Elephants and Tea - March 2020 - 25

INSURANCE PROBLEMS
had made significant efforts in strengthening
myself through healthy habits of yoga, exercises learned in therapy, and a more tailored
diet to my body's needs. I was committed to
success in my physical and speech therapies
and truly took advantage of every minute with
my therapists and bits of advice to follow at
home. One of my diagnoses involves a serious need to strengthen my core muscles in
an effort to maintain consciousness. Because
I was having successes in both cognitive and
physical function, my doctors believed I only
needed another six to nine months before they
would release me back to work if I continued
progressing as I had been over the last few

Living with Cancer

months. I've been working my butt off to get
better, and I've had loads of people praying for
me throughout this entire process.
At a particularly low point emotionally when
I was so tired of hurting and ready to give up,
I had this sign painted for me with lyrics from
Jennifer Knapp's song "Say Won't You Say" as a
reminder that God gives me each day to rise and
give my all to Him. I needed this encouraging
reminder to keep pushing through every single
day, because it was so difficult to get out of bed
each morning. I truly was at a point in which,
although progression and strength training
through therapies and good responses to medication were working in my favor, I still had yet

"We finally have an outlet to experience 'normal' by doing
'normal people activities' like surfing, mountain biking,
and hiking... to find emotional healing through outdoor
activities... these trips give us the courage to get
out of our comfort zone and feel liberated,
and to overlook the pain, even if for only
a split second, and thrive!"

to return to anything even closely resembling
what life was like pre-cancer. Although this is
something I know I will never return to, there
are those days where I need to mourn the life
I thought I would have; on those days I rely
on powers beyond strength I can find from
myself, medication, and doctors. I rely solely
on the strength from the power of my father,
Jesus Christ, because I know that nothing else
is going to get me through the day.
On February 20, 2019, I left the house for my
normal Wednesday morning appointment to
have my scar tissue worked on which proved
to be all but routine as I returned home several hours later a panicked wreck as a man
followed me all around town for several hours.
I live in the Houston, Texas area, which is
sadly a human trafficking hub, so of course
that's where my mind went first when being
followed. I noticed a car driving aggressively
behind me as soon as I left my neighborhood,
which is about 45 minutes away from downtown Houston. The car remained behind me
when I entered Houston's major Interstate 10,
and when I exited off of the interstate. I
kept telling myself "there is no way
anyone is actually following me,"
"there's no way

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MARCH 2020

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Elephants and Tea - March 2020

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