New Results and Scheduled Surgery

Today Mama met with the surgeon and the medical oncologist. After examining the results from the MRI, from what they could determine they did not see cancer anywhere else in the lymph nodes. Praise God for this positive news. This will be further confirmed as the verdict when the surgeon takes a biopsy of the lymph nodes at the time of the surgery.

The oncologist gave Mama a further report regarding the HER2neu results. HER2neu is a pathology report that tests the aggressiveness of the cancer. These results came back negative. Prior to this, we already knew that this cancer was not hormone receptive—specifically concerning estrogen and progesterone. If it was hormone receptive, estrogen suppressants or progesterone suppressants could be offered with chemotherapy to slow the growth of the cancer (in accordance with the type of cancer.) Since we now know the results of Her2neu, Mama’s type of breast cancer is considered triple negative, and the Her2neu drug called “Herceptin” will not benefit her in treatment.

This news was a little disappointing for Mama simply because the chemotherapy stage is more extensive than we thought. It will include 18-20 weeks of drug-heavy chemotherapy, followed by two months of radiation. It was difficult for Mama, as well as us, to hear that this process may last until May of next year.

As I write this post, I am breathing in the savory aroma of a delicious home-made dinner that Mama is fixing. After a long day at the doctor hearing news that will dictate her life for the next eight months, she decided to come home and bless her family with a wonderful meal! All I would want to do after the day she just faced is curl up in a corner in my fuzzy socks and wallow with a gallon of ice cream in hand. Yet Mama continues to be the glue of our family, drawing us together with good food, laughter, and fun. In fact, when I talked to her over the phone after her appointment, the first thing I heard from her was not a downcast voice, but eager excitement (mixed with adorable motherly bossiness) for me to immediately go to the store to rent The Avengers for tonight. Haha, that’s my Mama. We fondly call her the playful otter of our family.

The factor that appears to be causing the most discouragement for Mama right now in regards to the future is not necessarily the battle of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, but the side effects of hair loss. I think I would also feel the same way. This cancer is attacking the two parts of her body that most physically portray her beautiful femininity—her breasts and her hair. 1 Corinthians 11 refers to a woman’s hair as her glory. There is a deep God-given attachment between a woman and her hair that builds up and affirms her identity as a woman. With this in mind, loosing hair for a woman can cause shame. We strongly believe that Jesus came to absorb all condemnation and shame into his body on the cross so that we could live in freedom and glory. Therefore, we believe that either Mama won’t lose her hair or that God will provide the funds for her to enjoy a beautiful wig that adds to the glory of her physical God-given beauty. GOOD is a life form, the very person of God, and He loves to manifest in acts of goodness to reveal who He is to his children. I am excited to see his goodness in blessing Mama with hair!

Mama’s surgery is scheduled for all-day next Wednesday, October 3^rd. We are so thankful for all the love and support from family and friends and welcome your continued prayer support, especially as Mama prepares for the surgery.

I will close this post with another look at the mysterious, wonderful finished work of the Cross. I just finished reading Benjamin Dunn’s book The Happy Gospel and was so encouraged at the simplicity of abundant living made possible purely through the way of Jesus Christ’s Cross. Dunn writes:

            Our claim to healing and health is that we belong to Christ and to His righteousness, and this      produces life in our bodies. Our spirits, souls, and even our bodies are subject to newness. We        have been “recreated in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:10). We are to yield our bodies as though we have     been raised from the dead (Rom. 6:13). Our bodies are now sharing in Christ’s life, the same Life    that raised Christ’s (physical) body from the dead. That same (physical) body resurrecting power      is now dwelling inside of us believers. It is part of our new reality as new creations. Life is our       portion.

Praise God that we can rest in the life of Jesus living in us to meet our every need and equip us to encounter every circumstance with abundant life! Halleluiah, our healing is not dependent upon striving self-effort that contends for the supernatural health, but our divine health is secure in the finished work of what Christ already accomplished on the Cross—the Supernatural One Himself now dwells within us. Even in the face of the “unknown, yet to come”, we are compelled to effortlessly rejoice because of the ultimate reality that “It is finished.” Partner with Mama and our family today in another day of celebrating Jesus!

Proud to call her "Mama"

     It has been such an honor to be under the parenting and love of my Mama. The Mary Kay that you all know, a woman filled with extravagant joy and crazy love, is the same woman in the privacy of our home (which is an incredible miracle considering that her joy and love have been constant through raising Aaron, Austin, and me!). Her love and joy are as much a part of her as the eyeballs in her sockets. It is the Jesus living in and through her! Though I know her so well, she never ceases to amaze me at how the constancy of her character dictates her response to the unexpected.

