Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Scan of Faith

Metisha’s pain has continued and is intense enough that she frequently admits she’s in pain. None of us can really understand what she faces every day, but I know she is amazingly strong to deal with the pain, exhaustion and random sleep patterns on a daily basis and maintain a fighting spirit. She is the most amazing person I know!


Metisha has a very high pain tolerance, but when the pain increases it’s hard to ignore the fear that the cancer may be spreading. So Metisaha spoke with her oncology team yesterday and they agreed it’s time to do a PET scan to see how the chemo has been affecting the cancer. They are trying to schedule the scan for this week. They do believe the pain may be from the chemo killing the cancer cells and hope the scan will prove the treatment is working. Her doctor is also going to send her scans to the radiologist who worked on her neck last time to see if they can do treatments on her spine to help relieve some of that pain.

I was blessed to be with Tisha last weekend. She told me she needs to focus on believing she will be healed because she feels like her faith in healing is what has kept her in such good health over the past four years. So pray with us that the PET scan will be a faith builder and show that God is working a healing miracle in Metisha.

Oh, and if you have some spare dollars, Metisha’s favorite sister-in-law Kaley is helping eRace breast cancer in the Komen Houston Race for the Cure. You can donate to Kaley’s race here. Go Kaley!

And because we all need a little humor in life, I will share a “Metisha Moment” to end this post. When we were in college/high school, Mom took us to Oklahoma City to go shopping. While we were driving to the city Mom kept complaining about a bad smell. Once my Mom gets a hold of a bad smell, there is no stopping until the source is discovered. Well it didn’t take much sniffing to determine the fowl smell was coming from Metisha’s sandals (apparently Payless Shoes “leather” isn’t so breathable). Metisha liked her sandals and they were fairly new so she wasn’t ready for a bad smell to cause a breakup so she made Mom stop at the first Target/WalMart and bought this new product called Febreze. She found the miracle product, soaked her sandals in the spray and happily reapplied them to her feet. Problem solved … for about 10 minutes. Then her feet started to burn, a lot. Apparently Febreze was intended for fabrics, not skin. And as I remember it, the Febreze didn’t kill the smell either! So the sandals ended up in the trash anyway and our next stop was Payless for new shoes.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

She is Human …

This is from Metisha:

“Feeling defeated today:(. Please pray for my positive attitude and belief in healing to return. I'm doubting. I don't like to feel this way:(. I want to live to be an old lady. God is in charge of my life and I'm at peace with that. I just hope his plan is for a long healthy life for me:). Love you all!”

Anytime Metisha feels down or defeated she thinks she’s being a wimp and letting all of her supporters down. But we just tell her it’s ok to be human and she is a million times stronger than we could ever be in her shoes and she can NEVER let us down!

The chemo is starting to hit her hard and she has another round today. She is feeling run down and overall not good. She’s also having a lot of pain in areas where there is known cancer and some numbness. When she has pain it always triggers fear that the cancer is spreading. When she goes to treatment this afternoon she is going to ask if they can move her next scan up so we can know sooner if this new chemo is working.

It’s hard to watch her hurt and to see her down and to feel like there is nothing we can do to help. But no matter what we can always pray. We don’t know what God’s plan is for Metisha but we know he loves her beyond measure and her health is in his hands. Of course that doesn’t stop us from trying to march up to him and tell him exactly how we want this to play out! Well the Bible tells us we don’t need to march, just prayerfully submit our requests to God. Please continue to pray with us:

• Pray that Philippians 4:6 can be real in our hearts (especially Metisha's) as we wait to see if God is using this chemo for healing.
• Pray that Metisha will be uplifted and will not remain in this valley.
• Pray that Metisha can regain all of energy and not feel any affects of chemo.
• Pray that all the pain and numbness will be gone, immediately.
• Pray that Metisha will feel the love and support of everyone who loves her and not let Satan turn that into a sense of pressure to be strong.
• Pray that cancer is shrinking to extinction, not growing.
• Pray that God is using the chemo to give her a miracle of 100% complete healing and that she can soon stop the chemo and remain cancer free.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. Philippians 4:5-7

Dear God, we pray that you wash Metisha’s body with a miracle and clean her cells of all cancer. We ask that you restore her strength, both mentally and physically, and relieve all the pain in her body. We believe this chemo is your tool that will heal her and pray you keep that faith strong. We are so thankful for the blessing Metisha is to her family and friends and for the constant inspiration she is to us. We are thankful for the good health you have given her through her cancer battle. And we are most thankful that she is your child, fiercely loved by you!

Friday, September 10, 2010

Full Speed Ahead with an Aerodynamic Head

Metisha is doing great on her new chemo regiment and is continuing to move full speed ahead in life! She gets tired on chemo day and school days are hard on her feet, but she continues to show super human strength in this battle!


The new school year has started and she has a great class. They asked to see her bald chemo head so she promptly removed her wig which created a moment of stunned silence. She asked them if they had ever seen a bald woman to which she received a unanimous “no”. In true Metisha style, she said, “Now you know why!”

Last time Metisha lost her hair to chemo she was pretty self conscious about her bald head and constantly wore wigs that looked very close to her natural hair. This time around she has a “it is what it is” attitude. She would still prefer to have her hair but is much more comfortable being open with her baby smooth head. As for wig selection, this time she is going for a new look!

I think she looks like a hottie with her new style! But I don’t think it’s the right look for her friend, Chad.
 
Metisha continues to have an amazing attitude and fighting spirit. She keeps fighting and planning for the future. However she will use the “I might not be here next year" line when it works to her advantage, like when she is trying to guilt you into going to Disney World with her!  She knows how to play that cancer card :)   


We are continually amazed and blessed by how well Metisha feels. We know she isn’t always honest and is definitely masking over pain, but when you are watching Metisha ride mountain bikes, you just keep asking yourself how she can be so sick but look so good. We know God is blessing her health daily and just keep praying he will give her a miracle very soon!

Keep praying for Metisha’s energy to remain high so that she can do all the things she wants to in life. And pray that the pain in her feet from the oral chemo will improve and disappear. And always keep praying for our miracle for all the cancer to be gone from her liver, stomach, intestines, rib and spine!  Her last blood work showed her markers have gone down so we believe God is answering our prayers!