Carol's note 15/04/10

Dear friend,
How's your Easter vacation? Hope you and your family have acquired sufficient energy. I heard the weather in England has finally turned to spring. I could almost see the beautiful daffodils blooming along the path on campus. (The snowdrop season is gone, right?)

My condition keeps going well. Thank you for your kind attention and prayer. Today is the last day of my radio therapy course. I’m very happy for the milestone although I still have one-year targeted therapy. From now on, I don’t need to do the tiring job -- go and back between my home and the hospital alone by MRT for 3 hours every weekday. I'll normally go to the hospital for the targeted therapy every 3 weeks. Hooray!

I had the injections of targeted therapy twice because the time was advanced by one week. The injection is similar to that of chemo, but the time is shorter, around 90 minutes, and the side effect is less. The only notable thing is that Herceptin, the targeted therapy medicine, may lead to heart failure or shortness of breath. Hence, I'll have echocardiography regularly.

I do think I'm very blessed to have your and my family's support whenever I pray. Without your support and God’s mercy, I can’t survive after the shock and the long treatment. May I beg you to add my big sister Su-wen and my friend Fu-li in your prayer list? This afternoon, my sister Su-wen was asked to have a core needle biopsy on Monday because there is a one-centimeter shade in her sonography picture. Please pray for her. Hope it's just a machine error, a calcification, or a benign tumor. I'll tell you the diagnosis result after she got it on Saturday.

And Fu-li, who was diagnosed with breast cancer 11 years ago, is a senior volunteer in my hospital. She came to comfort me after my surgery and then became an important friend in my supportive group. Unfortunately, a recurrence of cancer was found in her bones before the Chinese New Year. Not disappointing other patients, she kept the secret until I saw her in front of the radio therapy room. Now she simultaneously has radio therapy and chemo. This must be a very hard time to her. Please pray for her and her family. Hope the treatment is useful, and both her current and eternal life can be saved. Amen!

May peace and joy with you.

Lots of love,
Carol

Carol's update on 22/04/10

Dear all,
Haleluya! I'm so happy to tell you that my sister Su-wen was diagnosed with fibrocystic breast, a benign (non-cancerous) condition. Thank you very much for your kind prayer. And thank God who shows His love to me again.

Have a bright Sunday!

Lots of love,
Carol