Little Things Mean a Lot

Did you ever notice how much detail God puts into things? From exotic flower petals, to unique leaf colors, to each crystal snowflake, to downright weird looking sea creatures, to each distinct human being, His artistry is evident. Yet, in our busy lives, do we always notice those small, insignificant things? We often grumble about having to rake or shovel those "miracles." (ESPECIALLY if you are still getting snow end of March! What's up with that?)

I was reminded this morning of how special those little things can be! I was washing my face and noticed a small line of fringe on my eyelids. I THOUGHT I had seen something a few days back but this was unmistakable! I was SO excited....my eyelashes are returning! The men in my house probably don't understand my giddiness but my sister (who is here helping out for a few days) and my daughter shared my delight. It's just a small thing but it means so much to me! On a day when my arm is very weak and still in a decent amount of pain, a large incision constantly reminding me of surgery and dealing with a stupid drain, to have something return back to normal was huge for me! And, I won't lie when I say the vain part of me rejoices that I won't have "Betty Boopy" eyelashes anymore! So, just thought I'd share my excitement with my blog readers!

Recovery is going well.....every day is a little better. I've been able to catch some good "winks" of sleep but as a friend warned me, I probably won't get quality rest until the drain is out which could be another week. Grr! But, I'm in wonderful hands between my hubby and it's been great having my sister here! We hope to have biopsy results back on Monday.

So, as I dig out my mascara in anticipation, I hope you have an "eyelash" blessing day where you are able to celebrate something small and seemingly insignificant, but is important to you!

In His Strength,


Cindy and the VK's

When God's People Pray....

Hey, Hey! It's me...."live" from room 350 at Rush Medical Center! Gotta love wireless internet and laptops! Today I am breathing a HUGE sigh of relief! Surgery is over and we have received a good preliminary report! We won't know for sure until the official biopsy comes back which they said will be 3-5 business days. But, the doctors were encouraging and said they didn't see any abnormalities. And, thankfully, they only had to take one string of the lymph nodes.

For the most part, things went pretty smoothly. Dave and I were both able to sleep a good 5-6 hours the night before surgery. I was a little nervous, understandably so, but as surgery got closer, I felt such peace and I KNOW it was the power of prayer! It was kind of funny because the staff "lost" me for a while, which actually delayed surgery a good hour. They had brought me down to the pre-op area and apparently I was put in the wrong stall so no one knew where I was. (I guess I still cause trouble, even when I'm trying to behave!) While I lay there all alone, again, I just felt so calm and at peace so thank you SO MUCH to all our prayer warriors!! After surgery I felt pretty groggy and slept on and off all day. I'm feeling much more alert today but still in some pain. I'll be going home sometime on Thursday.

So, prayers of thanksgiving that things went well and that things are looking good! Please pray for a good recovery and also for sleep! I've been having trouble sleeping the last couple of nights (gee...wonder why?) and it would be nice to get back to a regular sleep cycle.

I'll be sure to update once we get the official results. Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and the care, love and concern you have shown our family!!

In His Strength,


Cindy and VK's

Only Hope

The last few months, I've become very aware of the use of the word "hope." It's a word I probably say quite a few times a day, often over fairly trivial things. "I HOPE the weather is nice today. I HOPE the grocery store isn't crowded. I HOPE the delivery man is on time." You get the point. However, sometimes our "hopes" carry more weight....."I HOPE my friends have safe travel." I HOPE my niece's biopsy comes back negative." "I HOPE my friend is feeling God's peace in the loss of a parent."

When the Dr. told me it was IBC, being the computer nerd I am, I spent HOURS surfing the net looking for information and hope. Although it offered a ton of info, it didn't offer much hope. Site after site said people with IBC have a 50% change of making it five years. Those stats were depressing. That meant I had a 50% chance of seeing our youngest graduate high school. As a parent, that broke my heart. I'll admit, I probably cried more than slept that evening. Since then, we've learned new drugs have changed the outlook but they haven't been reflected in the stats. Our doctor assured us IBC can be cured. Recently, a board I frequent on-line of all IBC'ers counted it's members who were long term survivors. As I scrolled down and saw name after name of women who had made it 10 years, 20 years and even one 31 years, I cried. This time, the tears were those of hope.

