Health update

Today I went early to get blood drawn. This is because it is time for my one-year-out check up. I am grateful a whole year has passed since the end of my radiation treatments, and I have seen real improvement in that time! I have more energy, feel better over-all, and am praising God for carrying me.

Monday I will have a breast MRI, and then see my oncologist next month. I also will see the ob-gyn next month, and my primary care in November. Then I hope to be done for a while again.

I didn't expect this testing to be any big thing...and it really isn't. But I do find it unsettling. And that surprises me. I guess I am good at fooling myself into believing that everything is normal (whatever that is) and then all it takes is a little reminder like an MRI to be reminded that normal has shifted, never to return again. The new "normal" where I live is a place where every test is a possible diagnosis.

The good thing about all this, of course, is how it reminds me of my own mortality. When I remember how very fragile this life is, I am more prone to do the important things, and to line up with God's priorities for me. I am driven more to my knees.

Of course, the bad thing about it is that I am reminded of my own mortality. It requires mental and spiritual discipline not to give way to fear, or be driven by it.

As always, I appreciate your prayers, Gentle Readers, as I move along this journey.

O lift me higher, nearer Thee,
And as I rise more pure and meet,
O let my soul's humility
Make me lie lower at Thy feet;
Less trusting self, the more I prove
The blessed comfort of Thy love.
~quoted by C. H. Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, September 9