You carried me in prayer over the finish line!!

Dear friends, oh how thankful I am for you!!!!!!! I am finally recovering from that last chemo treatment, it was a doosey!! I did pretty well for the first 24 hours after chemo, thanks in part to the steroids they give me with my chemo treatment. When the steroids wear off though...hold on cause the ride begins to plummet, as it did for me by Friday night after chemo on Thursday. Saturday, I was scary weak, all I did was fade in and out of sleep. That lasted really through Monday and then I started getting a bit stronger. Today is Friday, a week later, and I am actually starting to feel better. I was even able to drive Hannah over to a friend's house yesterday, it has been a long while since I've driven anywhere.

I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful it is to know that I don't have to go in for chemo next week. It is an amazing feeling.

I want you to know that your prayers truly carried me over the chemo finish line. I do not believe I would have made it without your support. The fact that I was able to complete all 12 chemo treatments on time is nothing short of a miracle. I was so weak when I began chemo due to having been sick for the whole prior year, that I marvel at God's faithfulness to keep me strong enough to complete the course of treatment. He is faithful and you have been steadfast in your prayer and support and I am so very grateful to you and for you. with much love!! Leslyn

I had my LAST chemo treatment today, 2/12

I will keep this short because I am not feeling well at all, but I had my LAST chemo treatment today!! The nurses and doctors at Contra Costa Oncology even gave me a graduation certificate celebrating my last treatment. They all signed it...very sweet and thoughtful.

The chemo is hitting me pretty hard already and probably will for the next 4-5 days, so I would very much appreciate your prayer. But I just had to share the joy with you of actually getting through this 6 month journey through chemo, and being able to get all of my infusions on schedule! You have been a VITAL part of my journey, I truly could not have done this without you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. God answers prayer and is faithful, that truth means so much more to me today than every before.

I will update you with new info regarding radiation and what is coming next as soon as I feel better, until then, God bless you beyond all that you could ask for or even imagine.

My hair is growing and so are my eye brows and lashes!

I have to say, I think God is moving here in a visible way. I just wrote, not too many days ago, that my eye lashes and eye brows all fell out. Well, I already have tiny little eye lashes growing back in on both upper and lower lids! There are a lot of them too!! My eye brows are also growing in all of a sudden. They are very short but thick. Also, I have hair growing on my head. It is also short but coming in pretty thick and very, very soft. It feels sort of like baby hair.

I still have one more chemo treatment, so I didn't expect my hair to start growing back in until toward the end of February. I am very encouraged and feel really excited about it. It is hard to convey how exciting it is to be getting my own hair growing on my own head!! Thank you for praying, I really believe that this is a direct response to your prayers for me. God is moving!!

Chemo #11 down, only one more to go!!

I had my eleventh chemo infusion yesterday along with Herceptin and a liter of IV fluids with potassium added. I went back in today and had my Neulasta shot to boost my white blood cells and had another liter of IV fluids with potassium added. That is supposed to help with the residual nausea I have been having for the past two weeks along with the extreme fatigue. I am praying it helps.

I do not feel well at all today, but am trusting that I will get better with these fluids. The consensus is that I will probably not feel better until awhile after my last chemo treatment. I just need to tough it out through the end of my treatment. They said it will probably be 6 months to a year after all of my treatment is finished, including radiation and surgeries that are still ahead of me, before I start to feel like myself again. Everyday, I get closer to that mark.

Thank you again for praying, I couldn't do this without you.
with a grateful heart,
Leslyn

My eyelashes and eyebrows are gone

The last of my remaining eyelashes fell out last night. I now have no eyebrows or eyelashes, it feels kind of weird I must confess. At any rate, I don't have to spend much time getting ready in the morning...no hair requires no fuss, and no eyebrows and eyelashes require no makeup. This experience has really taken me down to the very basics of who I am. There is a strange sort of freedom that comes with really having to look at who I am aside from looks or body parts. I have never been so grateful to know that I am a daughter of the King, a child of the living God as I am now...no props, nothing to lean on but my identity in my Jesus. That identity supersedes any outward appearance and cuts to the core of my being. I am so grateful.

Round 3 of antibiotics

I saw Kathleen today and they are starting me on a third round of antibiotics. I thought I had fought off the infections, but found out that I am not through just yet. I don't have much resistance left. The good news is that I will still be able to take chemo on Thursday, though I will admit my body is getting very weak, I am sleeping a lot. They are going to give me some hydration fluids on Thurs and Fri to see if that helps with the nausea that seems to be hanging on between treatments.

I am grateful that the Lord has made me a fighter because the next three weeks are going to be a push to get through to the end of chemo.
I am writing to ask for increased prayer support.
I know you all have been so faithful to pray all along the past 5+ months of chemo, but now at the end I really need as much prayer as possible to sustain me and really to carry me. I don't remember ever feeling so weak physically.

As I said to one of my cousins, I am so grateful that the Lord is my strength and my help in this time of trouble!! Thank you for coming to my aid in prayer.
with an extremely grateful heart for you, Leslyn

We had to put our dog down today, we miss him

Our fifteen and a half year old dog, Chance, has not been doing very well for the past couple of weeks. His health has really been failing for the past year or so, but recently his health started really taking a turn for the worse. Today, it became very clear that the kindest thing we could do for him would be to put him down. We got to spend a majority of the day with him, holding him and telling him what a good boy he has been. Ron and I took him to the Vet and were with him to the end. I cried and cried.

He has been such a great dog, very loving and very faithful. He was Karyn's dog, so I would really appreciate your prayer for her in particular. She is back down at school already, so I think it will sink in a little more slowly for her. The Lord had prepared Karyn's heart. Before she left, she told me that she thought she would probably not see Chance again, so when Ron called her today to tell her, she was already prepared.

As you can imagine, we are all feeling a little overwhelmed. With all that is already going on and now with Chance's passing, it is just a lot to handle. Those who have been following my blog for awhile may remember that we had to put our 14 year old dog, Chad, down a few months ago, so loosing Chance seemed just that much harder. We are thankful that we still have Charley, he is only 4 years old.

I know some may think, "he is just a dog," but for us, Chance was part of our family. We really love our pets. As you pray for us, would you please pray for comfort, grace and strength? We really need it and your prayers. Thank you so much.