Growth!

Thank you to the 126 of you who liked my FB status last week when I announced that I was pulling out the mascara for the first time in months. :)

Here are two pictures taken exactly one week apart.

Friday, October 14.

Friday, October 21
(clearly, our self-portrait skills deteriorated during the week). You can see them, right? I promise they are there.  And check out my 5 o'clock shadow eyebrows!

My hair is also growing back in; you can see a difference almost daily. And I'd show you a picture of that, but shaggy fuzz is pretty unflattering. :)

I actually have mixed feeling about all this hair growth going on. Losing your hair is such a universal symbol of cancer and being sick, and I have long looked forward to the day that it grows back. But always when I thought about that time, it was as I moved past cancer, our life got back to normal, etc. Not once did I consider the fact that when my hair grew back, it would be while I still lived with cancer and chemo treatments. Don't get me wrong. I'm ecstatic about my eyelashes and eyebrows, and if you live in this household, you're probably tired of me talking about it. But there are definite moments as I rejoice over my hair when the thought that I still have cancer catches me off guard.

Brian and I are heading to Nashville today to the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center to talk to their gynecological oncologist for a second opinion. I'm not really expecting some big revelation or magical solution to my cancer. In fact, I think it will probably be difficult to hear statistics and the cold, hard facts about my situation, but I am hopeful they will have some new information regarding treatment, something different we can try.

I have apparently been a little more worried about this than I realized because I felt sicker and more upset and infinitely more weepy as the day went on yesterday. Of course, I could also blame that on chemo side effects as well. I am clinging to 2 verses right now:

Psalm 55:22 "Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you."

I Peter 5:7 ". . . casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you."

I've read these verses many times before, but they were part of the kid's morning devotion today, and I'm pretty certain it's not a coincidence that these verses were placed in my path just on the morning I needed them.