But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as Eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31







Wednesday, November 16, 2011

MY FIRST ONCOLOGIST FOLLOW UP TOMORROW!!!!

Tomorrow I will be going back to my oncologist (chemo doctor), Dr. Venkatesh in Greenwood.  It may sound strange, but I'm really excited about going to him....plus I get to see the office girls!  Since my treatments ended, I am now in the "follow up mode" with my doctors, (other than my plastic surgeon).  So, this is my first 3-month check up with my oncologist and I'm eager to have the blood work done and of course praying that it comes out "clean" and showing nothing to indicate the return of any cancer.  Following up with the doctors give me a strange peace....it makes me feel like I'm still "doing something" to combat the cancer returning.  And if it would return, I would have the best chance to catch it early.  These follow-ups are a part of my life now....I don't know how long, but it will be years.  I will follow up with my surgeon, Dr. Zusan, every six months, so will see her again in February.  I'm feeling pretty good, so now I hope the bloodwork all looks good!  That would be the prayers I ask from you tonight...thank you!

And, since I know you are a praying bunch, I have a couple of friends I'd like to ask you to lift up in prayer.
 
Carin is on the right in pink.  She is one of my "cancer sisters".

My friend, Carin, will be having her "exchange surgery" to replace her tissue expanders tomorrow.  I know she is excited and apprehensive at the same time.  So, if you would remember her in your prayers, I would appreciate it....and I know she will too.  I told her I'm jealous she gets her new ta-tas before me!  I still have to wait a couple more weeks!

And, unfortunately, I have a "new cancer sister" ~ Edie ~.  She has joined this "family" that none of us want to be a part of, as she was just diagnosed with breast cancer last week.  Edie lives in PA and we have never met, but we used to be on a crafting board together, so we "know" each other via the internet.  Edie had surgery this morning and she has been on my mind and in my prayers all day today.  Will you please lift her up in prayers with me?  Thank you!

And, will you please lift my brother-in-law, Nick up in your prayers.
My sister, Pam, and her husband, Nick ~ in the hospital listening to Amazing Grace.

Nick has just begun his own cancer journey, being the 4th in my family to be diagnosed with cancer within the last two years.  He has been diagnosed with Lymphoma, but it is such a rare kind that they are having a hard time determining the factors of it so they can get a treatment plan started.  So, the wait for the treatments to begin is getting excruciating, as it's been at least 3 weeks of waiting now.  He had another surgery to remove more tissue and bone from his head last Friday and are hoping it brings the answers for them by the end of this week.  This is a real roller coaster when you are first diagnosed, as they have quickly found out.  Unfortunately for Nick, the cancer has already affected his life in a detrimental way, as it has made him go totally blind and the doctors say he won't get his sight back.  It's hard enough to go through the treatments for the cancer as it is, but I cannot even imagine being able to see one day and not see the next.  That alone would be so life changing!  It just breaks my heart.  Nick's spirits have remained high in spite of this, but please ask God to continue to hold him up and give him a peace beyond human understanding.  Thank you.  Pam and Nick are Christians and I know they are leaning on their faith to get them through this.  With a diagnosis like this, we find so much is totally out of our hands...and our faith in God is strengthened.  I know God can use Nick's battle and bless both him and Pam in the midst of it and I pray for that.

This has been a very trying two years for my entire family, but God has been in the midst of all of the troubles.  He has held us up and taught us things in our "valleys" and I hope He can now use me for His glory!  Sometimes you have to be "broken" to fully put your trust in Him and allow Him to use you.  I want to be an encouragement to others who may find themselves diagnosed with cancer and I pray for Him to lead me.

Thank you for all of your prayers!

Cooking has returned to our house!!!!
And my husband is glad it has!  I used to cook while we were raising our two children...I really did!  LOL!  But once both kids left our home and it was just me and Larry, it just seemed easier to "eat out" a lot and I just didn't cook much any longer.  Then something happened...on facebook, of all places!  Someone shared a link to a facebook page full of crock pot recipes!  Now, I love, love, love my crock pot for roasts and my green beans, smoked sausage, and potato concoction.  But, I never knew the things you could do in a crock pot (even cakes!) before discovering this facebook page where women were sharing recipes left and right!  Then that lead to finding other recipe sites all over the internet of women sharing the recipes they cook in their own homes...and the rest is history! 

For the last couple of months now I have been cooking up a storm in my crock pot!  I am actually spoiling Larry, who comes in every day from work sniffing to smell what is cooking for that day...lol!  Every once in a while I skip a day or two....I don't want to spoil him too much to where he expects it every day!

