I Knew I Caught It Early!

So, the wonderful Doctor Wolliver gave me a visit this morning as he usually does, thanking me for making it easier for them by being so healthy. :) My numbers are good, all stabilized, nothing diving, and even some rebuilding on my own. It's amazing to me, but doctors don't say "It's amazing!" but rather, "I'm pleased."

He said I did in fact catch it early because there were no circulating blasts in my blood stream. Circulating blasts? Well, that's just a fancy way of saying the leukemic cells were being blocked in the bone marrow and hadn't been released yet. It means that yes, I caught it nice and early AND that there is less of a burden on my body, i.e. I'm not as sick as I could be had I not noticed early. (Praise God!) It's a completely different experience from the first time I had this 3 years ago.

This time they are avoiding the harsh chemo called Idarubicin (sp?) to prevent unnecessary damage and avoid the typhlitis (deathly intestinal infection) I had last time. Also, they're treating me prophylacticly with oral antibiotics ahead of time to prevent any type of infection. And with my body in a healthy state with stabilized blood counts, by all appearances I'll breeze through it.

Praise God for how I was taking care of my body ahead of time between bouts with diet, Shaklee supplements and exercise. I'm excited about the future. The stem-cell transplant will bring me a cure, however I will probably go into early menopause due to the high dose chemo and radiation that really wipes you out before the transplant. You can pray for a miracle there because I don't really desire to be on hormone replacement therapy at my young age of 37 or 38. But, I'm thankful for life and health so whatever the Lord's will is I'm up for it.

Thanks for riding the wave with me and supporting our family in so many ways - meals are covered through October I believe, people are shopping for groceries for my husband as he gives them his list, offers to help clean, and make play dates for the kids when my husband needs a break to go into the office, and the soccer teams transporting the kids to practice and Monica and Bruce Stanton taking Adam to his drum lesson on Mondays to piggy back on their son's lesson. Not to mention your prayers, notes of encouragement, gifts and visits in the hospital. Life feels so normal, just as it should be and I praise God for each and every one of you and want you to know how much GOD LOVES YOU!

If you do not have a relationship with God through the grace and sacrificial gift of Jesus Christ, and desire to have the hope that I have and to be a part of this incredible family, by all means let me know and I'll go through the Scriptures with you that points you to Christ and his incredible love for you and how you can know him. Please email me and/or call and it would be a privilege to usher you into the Kingdom here on earth - why wait until it's too late, why wait until you are at the end of your life when you can have life to the full and peace and joy and freedom right NOW! My email is kristaenglish@gmail.com and my phone is 805/722-5556.

I have been where you are in the past, hopeless, desiring a better life, knowing there is something better out there, and if you seek the Truth, God will reveal it to you through the Holy Spirit. For me, I knew there was more to this life than daily living (or surviving), and from an early age I kept seeking the Truth. And eventually the Holy Spirit led me to the Truth through a series of events, including reading the Bible given to me by a friend, wanting to have that peace and joy I saw in my friend Catherine Grant, having dreams that were from the Lord literally speaking to me, seeing some miraculous answers to prayers in my weak faith, and having a supernatural experience as I tested God in my immaturity - but he knew that is what I needed to believe. And everyone's story is different because God is a personal God, meeting you right where you are at, warts and all, if you'll just turn to Him and ask him the hard questions, honestly come before him, honestly seek the Truth, and He will care for you and show you the way to Himself.

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." Revelation 3:20 -- Is he knocking on the door of your heart these days? Answer it, let him in and repent. He loves you so much.

Finally I leave you with 1 Timothy 2:4 which says "...[God our savior], who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." -- The God of the Universe, who placed the stars in the sky, who named each of them and created you in His image to have a relationship with you and to use you to glorify His name, wants to have that relationship with you through His son Jesus and you can experience a freedom that you've never known.

Praying for you all this morning...God bless and enjoy True Life through His Son Jesus - don't put it off another day because you never know how many days you have left on this earth. Don't forget to contact me if the Holy Spirit is tugging at your heart today.