Quote for October

A Prayer for the Ephesians Eph. 3:14-21

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in heaven derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.


Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!


Thursday, March 7, 2013

Abdominal MRI 2013

For the last year I have been seeing my surgeon (Dr. Imagawa) at the University of California Irvine Medical Center every six months. I seem pretty stable, and my scans of all types don't show any tumors, so the doctor has decided to just see me periodically. Just because the scans don't show tumors doesn't mean there are no tumors. I have the microtumors of carcinoid.

When I went to see Dr. I in January, he noticed that I had not had an MRI since 2010, so one was scheduled. I went in on February 27 and had the scan done. I was supported in prayer by friends, and felt peaceful about going in. For the previous scan I had been afraid of claustrophobia causing me to panic during the MRI, so I had prayed, had asked 10 friends to pray, and took my regularly prescribed Effexor and muscle relaxant. That had worked very well, so I did that again. One other detail that really helped--I can see daylight if I look past the top of my head while I am in the MRI tube. It turns out there is open space only 9 inches away from my scalp!

So this time I was calm and the MRI even went faster! I brought in a CD by Mercy Me, and listed to the first two songs while the IV was put in and instructions were given. We were done with the scan before the last two songs were sung! I estimate I was in the tube about 30 minutes while last time it was 45 minutes.

It was good to lie in the MRI and hear "Where can I go from Your spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I make my bed in the depths, If I go up to the heavens, You are there!" Those are lines from Psalm 139 (You are There) by Bart Millard and Kendall Combes from the cd MercyMe The Worship Sessions.

There is a beautiful version of the hymn Come Thou Fount on the same cd. The last verse is so exciting! "O that day when freed from sinning, I shall see thy lovely face! Clothed then in blood washed linen, now I'll sing Thy sovereign grace! Oh, I'll sing my song of grace, I will sing my song of grace! Come Thou Lord, O, do not tarry, Take my ransomed soul away! Come my Lord do not tarry, Take my ransomed soul away! (quietly) Send Thine angels now to carry me to realms of endless day." 

I found out the results of my MRI at a regularly scheduled visit with my oncologist. There is nothing new in the MRI. The same things are still in my liver. Now, I haven't seem the surgeon, Dr. Imagawa, yet. He might decide to do more exploring, and if anything changes, I will let you know.

God bless you!

Sharon





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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 10, 2013 at 12:54 PM

    Going through MRI's can be scary, but it's great to hear that yours went smooth and faster this time. You were more at ease, and even though the same things are still in your liver, the fact that nothing new emerged is something to be thankful for. Keep the faith, Sharon!

    MRI Diagnostics

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    Replies
    1. Sharon JoyJune 26, 2013 at 8:59 AM

      Thank you, Julio. Yes, I was more relaxed. God is good; now I don't fear MRI's as much.

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