2024 Janet's health journey

 At the end of 2023, I was still pretty much non-weight bearing, waiting for the femur bone to heal around the rod that was placed in October after the spiral break.  January 22, I was told that the bone was 90% healed, and I could start bearing weight on the left leg and walking.  This began with putting part of the weight on the leg as I walked with the walker.  I increased the weight bearing as I tolerated, and did really well with it.  

February 12, we signed up to get a chair lift for our stairs to the basement.  I was also signed up for the other cataract surgery I needed.  

Within the next week, I started having headaches and pain in my sinuses, and was coughing a lot.  I tested negative for covid and the flu at my PCPs.  By February 23, I was running a fever of 101 axillary. On February 26, my oxygen levels were dipping to the 80s. I was told to go to the ER.  They ran all sorts of tests on me and called it pneumonia.  My oncologist was thinking pneumonitis, and told me to quit taking Afinitor, the very strong target drug I had started in December to help the anti-estrogen drug be more effective to stop the bone cancer progress.  Pneumonitis is a side effect of Afinitor.  The CT scan said it looked like ground glass in my lungs.  At the ER, my blood glucose was also elevated, and my BP was also really high during this whole episode. (So I was on BP meds for the next 9 months. My BG came down within a week of going off the drug.) Because of the lung inflammation, I was coughing a lot.  I canceled the cataract surgery, knowing I couldn't lay flat without coughing.  I was sleeping semi-upright in the recliner.  I was put on several antibiotics. 

March 6, I started using the cane part of the time.  Within a few days, my pelvis on the left side was hurting so much, I went back to very little weight bearing.  I could hardly get up from the toilet, the pain was so intense.  I got an appointment with the surgeon and x-rays were done to see if everything was okay with the rod and hip area.  It was all good, but an MRI was ordered for March 19 of the left hip.  It came back looking like there were multiple lesions from the midline and including most of the left pelvis.  Pathological fracture was also in the report.  The surgeon told me to go back to non-weight bearing to see if it would heal.  

During this time, I was still having low 90s for Oxygen saturation, and some coughing.  I was referred to see a pulmonologist.  He gave me samples of a 3-medicine inhaler that was very expensive, but it did help with the coughing.  Eventually, it was agreed that the Afinitor was what had caused all my lung symptoms and it took a while to get out of my system.  

With the increased bone lesions showing, the pain, having to go back to non-weight bearing, and having gone off of Afinitor, made us feel that the end was nearing.  The anti-estrogen was supposed to only be about 4% effective without the target drug, and that was the last combination of drugs the oncologist could prescribe!

Emily was coming for her Spring Break on the 20th, and all the rest of the away kids decided they would come too.  It seemed like times we could all be together were limited. They actually beat Emily in getting here!  We had a really good week together.   The kids decided we needed to buy a hospital bed for the future.  While our boys were all available, they borrowed the pastor's truck and bought a really nice one that was available online.  They put it in the sunroom.

During this time, many people were praying for me.  Our family, church people, Facebook friends, and neighbors were all asking God for healing. I saw my oncologist on March 21, and he said there was a lot of cancer showing in the pubic bone.  I feel like I faced my mortality again, as I did in 2011, and again in 2021 when I found out about the metastasis.

Emily was here for a week after the others left, and she was willing to help me start piecing quilts.  I asked God to allow me to make at least 4 quilts: one for Charissa, one for Randy and Joy, and one each for James and Micah.  These kids are our oldest grandchildren, and their quilts were made for them when they were toddlers.  Randy and Joy's quilt had been through a lot, and they needed a new one.  So that was the request of God, and the plan.  Little did I know that God would allow me to make 15 quilts in the rest of the year!!

After a month of non-weight bearing, I went back to my surgeon, and he said I should start bearing weight again.  I was kind of dubious, but did start the process again.  The pain had gone away, and it has not returned!!  

The first quilt, I quilted from the wheelchair, then after that, I started standing to quilt, and sitting in the wheelchair to rest every few minutes.  It was really good therapy for me, because eventually, it was no problem for me to quilt standing up.  But Rowen wouldn't let me be downstairs unless he or Elizabeth were with me.

The day after Father's Day, I started using the cane exclusively.  On June 26, I asked Rowen if I could drive to prayer meeting.  He said yes, so I did!  I had not driven since October 12, the day I last drove to work and my femur broke!  As I drove, I had an idea: "Since I can drive, let's take a little trip to Missouri to see Daddy!"  So two days later, we were on our way to Missouri.  I was feeling better and stronger all the time.  I was living a miracle!

The Travels blog post tells about the other trips the Lord has allowed us to take since then.

In October, I had my 6 month CT scans and bone scan.  Miraculously, they did not show any of the problems in the pelvis that the MRI had shown in March.  They showed the spots of known/old/healed cancer, all in smaller intensity than they had shown previously.  I saw the oncologist on October 30 and asked what he thought of my going forward with knee replacement surgery.  (I had been having steroid shots in both knees every 3.5 months to be able to handle the bone-on-bone pain in my knees, and they were hurting again.) He said if I could get scheduled right away, he saw no problem with it.  My surgeon had the available date of November 22, giving us the time needed to get the preop appointments all done.    

So now I am 3 weeks past that left knee replacement, and am doing well.  The surgeon and the physical therapists are very pleased with my progress.  I feel like God has done a miraculous thing in my body, and given me a new lease on life!  I do not know if He has healed me completely, or given me a totally unexpected (from a medical point of view) remission, or something in between.  But I know he has touched me, taken away the terrifying bone pain I had in March, and allowed me to be productive and healthy this year.  I give Him all the praise.  (At my July 17 oncology appointment, Dr. Cody was so surprised to see me walking, because I had been in the wheelchair for so many visits.  I told him that God was the one who was healing me.)  I trust that my life and health bring glory to God.