the run down.

I would like to forewarn you that this is my very first blog so if its all over the place I apologize... but if you know me very well, then what else would you expect? That being said, given recent events I figured writing a blog might be the best way to keep everyone up to date on the craziness in my life.

These last few weeks have been trying, to say the least, but I have already seen God's faithfulness in more ways than I could have ever imagined. Alright, so heres the run down... Late last fall, around October or November, I started experiencing some pain in my stomach and sickness related to it. I was training for a half-marathon at the time, but I found that I had to cut a lot of my runs short due to nausea and other pain. It got to the point where I rarely worked out at all because every time I did I would get sick to my stomach. I also felt sick when eating, sick when I wasn't eating... you get the point. I made an appointment with a GI doctor for January to figure out what the deal was. After lots of questions and blood work, they scheduled an ultrasound and an upper GI to check out my whole digestive system and see what was up. The upper GI came back clean, but when they looked at my ultrasound they found what looked like cysts on my liver and decided to do a cat scan to confirm. The cat scan showed the same spots, so they proceeded to do a biopsy on my liver. The biopsy was definitely more painful than I expected, and I passed out in recovery... literally. Luckily, I didn't have to miss a single game of March Madness during my all-day hospital party!

The next week of waiting felt long, but I was completely covered in love and prayer by the people around me. When I called the nurse back the next week to find out my results and was immediately connected to the doctor, I knew something was wrong. The doctor told me that the pathologists looked at the tissue from my biopsy and "didn't know what to call it... malignant, beningn, or a combination". My heart dropped. He then told me that they had sent the slide over to M.D. Anderson (the best cancer hospital in the country which happens to be in Houston, for those who haven't heard of it) and that I would have to wait another week to hear back from them. When I heard the words malignant and M.D. Anderson in the same sentence, I lost it. I knew cancer was a possibility, but thought it was more of an out lier, not a real one. You always hear people say "I never thought it could happen to me", but it is such a painful, true statement. After several hours of tearful phone calls to friends and family, I pulled myself together and started praying. Again, I was completely BLOWN AWAY throughout the next week by the people around me. Literally, I had so many people tell me they were praying for me/thinking about me. I was terrified. Longest. Week. Ever.

Anyways, yesterday as I was leaving work, I get a call from the doctor. He tells me M.D. Anderson has confirmed what I have, which is a condition that he had never even heard about (comforting, I know). He tells me to get out a pen because it is a really long word. Homeboy didn't lie... it's literally the longest word I've ever heard. We're talking.. I had to start writing on another line because I ran out of paper.. long. What I have is called "Epithelioid Hemangioendothelioma". True story. The doctor said he didn't know anything about it other than it was extremely rare, it occurred in young women, and that I needed to set up an appointment at M.D. Anderson. When I asked him if it was cancer or not... his response was "its not cancer, per say, but it is a tumor". Basically, I took that as he had NO idea what the heck was wrong with me. Okay so, a common reaction at this point would be to burst into tears, right? Yeah.. not so much. I was definitely upset, but I could not stop laughing with my friend because of how many letters that word had. I WOULD get some disease I couldn't pronounce. Go figure.

When I got home, I spent a few minutes on google figuring out what was wrong with me, then decided (through the encouragement of my sister-in-law) that it was not a good idea. Seriously, if you aspire to become a hypcondriac, Web MD and google are a great place to start! That being said, I decided to get off my computer and out of my house and spent last night with some INCREDIBLE girls that have been such blessings in my life while I've been in Houston. I could barely keep up with the texts and calls coming into my phone. Seriously, I am SO humbled by the love and support everyone has shown me already. My parents were able to talk to a good friend who is a doctor who was very encouraging about the treatment for my condition. From what I understand, EHE (for short) is a form of cancer but is very slow developing. It is unresponsive to chemo/radiation, so I will most likely have to get surgery of some kind to remove the tumors. All of this is just speculation from what I have heard and read, so I may have a completely different story once I talk to the docs at MDA. Today has consisted of calling MD Anderson only to discover that my doctor never gave me a referral. I called the doctor back to talk about getting a referral, and the nurse told me they are taking care of it. Apparently they know someone who is the head of oncology at MDA who they are going to try to refer me to. Okay, SO! That's the run down on what's been going on.

My emotions/thoughts right now: I have a peace that I cant even comprehend. I can literally FEEL the prayers everyone is showering on me. My soul feels light in a time when it could be plagued with heaviness. It's the most amazing thing ever!!! What I want for now is just to embrace life completely and enjoy the people around me. I COMPLETELY believe that God has a plan and that glory WILL be brought to His name through this. I COMPLETELY trust the doctors at MDA and know they will give me the absolute best care possible. I COMPLETELY believe in the healing power of prayer.

I'm asking for prayer right now for 2 things: 1. being able to get an appointment at MDA through my doctor's referral and 2. for the tumors to be in a very early stage and easily removed through surgery.

On that note, I want to leave you with a few verses that have been a HUGE encouragement to me:

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" -Matthew 6:25-27

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." -Psalm 27:14

"Sing to the Lord, you saints of his; praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. When I felt secure, I said, 'I will never be shaken.'" -Psalm 30:4-6

"my enemy will say, 'I have over come him,' and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me." -Psalm 13:4-6

Alright, yall, that's all I got for now. I got a super important kickball game to get ready for tonight haha! Over & Out.