I have found the most awesome recipes....even some non-crockpot ones and thought I'd start sharing some of them with you!  Wait until you try those apple dumplins' I found...yum, yum!  But, this time, I'll share what we had for supper tonight....Pork Chops and Gravy in the crock pot!  And boy, was it tasty!!!!  I'm pretty sure I found this recipe on this facebook page
This actually is the page that started it all, formerly known as the Crock Pot Girls.  So, if you're on facebook, you want to check it out!

I served it with potato patties and baked beans.  First time we tried this one and Larry approved!  :=)

Here's the recipe for you!

THE MOST AMAZING PORK CHOPS AND GRAVY
4 pork chops (I used 6 boneless chops I had, but you can use in-bone chops too) - the recipe said to use 4 whole thick cut bone in pork chop with a little fat)
1 envelope Onion Soup Mix (1 oz.)
1-1/2 cuops of chicken broth
1-10.5 oz. can of cream of chicken soup
1 envelope dry pork gravy mix
Place pork chops in the slow cooker.  Mix all other ingredients in a bowl and pour over the chops.
Cook on low 6-8 hours (I cooked mine on high for about 5-6 hours) until they are VERY fork tender.
Serve with mashed potatoes or white rice to put the gravy on.

I decided to go ahead and share the apple dumplins recipe with you tonight too!  You just HAVE to try these!!!  You can get 8 dumplins from ONE apple and they are amazingly delicious!  Every year when I go to our local festival, the Oktoberfest, one of the must-haves are the apple dumplins from the Lutheran stand.  Now I no longer have to wait a whole year to get my apple dumplin!!!!

This is actually a picture of them before they were baked!  I forgot to take a picture after baking them and Larry and I ate them up too fast for a pic...LOL!  I'll have to take a "baked pic" next time!  I have to give credit to The Country Cook for this recipe, as that is where I found it.....Brandie, I hope you don't mind me sharing your recipe here!  You can visit her site here http://www.thecountrycook.net/2011/09/easy-apple-dumplins.html  for great visuals on making these and while you are there, be sure to check out her other recipes!  I love the way she gives us step by step photos for making her yummy dishes!

Easy Apple Dumplins
Blogger keeps wanting to move parts of this recipe down so I have no idea where it will show up (ugh), so if you can[t figure it out you will be better off to go to the link for it at The Country Cook.  I'm so over fighting it...lol!
Ingredients:
1 Green Apple (Granny Smith or Golden Delicious)
1/2 cup lemon lime soda (Sprite or Mountain Dew work good)
1 tube (8 oz.) Crescent Rolls
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Ground Cinnamon (to taste)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F degrees
Peel and core apples. Cut apple into 8 slices.
Unroll tube of crescent rolls and separate into 8 pieces.
On each roll, sprinkle with a bit of cinnamon.
Add one apple slice.
Roll it up in a nice little bundle. Continue with next 7 rolls the same way.
Spray an 8-inch square pan with nonstick spray.
Place all 8 dumplins into baking dish.
Mix together melted butter with sugar and vanilla.
Pour butter mixture on top of crescent rolls.
Now take soda and pour it around the edges of the crescent rolls.
Sprinkle tops with a bit more cinnamon.
Bake in preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes.
Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.  I love them with vanilla ice cream!
Cook's Notes:  Just double the recipe and use a 13x9 pan for 16 servings.
Enjoy!

I own 5 crock pots now...LOL!  I have always loved trying new recipes and even though I didn't cook much any more, I would request Gooseberry Patch cookbooks for Christmas.  My daughters would laugh and say, "Mom, why do you want a cookbook?  You never cook"!  But, then I'd get one or two Gooseberry Patch cookbooks (guess they love me!)-LOL!  And I'd read through those cookbooks like they were a novel and mark this page to try and that page to try....and never tried them.  But, I sure loved reading them and they were less fattening that way!  :=)  Now they laugh about my crock pots.  I only had one....a 5 qt one and asked for a 3-set crock pot unit last year for Christmas and got it!  :=)  And then about a month ago, I got this baby....my 7 quarter!  I found some of the soups I had been making lately didn't want to fit into my 5 quarter.  My kids are laughing about how many crock pots I have now!  I tease them and tell them we're going to have a crock pot Thanksgiving meal!

Ingredients: (Ok, blogger is being wonky tonight and kept wanting to move this part of the recipe here and I'm tired of fighting with it, so I'm just going to leave it here and retype it above!)


Until next time, why not drag those crock pots out and start crocking with me!  :=)  I hope you enjoy getting a recipe here and there in between my medical reports.  Thanks for your many prayers and I'll report back tomorrow after my oncology visit.
Cindy

PS, I've also begun to use coupons, and am finding them online even....but I'll save that for another day!  I may have to start some new blogs just for crocking and couponing!  :=)

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