However, after I thought about it, I realized perhaps I was putting my "hope" in the wrong things. Just because someone on that board survived 10 years, doesn't mean that is God's plan for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not being a pessimist. I've just come to understand that what will be, will be. It's all in God's hands. He is our ultimate Hope. Even when things in our lives seem hopeless, in the end, we have the promise of eternal life. As it says in Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the assurance of things HOPED for, the conviction of things not seen." As Christians, when our earthly hopes fail, our Heavenly Hope prevails!

Surgery is scheduled for this Tuesday. And yes, I'm HOPING for a good outcome! I'd be grateful if you could take a moment and pray that things will go smoothly. Specifically, please pray for peace for Dave and I, that the cancer will be gone, for minimal lymph node removal and a good recovery. It's unclear if I'll be in the hospital for one or two nights. It depends on how I'm doing and what our insurance decides.

We hope that you and yours have a Blessed Easter, celebrating the HOPE we were given at the empty tomb and our risen Lord!!

In His Strength,


Cindy and the VK's

P.S. Good news...I finally got some of those closets cleaned out! :-)

I Haven't Got Time for the Pain!

After writing my last blog, I figured it might be a while until my next update. I thought I'd be SO busy cleaning out closets and of course, having some fun! Monday was a good day.....I finally felt better with my cold. We had a fabulous dinner and afterwards, the kids and I played "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?" (Apparently, I'm not!) However, as the evening progressed, I became aware of a dull pain on my right side. By bedtime, it was getting pretty bad. I attempted to go to sleep without any success. Around 12:45 am Tuesday morning, I talked to my Dr. who suggested I head to the ER. After HOURS of waiting and several tests, it was determined I had appendicitis and would need surgery ASAP to remove the appendix. The Dr. who delivered the news probably thought we were nuts because Dave and I both just started laughing. It was kind of like.."What else?" The OR's were all booked until early afternoon so surgery was set for 1:30 pm on Tuesday. They gave me some meds for the pain and we were brought to a room. When they took me to surgery, the med student wrote in her notes that I was "calm and relaxed." Um....no, more like EXHAUSTED as I'd been up a straight 32 hours by that point. Surgery went well and I spent the night in the hospital and was released Wednesday afternoon. I'm still in some pain, but it's nice to be home!

It might sound strange, but I'm thankful it happened when it did. God's timing is perfect! I had been having some intermittent pain there the past few months so I'm thinking my appendix was the culprit. My blood counts were okay for having surgery and thankfully, this didn't happen during my really "bad" part of chemo or during the Florida trip. And, having never had a surgery before, I better know what to expect for the next one. (Dave kept asking if we could just do them both and get a price break.) The staff was FABULOUS over at Rush and I was confident I was in good hands. As we waved goodbye to the staff we told them "See you in three weeks!" (I was told I'll probably be on the same floor next time, too)

So, please pray for a good recovery without any complications. They reassured us this should not interfere with the next surgery. Also, please pray for some "boring" in our lives!! It's really been a crazy couple of weeks! Thanks so much for your prayers, support and concern! Here's hoping my next blog update is really dull!!

In His Strength,


Cindy and the VK's

Can You Read My Mind?

Yep...it's a picture of me! I had the brain MRI this past Thursday and they also gave me a disk with the images. I thought they were pretty cool! We are still waiting for results. The test went well, although it was a little freaky. I'm not really a claustrophobic person but as the table moved me into the machine, I had a fleeting moment of panic. I closed my eyes, said a quick prayer and just listened to the strange percussion "concert" while inside the machine and then I was fine.

This past "post-chemo" went okay....I wasn't as severely tired but it has seemed to last longer. Although, just as I was starting to come out of the chemo haze, I came down with a really bad cold. And, unfortunately, so did the rest of the family, although Dave and I have been hit the worst. So, between chemo and the cold, I feel like I've just been "down" for a long time. There are so many things I'd like to get done before surgery so it's somewhat frustrating to be doing nothing. I never thought I'd see the day when I wished I felt better so I could clean out a closet!

Prayers would greatly be appreciated that the scan comes back as good news. Please pray that we will get over these colds and stay healthy so surgery can stay on schedule.

Thanks for stopping by! I'll update once we get results back from the scan.

In His Strength,


Cindy and the VK's

P.S. And, no "Wow....you really DO have a brain" jokes in the comments! (You know who are are!) ;-)