Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for a good check-up by my endocrinologist today. My thyroid cancer is well under control! I'm also thankful for my endocrinologist. He's a wonderfully competent doctor and a very caring man. What more could I ask?

I'm thankful for a nice hot cup of tea when I got home. My endocrinologist is about an hour and 15 away, as they say in these parts, and it's been steadily raining all day. That tea was very welcome!

I'm thankful for a soft, warm little dog...Charlie...in my lap as I drank the tea. And while I'm on the subject of Charlie, I'm going to mention that tomorrow is his 16th birthday! I'm thankful for every moment of his life and that he belongs to us!

I'm thanking God for a warm and comfortable home to return to as well. I'm a homebody and am always thankful for my cozy refuge, whether I've been gone a few weeks or a few hours.

Of course, I'm most thankful for the refuge and strength that is my God, an ever-present help in trouble.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A Month of Thankfulness: Day Thirty-Part 2

I am thankful for Rebecca and for her invitation to join in the festival of thanksgiving each day of this month. I made the easy decision to participate. I've participated before and am never at a loss of things to thank God for! But I confess that I never would have posted what I have regarding my recent thyroid cancer episode had I not made that commitment. I would have considered it too personal and you just would not have heard from me while I went through it.

However, God had other plans, plans that I am so thankful for! Sharing the ways He has blessed me throughout this time has multiplied the blessings for me! And, I hope, the glory for Him!

And the response of God's people! Your comments and assurances of prayer as well as the responses and prayers of my real life friends and family, that love and caring, have given me such a depth of understanding of the church universal, far beyond my own loving church family.

What would have been a lonely, albeit blessed, month has turned into a month of wonder and praise far beyond what I could have imagined. I humbly and sincerely thank my God.

I will praise God's name in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving.~Psalm 69:30

Now please go share your last minute thanks too. There is so much more blessing in shared thanksgiving! Here's the link to Rebecca Writes.

A Month of Thanksgiving: Day Thirty-Part 1

This morning as I stood packing Andy's lunch for work I couldn't help thinking of how thankful I am for my ordinary life. This day ahead of me could have looked very different. I could have been fasting in preparation for my radioactive iodine treatment. I would not have been packing my husband's lunch because he would have been getting ready to take me to Nuclear Medicine at the hospital. My good friends, Kim and Carol, would have been preparing food to bring to my family for the next few days since I would have been unsafe to handle food for others. I would have prepared the sofa sleeper since I would have been unsafe to sleep with my husband...and Charlie. And Charlie! As Kim mentioned yesterday at church, Charlie would have been in for a rough week! Andy will tell you that he's a mama's boy and anybody who knows us very well knows that to be very true. In fact, he's pretty much glued to me as much as possible. And I would have had to stay separate from him for his own safety. That would have broken his heart...and mine!

But God in His mercy intervened for all of us.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.~Jeremiah 29:11

Now, that would have been just as true had I been on my way for the Iodine-131 treatment...but I am so thankful to Him that I'm not.

Share your thanksgiving and bless us all at Rebecca Writes. Today is the last day! But I'm cheating and posting one more this afternoon. I don't think Rebecca will mind!

A Month of Thankfulness: Day Twenty-Eight

This morning I woke up and took my synthroid at 5 AM thinking how very grateful I am for that little purple pill! And the blood work I've had over the past few weeks as well as the total body thyroid scan! And the access I have to a very competent endocrinologist! It wasn't always that way for people in my medical circumstances and it still isn't for some in other parts of the world...or even this country! Many people with similar problems have just suffered not feeling very well for much of their lives and died much younger than they would have had they had the blessings that I do. God forbid that I should take those medical blessings for granted!

Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.~Psalm 2:12b

We're getting close to the end of November but not nearly close to the end of the blessings of the Lord on His people! Please share yours over at Rebecca Writes.