     When she received the news this past Wednesday that she had breast cancer, her response was completely supernatural! Though some tears were shed in light of the reality of the journey ahead, I spoke to her on the phone shortly after and she amazed me. Her voice was at peace and her words communicated confident faith in the God she knows so well. She spent the day playing in the heart of Seattle with Grandma Lou (her mother). The next time I talked to her she was laughing atop the Space Needle. Afterwards, they enjoyed the beauty of the Chihuly Garden of Glass. While she was gone I cooked her favorite dish—lasagna—and we had a celebratory dinner that evening—we celebrated the beginning of a new season of seeing the faithfulness and completion of the Cross of Christ.

     Again today, I was reminded of her supernatural joy when we unexpectedly ran into each other at our favorite frozen yogurt place. (Apparently she awoke before Daddy from a nap and thought she would pass the time by celebrating with ice cream! I love it!) Every day we awake we are driven by the selfish pursuit of Jesus in everything and through everything. And Mama has led this pursuit for our family in discovering the grandiosity of Jesus in the circumstances of breast cancer.

     The flood of joy is, at times, intermingled with drops of sadness. Today on her way out to church, she asked me, “How does my hair look?” It was such a natural question, yet it caught us both off guard in a moment of silence. We looked into each other’s eyes with mutual understanding and I whispered in reply, “Mama, your hair is beautiful.” We embraced and allowed the tears to coat our cheeks, knowing the day was coming all too soon when her thick head of hair would gradually fall out. Yet, this solemn hug ended in laughter as Mama said, “I wonder if it will come in blonde and curly!”

     It may or may not surprise you to hear that our home is filled with the same amount of warm laughter and smiles from Mama. She is a woman of celebration, a constant reminder to me that Jesus came to bring life and life abundantly. What an honor to have a mama who is determined to experience full richness of abundant life in the face of serious illness. What causes many people to react in fear and worry has propelled Mama deeper into the pit of eternal bliss. Personally, seeing Mama respond in such supernatural joy has left me in greater awe of the beautiful Cross. The Cross made a way for Jesus Christ to indwell us with the fullness of Himself and the fruit of His Spirit—He is the Fountain of Love, Joy, Peace... And she has demonstrated that in times of uncertainty it is not about reacting to an external but responding to an internal. And internally she has everything she needs—Jesus Christ Himself. Wow! I honor this amazing woman, a walking demonstration of the Gospel. I, along with Aaron and Austin, proudly join in Proverbs 31:28, “Her children arise and call her blessed.”

A Timeline of the Beginning...

(This post is about Mama’s journey thus far in the discovery of her tumor and the progression of doctors appointments and test results, including the nature of her cancer as well the projected course of action.)

August 12—Mama discovered a lump in her right breast

August 30—She went into the doctor

September 14—3D imaging and an ultrasound were performed

September 17—A biopsy was done

September 19—The biopsy results returned positive. At this point the doctors discovered that the cancer was invasive ductal carcinoma, the most common type of breast cancer.

September 21—Mama met with the radiation oncologist and an MRI was performed. She was further informed that it is stage 1 cancer. Praise God she discovered the tumor early on. However, it is an aggressive cancer. Therefore, surgery is more urgent than we all expected. (Also, chemotherapy and seven weeks of radiation are a necessity following the surgery).

 She will meet with the surgeon and the medical oncologist this coming Tuesday, September 25, to schedule the date for the surgery within the next 10 days. At this time, she will also receive the results from the MRI.

The Purpose of this Blog

     This blog exists for one reason alone—to extol the name of Jesus Christ and to celebrate the finished work of the Cross even through disappointing circumstance of breast cancer. We, as a family, celebrate that Jesus was the Ultimate Substitution for us—He became Sin so that we may become the Righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21); He died that we may have abundant life (John 10:10). He absorbed all sorrow, captivity, and illness into his body so that we may forever live in the reality of fullness of joy, complete freedom, and divine health. "By his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:3). This is a journey of CELEBRATION and JOY as we discover how the blood of Jesus Christ has already defeated this battle of cancer. This is not spiritual warfare, but spiritual conquest. Satan and all principalities of darkness were stripped of their authority at the Cross and made a public spectacle (Col. 2:15). Therefore, we are determined to experience the bliss and ecstasy of the power of the Cross through the journey of cancer.

     Of course, though we are resolute to dance in joy because we have the Source of All Joy dwelling in us, we also give ourselves permission to recognize the array of emotions that come with cancer. We will authentically share our tears and our anguishes as well. Where there is pain, the taste of joy is all the sweeter.

     We invite you to join us in crazy faith in response to a crazy faithful God. We welcome you to share encouragement with Mama through this blog and support her as her friends and family. But most of all, we hope you celebrate with us as we see the supremacy of Jesus in these following months of Mama's journey.

     "All the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross." (Colossians 1:20, The Message)