A Month of Thankfulness: Day Twenty

The hoops have been jumped through and I am set for my total body thyroid scan next Monday and Tuesday, the 23rd and 24th. Monday, I go to the hospital to swallow a small amount of Iodine 131 which the remaining thyroid tissue in my body absorbs and then on Tuesday, I am scanned to see where and how much there is. A couple of additional thyroid blood tests and the results of the scan determine when and how much of the radioactive Iodine 131 is given to me to (theoretically) destroy the remaining thyroid tissue in my body, all of which is assumed to be cancerous. So I am getting near the end of the process and for that I am very thankful!

Throughout this week, I've been clinging to this particular verse:

The eternal God is your refuge,
and underneath are the everlasting arms.
Deuteronomy 33:27a

I am humbled and most thankful for His everlasting arms.

Please join us in this feast of thanksgiving which Rebecca is hosting each day for the month of November. Its so much more satisfying than any big meal and has only the most positive eternal consequences!

A Month of Thankfulness: Day Nineteen

I'm finally there! My thyroid hormone levels are low enough to proceed with the scan! Thank you, God! Right now, I am wading through the steps to get the arrangements made for my total body thyroid scan. My doctor is about an hour away from the cottage and not affiliated with the hospital close to us where I've had these done before. So he (and I) need to jump through a couple of additional hoops to get the arrangements in order. But things are proceeding and I am trusting God to go before us and smooth the way.

More thankfulness is happening all around us. Go share in it at Rebecca's.

A Month of Thankfulness: Day Eighteen

Charlie had a routine vet appointment this morning. Well, as routine as vet appointments are for 14 year-old dogs with checkered medical pasts. But he did well. He accepted the inevitable in better spirits than usual and everything looked pretty good for the old boy. Today I am thanking God for my sweet, little Charlie (who's been dozing on a pillow next to me after his ordeal) and for his patient, kind veterinarian, Dr. Sharon. She makes things so much less stressful for both Charlie and me!


Rebecca is chronicling our thankful posts over at Rebecca Writes. What good gifts are you thanking God for today?

A Month of Thankfulness: Day Seventeen

I just got up from a nap. Naps are a daily necessity in these waning thyroid hormone days. Especially on Tuesdays because my Revelations study is Tuesday evenings. I want my concentration as focused as possible for that and sharp thinking is harder to come by right now. So this afternoon, I am thanking God for the restorative power of sleep. Even just an hour makes a big difference.

What are you thanking God for today? Please share at Rebecca's. Sharing the thankfulness is such a blessing! So while I'm at it, thank you, Rebecca for hosting this month of thankfulness!

A Month of Thankfulness: Day Sixteen

I had another doctor's appointment today. This one was to check my blood pressure. Way back before my thyroid cancer reoccurred and my hip bursitis was diagnosed, my primary care physician had put me on a prescription non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug for what she thought at the time was arthritis pain. I had some negative reactions to that drug including high blood pressure...or so we thought. After being off of it for some weeks, my blood pressure did not return to normal. My doctor had me get a blood pressure cuff and check it at home for the last month or so. It seemed fine and today was the big day to return to the doctor with my record and the cuff so that she could check it for accuracy. And it is accurate! It seems that I have some "white coat syndrome" going on but no real hypertension! I didn't think I was nervous at the doctor's office, but...how many doctors for how many medical problems can you see without a little bit of concern that there is another one going on? Today, I am so very, very thankful to God for normal blood pressure!

Please join in the thanksgiving at Rebecca's. The joy of it is contagious!

A Month of Thankfulness: Day Fifteen

My special gratitude to God today is for the prayers of friends and family. I was amazed by the comments expressing prayerful concern in response to my thankfulness post of yesterday. I have bloggy friends who are praying for me! I also have some very special friends in real life (you know who you are) who are lifting me up in prayer these days. There is my church family who prays for me. And my "real" family, of course. I am blessed indeed!

To see what others are thanking God for this Lord's Day, visit Rebecca and join in our celebration of His good gifts.

Sunday's Hymn: Forever Settled in the Heav'ns

For ever settled in the heavens
Thy Word, O Lord, shall firmly stand;
Thy faithfulness shall never fail;
The earth abides at thy command.

Thy word and works unmoved remain,
Thine every purpose to fulfil;
All things are thine and thee obey,
And all as servants wait thy will.

I should have perished in my woe
Had not I loved thy law divine;
That law I never can forget;
O save me, Lord, for I am thine.

The wicked would destroy my soul,
But in thy truth is refuge sure;
Exceeding broad is thy command,
And in perfection shall endure.

Psalm 119:89-97, The Psalter, 1912
Tune: Duke Street, John Hatton, c. 1793

A Month of Thankfulness: Day Fourteen

As I slip further into hypothyroidism in preparation for my scan and treatment, I am experiencing more and more of those unpleasant symptoms. The temperature has been almost 60 degrees F. this afternoon but I am really cold. So I am thanking God today for warm clothes and hot tea. They both feel like my personal blessings right now.

What good gift are you thanking God for today? Please share and join in the thanksgiving at Rebecca Writes.