LIFE AT 61 - GOD ALWAYS WINS

Well HI again!!  :)  It is a beautiful time of year here in the St. Louis area.  Fall is rapidly approaching, and leaves are starting to turn.  Should be yet another beautiful fall.

I came up with this title because you can NEVER lose when you have God on your side.  I know that may sound trite, maybe even a bit of a stretch for some of you, HOWEVER, I know for a fact that it is true.

I had my 3rd PET scan this last week.  As strong as my faith has been, I must admit, a bit of apprehension had crept in.  This whole thing of being "sick" is new to me.  I guess one reason might have been that a friend who had a "similar", but not exactly the same, bout to mine, was just found to have lung cancer.  The one major difference is that I was told I have this P16 gene that apparently allows for the cancer to have a better rate of healing with no new disease taking place, and as far as I know my friend did not have that gene.

The great news is that GOD still is the winner and cancer is STLL the loser!  Simple as that.  God wins, cancer loses.  There is no disease on this planet that God cannot heal.  So if that is the case, why do some get healed, and some do not.  To that question, I do not have an answer.  Im just very grateful that that He blessed me with healing.  Im still believing for "complete" healing, meaning that I still have a few minor issues such as dry mouth.  Though the Dr says that may never be 100%, I gotta believe that God will bring full restoration.  As this point it is an annoyance.  I have about 80% of my taste back, even though the Dr's said that it would take 6+ months, it has only been about 9 weeks.  They are  pretty amazed at that.  They are also believing that it was all them that did the healing, I keep telling them that they were just the tools used by God.  :)

Im also experiencing a bit of fatigue still.  Of course I try to overdo, and when I do, I pay the price of being tired for a few days.  An example is that I just did a sound install in CA and put in 4 very long days and now Im just tired!  HOWEVER on the up side, I was able to do it!  I had my "crew" helping me and that is all good.  Im also riding my bike again.  Im up to 15+ miles, and that is almost where I was when all of this happened.  In fact, next Sunday, October 7, Im riding 25 miles in a bike ride called Pedal the Cause.  It is a fundraising ride to raise funds for cancer research.  100% of the funds raised stay here in St. Louis for cancer research.  If anyone reading this would like to donate to my fund raising efforts, I would greatly appreciate it.  Here is the link:  https://www.pedalthecause.org/donate_cart.jsp?MemberID=17912

I for one, and pretty surprised that I feel up to riding after only about 10 or so weeks out of radiation.  I started riding again after about 3 weeks or so after the last radiation.  Here again, GOD is the winner.  It is only thru HIS strength that I have been able to do what Ive been able to do.  Im not bragging or anything like that, Im just very blessed to be able to do things.  The Dr did give me 100% release to work out.  In fact he knows that Im participating in the LIVESTRONG program at the YMCA.

Lots of things going on, lots of changes.  One of the biggest changes, and one Im not unhappy with, is my weight.  I had gained a bit of weight before all this started, and that has actually turned out to be a good thing.  That means I had plenty to lose, and lose I did.  Ive lost quite a bit since January.  Im down under 200 really for the 1st time in about 40 years, going all the way back to my basic training days.  LOL  NOW if I can just put some muscle on this frame and keep the weight where it is I'll be in the same shape I was then.  Workin on it!!