A Month of Thankfulness: Day Twenty-Seven

Wow!!! Do I have some words of praise and thanksgiving to share with you all today! Upon returning home from a low iodine grocery shopping trip with Emily, there was a message on the answering machine to call my doctor. He says that my total body thyroid scan shows only minimal regrowth of thyroid tissue and my thyroglobulin panel (the tumor marker blood test) that I had repeated on Monday is perfect and within the normal range!! An iodine 131 treatment is not recommended at this time!!! I am still absorbing the news! God is so gracious!! Can you believe it!

With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies.
~Psalm 60:12

So I can eat all the iodine I want and start taking my synthroid again today. It will take some time to get back to normal thyroid function levels but I'm on my way. Thank you, God, for the gracious victory over this enemy.

What cause for thanksgiving has God given you today? Please share over at Rebecca's.

A Month of Thankfulness: Day Twenty-Four

What a difference a day can make! Yesterday, I was uncertain and upset about how things were unfolding regarding the scan for my thyroid cancer. I went to bed just trusting in God's sovereignty and His power in my weakness. This morning, I had the scan and God met me in my need in a powerful way! First, I had the kindest, most caring technician attend to me at the Nuclear Medicine lab. She positioned me on a warm blanket on the bed of the scan machine, wrapping me in it as she brought it together in front of me, fastening it to keep my arms close to my sides. The image of being wrapped in God's Everlasting Arms sprung to my mind! Then she told me to call her if I became uncomfortable, that she would rather have to restart the scan than have me lay there, still but in discomfort, for the next hour. And so the the scan began and I started praying, thanking God for His sovereign, enveloping arms and His strength and power in my weakness. I thanked Him for His provision of that compassionate young technician. Then I thanked Him for my family and my dear church family and many other brothers and sisters in Christ that I knew were praying for me. I thanked Him for each one of you, my dear bloggy sisters, in the overwhelming knowledge that I had people all across this country and even a couple in Canada praying for me! Peace and comfort descended upon me! I am so richly blessed! What had been an ordeal turned into a precious time of intimate fellowship with my God through the Holy Spirit. I am humbled with the wonder of it and so very, very thankful tonight.

The Lord is near. ⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.~Phil. 4:5b-7

Please share in the thanksgiving at Rebecca Writes. Its a blessing to us all!

A Month of Thankfulness: Day Twenty-Three

This morning I had the preparatory dose of the radioactive iodine for my total body thyroid scan tomorrow. There have been some changes is medical protocol for the tests and treatment of thyroid cancer since my last re-occurrence of it and frankly, some of them have caught me off guard. I was reading an article about thyroid cancer on-line just a little while ago and the thyroid expert mentioned that no one who is hypothyroid, as I am in preparation for these procedures, should be driving. We should consider ourselves impaired as are people who are "driving under the influence." The other times I went through this, I drove...and did many other things...without even thinking about it. Yes, I was tired but it needed to be done. This time, I just can't seem to do that. I feel impaired regarding more than just driving!

Back to the changes in medical protocol and how they caught me off guard. Decisions were made that I feel less certain of this time. But my faith and reliance on God in His sovereignty is stronger this time. So this afternoon of tiredness and uncertainty, I am very thankful for Christ's all-sufficient grace and power.

But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Praise God for His blessings over at Rebecca's today and each day of this month of Thanksgiving.

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 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 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.

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.

A Month of Thankfulness: Day One

Its been quite a while since I posted anything about my history of thyroid cancer. If there is one thing I've learned about this disease, its that I have to view it as chronic. Now, thyroid cancer is highly treatable and most likely I will eventually die of something else...and I'm thinking not any time soon!

But...my tent is continuing to fall apart at the seams. I had my routine thyroid blood work just over a week ago and the tumor marker is up. So now, I am off my synthroid waiting to get hypothyroid enough to have a total body thyroid scan. My doctor is thinking late November.

Sliding into hypothyroidism is not fun. You feel increasingly sluggish every day as all systems work more and more slowly. You are so tired all the time. And so cold. And you gain weight. I really hate that part! Your skin gets so dry. You just feel like one big slug!

But here's the thankfulness part. God is faithful to never leave me in whatever trial I face (Romans 8:38-39, Psalm 46:1). That, and His promise of a transformed body (Phil.3:21) are what I am thanking Him for today.