lean on others as well as to 
carry others in Deep Love, Mercy and Kindness; and
Discover how to breath deeply, be still and Know our God is THE 'I AM'. 
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