My Best Brithday Present Yet

I received many great gifts for my birthday today...calls from my children, a sweet hand-made teddy bear from Tim and Nikki, flowers and gifts and lunch from friends, cards and e-mails from others, a sweet, attentive husband... But the best present I got today was good news from the oncologist. At my appointment this morning, I discovered that:
1. My lymph nodes are all negative, so we can stop worrying about them and just recheck them in the future.
and
2. My oncotyping of my original breast tumor came back, and I am in the lowest-risk category for recurrence, so they are not recommending any chemotherapy. I will continue on tamoxifen and do radiation treatments for 6-7 weeks starting in July.

So, join me in thanking the Lord for bringing good answers to all our prayers, and giving me the best birthday present yet!

And here are a few prayer specifics:

• Please pray for continued good recovery from my surgeries and strength to return quickly
• Please pray for radiation to be set up well and be successful at killing off random cancer cells with minimum side-effects
  
• Please pray for the tamoxifen to be effective against the cancer as well and to have no side effects, continuing as it has so far.
• Please pray for my upcoming visit with an endocrinologist regarding one other pesky issue from that PET-Scan (just a little something on an adrenal gland to be checked out)
  
• Please continue to pray for Tim and Nikki as they struggle with immigration stuff and decisions.

And my list of praises is long:

• Praise God for being so great and good: his lovingkindness endures forever!
• Praise God for answered prayers regarding the lymph nodes and the tumor oncotyping. I could not have been given better news!
• Praise God for a joyful birthday when I was sure it would be a heavy and weary day.
• Praise God for my husband and children, parents and siblings, and amazing friends, who have lifted me up, prayed for me, and loved me amazingly well!
• Praise God for good recovery from both surgeries, and for the healing that is happening in my body.
• Praise God for the comfort only He can bring to weary hearts.