Always something new to research....

    This has been a good week.  Why?   Because my platelets were too low to have chemo.☺   This may seem like a "minus", but it is a "plus" for me.   
     I was able to swim  several times this week which, evidently, made me feel like I was in the "ice cube challenge", but hey, even though the water was freezing, the weather was gorgeous and the neuropathy in my feet just "understood" I was "treating them" to a new therapy:)  ☺☺☺  Normally, I would never go swimming in such frigid water, but this week the exercise took priority.  (Actually, last week, a very generous neighbor of Ruthie's and Bill's let me swim in her heated pool for which I was grateful:)

     Another "plus" this week is that I got to go to the "famous" Thomas Road Baptist Church Thursday night and attend a special book signing service with our daughter Ruthie and our granddaughter, Sarah.  The book, Beauty Marks, is newly published by Linda Barrick.  It tells about their family's life after the tragic car accident when they were hit by a drunk driver who was going at high speed.  This happened in 2006 not too far from  us on Waterlick Rd.  Mrs. Barrick was left for months with injuries which limited her to a wheel chair, and their daughter, Jen, had to have many surgeries and rehab plus still has therapy for memory loss.  She was 15 years old at the time.
      It was inspiring once again to hear their story and how this has changed their lives on the journey to emotional, physical and spiritual restoration.   Forgiveness and love within God's strength are priorities in their journeys and they share about the miracles of healing in their own lives. 
     Tuesday, I went in for my appointment with Dr. Paul and we discussed about surgery and other options for my situation.   I told her that I was going to have a consultation with a very prominent new surgeon at UVA who does robotic surgery.  (He recently did an emergency liver transplant in one of our friends).   I have looked online for robotic distal pancreatectomy and found that if I qualify, a robot (directed by a human of course:):) would explore with less invasion of my abdomen and less risk of infection.  Since we have not discussed this at all with any surgeon yet other than at Johns Hopkins, I cannot really explain  the process or my eligibility.  So far, I still have the option of Johns Hopkins invasive trial surgery.            As my oncologist pointed out, I am such a good candidate for this, they wouldn't have told me to have it unless they really believed I would do well with it!    Reassuring in some ways:):)
     Meanwhile, my tumor marker is down again, now at  2.93.  It just makes me think of how this chemo has affected my pancreas tumor and what other solutions are out there to get rid of it safely☺☺☺Therefore, I think back to these verses by David so many years ago in:
    Psalm 139:13-16  (from "the Message" translation)

OH yes [God], you shaped me first inside, then out;

you formed me in my mother's womb.

I thank you, High God---you are breathtaking!

Body and soul, I am marvelously made!

I worship in adoration---what a creation!

You know me inside and out,

you know every bone in my body;

You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,

how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Like an open book, you watched me grow from 

conception to birth;

all the stages of my life were spread out before you,

The days of my life all prepared

before I'd even lived one day."