I can’t believe today is 3 weeks since Justin had his
surgery. God can heal the body so
quickly. Well at least I can say that
from looking on the outside. I’m not
sure Justin would feel the same way. He
is still in a lot of pain. And has some
side effects; some of which we hope won’t be permanent and then others that
will be permanent. He definitely has nerve damage on the left
side of his mouth which is causing some paralysis with his motor skills of his
mouth. So something as simple as eating
has now become a job for him because his mouth doesn’t open as wide which in
turn doesn’t make it easy to eat a lot of things. He also can’t open his mouth as good as he
used to, to be able to sing. For those
of you that know my husband you know that he has a heart for music. He loves playing guitar and singing. It’s a huge part of his life. So for him to feel that he has lost the
ability to sing like he use to was very discouraging to him. But I keep reminding him that it’s only been
3 weeks since his surgery. He has a
pretty good chance that nerve will grow back together and won’t have any
problems…..but than there’s also a chance it won’t .
His biggest complaint right now is that he’s so stiff he
can’t move his neck; and his head, neck and back hurts from being so
stiff. We asked the doctor if he could
have a professional message to help loosen him up but he said not till after
his radiation.
But other than that he’s feeling pretty good. He gets up often now and will help out around
the house or go run an errand with me.
But he tries to rest as much as possible per the doctor’s orders. And
his outlook on everything has been amazing!
Don’t let us fool you though, there
has definitely been some “down” days and feelings of discouragement for both of
us but overall he has handled everything amazingly well! And he has grown so much more spiritually in
the last few weeks that it makes me jealous.
haha But you can sense the peace
and presence of God in him!
So the next step is radiation. He starts radiation this Wednesday, March 21st. He will go 5 days a week for about 6
weeks. This Friday, March 23rd
he will go to a speech class at Moffitt to teach him how to swallow because one
of the side effects are that he will
have difficulty swallowing. And then there
is a whole other list of side effects with the radiation but nothing that he
won’t be able to overcome with the Lord.
And our latest and greatest news is…..NO CHEMO!!! You have no idea how excited we were when his
oncologist said he does not have to do chemo.
It was a breath of fresh air for both of us! Reason being is because at least 3 of his
lymph nodes would have had to test positive to be put on Chemo. And praise God he doesn’t fall into that
qualification!
My faithful friends and family. We hold you dear to our heart. You have been used by God to bring to light
many things for Justin and I. One of
which is the security knowing that He is always there. He will always provide and will never leave
you! As much as I find myself doubting
that I always want to kick myself because it’s not but hours later and he’s
proven Himself once again. The
generosity of you all has left us speechless!
And others of you who have continued to bless us with your words of
encouragement and prayers. Don’t
stop. You have no idea what a few positive
words can do. And then those of you who
have blessed us with your service; from cleaning my house, to helping Justin
with work and the biggest is taking care of my kids. I know what a HUGE job that is! Raising 3 kids is no joke! Especially when two of them are highly
energetic adorable cute boys! J He has blessed us with more than we can
deserve. Both of our businesses have
continued through all of this and in fact have grown! And can I give a shout out to Bill. He has done such a GREAT job running JB Lawns
for us! Thank you Bill! And thank you all! We love you and pray that one day God will
use us to bless you!
So our journey isn’t over yet but we can see the light at
the end of the tunnel. And it’s been so
neat to see God through this. He has
shown his face so many times that it’s unbelievable. I wish I could go into detail with all the
God stories but I probably need to write a book for that. Hahaha Don’t be discouraged! God is good and He is using my husband for
His glory.
I leave you with a verse:
Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God.” Our lives get so busy and we sometimes forget
to just “be still”. Something I wish I
was better at; but I encourage you as I strive to myself to set a few minutes
of unhurried time to “be still” before God.
God is good!
