Battling the Beast: Growing in Faith through Cancer
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About this ebook
When faced with a cancer diagnosis, new patients seek desperately for hope. This book tosses them a lifeline from a surviving veteran to show the way to hope through faith.
Diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at age 46, the author's busy life came abruptly to a halt. While navigating the unfamiliar seas of tests and chemotherapy, she discovered strength she could never have found in herself alone, the strength that only comes through complete dependence on God.
Jones shares her battle with the Beast through a series of emails she shared with a support group of Christian homeschooling Moms, along with practical information helpful to cancer patients and caregivers alike, and Scripture with a reflection to inspire greater faith. Because she knows how difficult it is to comprehend lengthy passages while in grief and shock over the diagnosis (and the fog of chemo brain), Jones has kept the chapters bite-sized.
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Battling the Beast - Katy Huth Jones
Chapter 1: Getting Another Opinion
January 6: Dear sisters, I went to a new doctor this afternoon and I am having surgery Monday morning to remove this lymph node that keeps growing, so much so that it’s putting pressure on my esophagus and carotid artery. I will just be glad to know something definite. The doctor said he should have results next Thursday—he’s concerned it may be Hodgkin’s. I also sliced my hand yesterday evening while opening a pop-top can of soup, but by the time the ER doctor got to me (busy evening) I managed to get the bleeding stopped so he didn’t suture it. Now I wish he had. I had to tape my thumb before I went to bed because every time I move it the wound starts to split at the edges. It’s not big, just deep and barely above the webbing between my thumb and first finger, so now it’s hard not to move it!
On a funnier note, I misplaced my glasses at noon looking for a bowl to put our new hermit crab in, so I had to go to homeschool bowling and the doctor with NO glasses! Just a little while ago, I found my glasses—on the shelf INSIDE the cabinet where I keep my plastic bowls! Of all the things I’ve lost, I miss my mind the most...
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I’d known something was wrong for nine months. After a bad sinus infection in March 2004, the enlarged lymph nodes in my neck did not reduce. Soon I began having off-and-on low grade fevers and chills, night sweats, and feeling more exhausted than I’d ever felt before (malaise). I looked it up on the internet and realized I had every symptom of lymphoma except the one I wouldn’t mind having, weight loss.
I went to three different doctors over the next few months and had many tests and a needle biopsy of the largest lymph node, which came back inconclusive. The doctors said I had an infection or menopausal symptoms. Not until my sister was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that December, did I realize I needed to find a fourth doctor and find out once and for all what was going on.
The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps.
Proverbs 14:15
Reflection: Don’t ignore potential bad news, hoping it will go away. Even if a doctor tells you there’s nothing wrong, you know your body better than he or she does. You should get another opinion if something feels wrong inside.
Chapter 2: Care and Comfort for the Saints
January 10: Surgery update: I had an Easter egg! Thought that would get your attention! That’s what the doctor told my husband—that my lymph node was like a huge Easter egg as long as his thumb! I knew I couldn’t be imagining it in there. Anyway, I’m wearing this stylish wimple
to support my neck, and it’s pretty sore, but I’m finally getting undrowsy. I’ll find out the results of the path report on Thursday. I haven’t seen the incision yet so hopefully it’s not too yucky!
Thank you SO much for all the prayers! Just knowing so many were praying helped me stay totally calm! And two of my dear sisters in Christ brought food for us today, one for lunch and the other for supper, and they both brought chicken & dumplings. Yummy, though I can’t chew very well right now.
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