{"id":598,"date":"2011-03-19T18:42:10","date_gmt":"2011-03-20T01:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hodgkins.caryschmidt.com\/?p=598"},"modified":"2011-03-19T18:42:10","modified_gmt":"2011-03-20T01:42:10","slug":"more-huge-news-and-a-family-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hodgkins.caryschmidt.com\/?p=598","title":{"rendered":"more HUGE news and a family break!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nI’ve been sitting on some news\u2014first because I wanted the official report and second because we’ve been getting some family time the last couple of days. Here’s the story:
\nMy PET scan was Monday morning. This is the cancer test\u2014the one that shows dark spots where cancer exists. It begins with some sort of radioactive injection, then after thirty minutes, you lay in a machine that takes images of how the chemical metastasizes with “fast reproducing cells” in your body. Thus, cancerous regions show up very clearly on these tests. In my first PET scan in October, I had large black areas all across my upper body that were obviously cancerous. It was disturbing to see those images.
\n
\nOn Monday, my scan technician was a Christian, and after the scan he said, “Wow, looks pretty good to me!” He pointed me to the screen in front of him. “Is that me?” I asked. “Yep… looks 100% to me!” he said. I leaned in and looked at the image. It was completely different than what I had seen in October. My upper body in the image was completely clear of any black areas! The tech looked at me, smiled, and said, “Praise Jesus, huh?”
\n\"\"Well, that was the understatement of the year! I hadn’t expected to get results until later in the week. This was AWESOME news! I stepped out to the waiting room, threw my arms in the air, hugged Dana, and told her the news. Then we went to lunch and fought back the tears, and thanked the Lord.
\nI met with my doctor on Thursday and he shared the report with me. It reads “…complete resolution of PET abnormalities…” and “There are no suspicious PET findings on the current scan”\u2014medical speak for “this scan doesn’t show any cancer!” We had a good appointment and the doctor was very happy that the treatments are working.
\nWhat does this all mean? While there may be some remaining cancer cells in my body, there are no detectable cancerous regions. This is a miraculous answer to prayer, especially since I’m only just past the mid point of treatment. I couldn’t wait to share this news with praying friends and family.
\nI still have five chemo treatments\u2014the next one being Monday. And then a month of radiation will follow. But we have much to be thankful for in the midst of what will still be a difficult few months of treatments.
\nThe photo at the top was taken this past week at Krispy Kreme\u2014Dana’s favorite. (Can you see the delight on her face?) We took Larry and Haylee away for the past three days for the end of their Spring Break week. (Lance is out of town, and we missed having him along.) We stayed close, but enjoyed a restful time away\u2014filled with laughter, some shopping, swimming, a few enjoyable meals, and good memories together. I especially enjoyed feeling well and being able to spend extended time in the mornings reading.
\nAs for shingles, they are still working their magic\u2014stinging, itching, and some weird body pains included\u2014but gradually subsiding. (Dana’s an excellent back-scratcher!) Actually, the shingles were a gift<\/em> on a number of levels and in ways I cannot take the time to describe in this post. Simply put, the Lord knew I needed a break. He also knew I would need a clear mind in church last Sunday night. And He knew that Dana and the kids needed a couple of really good and energetic days with me. Shingles postponed chemo, and allowed all of that to happen. So I rejoice in shingles!
\nSo that’s the news, and we are grateful! Thank you again for your prayers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been sitting on some news\u2014first because I wanted the official report and second because we’ve been getting some family time the last couple of days. Here’s the story: My PET scan was Monday morning. This is the cancer test\u2014the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hodgkins.caryschmidt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hodgkins.caryschmidt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hodgkins.caryschmidt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hodgkins.caryschmidt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hodgkins.caryschmidt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hodgkins.caryschmidt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hodgkins.caryschmidt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hodgkins.caryschmidt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hodgkins.caryschmidt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}