On January 5, 2018, as many of you know, I had major back reconstruction! If that wasn't enough to have to deal with, in April 2018 I awakened to what I thought was a stomach bug and much to my surprise the name of the stomach bug turned out to be "ovarian cancer". The dreaded "Big C", the "killer of life", and often times spoken words that sound exactly like being handed a "death sentence"! The world seemed to stop turning and I had to keep reminding myself to just breathe. I remember well lying in the hospital bed that night not knowing what to think, how to think and of course I, as many others have said when given this news, "why God"? And then I remembered who "My Healer" was and is! At that moment I uttered aloud these words..."You are either God or you're not"... and from that moment forward, He (God, Jesus, the Lord or whatever name you choose to call Him), held my hand every moment of every day. He was with me when my insurance company "found the perfect oncologist" for me who not only cared for my physical needs, but became and remains a dear friend. Dr. Elizabeth Nugent is one awesome lady, as are each of her employees. I was and continue to be treated like royalty on my regular appointments and during the chemotherapy treatments that started May 23, 2018. The staff at the Cancer Center at Memorial Hermann Hospital Southeast are the best! They too, have become family and I will always keep them close to my heart for helping me through he worst few months of my life! I started losing my hair after the first round of chemotherapy and decided to have it shaved to get the inevitable over with....becoming a bald headed 67 year old woman. That was one of the hardest thing I went through. I always loved my "silver" hair and in about 5 minutes, all I could see was the baldness, the being stripped of what I had loved and finally admitting that the cancer was trying to strip me of the very life that I had been given by God. I came home and cried the rest of the day and the next day, I faced it head on (no pun intended) that baldness was my "new normal"! And God was with me.
I decided early on that I was going to kick cancer in the butt and out of my life, no matter how hard it was going to be, God was going to be there with me, some days holding my hand, and some days when I was too weak to walk, He carried me, held me close to His bosom and during the night hours He was present, comforting me and wiping my tears when fear would try to consume me. I purposed in my heart, and voiced to others that I would not lose my joy, nor would I allow depression to overtake me. For the most part, that's how I spent each of my days...looking for the bright spots, looking and finding joy in the smallest things and keeping God's Word near to my heart and filling my spirit with good things. I admit that some days when physical weakness would overtake me, I could barely whisper the Name of Jesus. But He heard each whisper and soon I'd be resting in His arms again. I began living by Faith, just as I'd preached to so many others that they needed to do! Psalm 23 became my "spirit food", it became my song, it became my life.
I've chosen to not give all the gory details that go on with chemotherapy, but trust me, it's not for sissies. I did have surgery to remove the cancer tumors from my body after three chemotherapy treatments, then resuming the treatments three weeks after the surgery. Finally, the day arrived, December 20, 2018 when I got to ring the brass bell, letting everyone in the entire building know that I had completed the "course" and chemotherapy was done! That's one day I'll not ever forget! I remember saying, "take that devil"! Actually, it was more of a scream than just saying!!!!
There were three things that helped me get through this "mountain". Jesus, Juice Plus+ and friends and family whose prayers, love and support surrounded me constantly. I'm sure you might be reading this, thinking, okay, I get the Jesus and the friend thing, but what in the world is Juice Plus+? Well, since you are wondering, Juice Plus+ is essentially powdered organic vegetables, berries and fruits in a capsule or in chewable form. I never ever have eaten enough vegetables, berries or fruits through my whole life. During chemotherapy my appetite was GONE and some days just the thought of food would bring on nausea and I just could not eat. But, I could eat the chewable Juice Plus+ veggies, berries and fruits and I'd keep those down. As I grew stronger and could eat again, I continued with the Juice Plus+ I'd been introduced to from a dear friend of mine, because as I keep saying, I just don't eat the total amount of veggies and fruits and berries our bodies need each day. Each time I'd have lab work done, the cancer numbers would drop drastically and the other numbers that are important in our bodies healing would be better each time as well. I'd told my oncologist from the first time I saw her that I was on Juice Plus+ and her words were, "do not stop taking them"! By the way, my hair is growing back in at a very rapid pace and I do believe the fact that I am eating right and flooding my body with veggies, fruits and berries each day, has been the catalyst in this occurring!
I'm now cancer free, Praise the Lord! Do I still have days when I'm low on energy? Yes. And when I have those times, I reach for my Bible, I begin praising the Lord and I grab some Juice Plus+ Chewables and before I know it, my strength has been renewed! And for this I am more grateful than words can express. I've gone from being near death to living life at its fullest. God is opening new doors for me. I'm now a Direct Distributor for Juice Plus+! I told someone I'm not a salesperson. But what I am is a walking miracle and I believe that Juice Plus+ enhanced that miracle in my body and as the Lord did His miracle working power in my body, JP+ was flooding my body with "good things" grown in God's gardens!
(Juice Plus+ is NOT a vitamin, it is NOT a supplement....it's food...and as was posted in a recent magazine...."Food IS after, all, the best medicine"! Add joy and laughter to that and what do you get? Life and that abundantly. If you're interested in this "food I take every day", just give me a call, send me a text or find me on Facebook and I'll answer any questions and give you my website)!
God bless each of you and thank you for being with me during the last year and for allowing me to share this journey with you!
I love you,
Grammy Sue
