My Next Steps

Thriving during adversity

Breathe. Relax. Trust God. Doubt my fears. (4/13/2025) July 6, 2026

Filed under: First Things First — cstatenclark @ 12:00 pm

Every day is an opportunity to be consumed by anxiety and doubt, especially when the future seemed uncertain. But it was equally a chance to have faith and trust God with the outcome. Both doubt and faith require believing in something you can’t see. My fears melted into tears when I heard the following hymn at church.

There’s power in the mighty name of Jesus
Every war He wages He will win
I’m not backing down from any giant
‘Cause I know how this story ends
Yes, I know how this story ends

I’m gonna see a victory
I’m gonna see a victory
For the battle belongs to You, Lord Elevation Worship

Encouragement flowed in for months – from friends, family, prayer warriors, calls, cards, flowers, lunches, and check-in texts. I heard uplifting messages from Scriptures, songs, poems, and prayers. If you ever question how to help someone in your life face a mighty interruption in their life, remember that all of these acts of kindness make a difference. You might doubt that something so simple as a note or a call will lend true support, but I assure you they do. You’re providing nourishment for the soul.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”  Philippians 4:8 NIV

 

Am I going to die – Part 2? – Post-surgery pathology (4/11/2025)

Filed under: First Things First — cstatenclark @ 11:01 am
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My breast specialist surgeon called on Friday morning, 4/11, a couple of days after a successful lumpectomy. She was all business. The air going into my lungs suddenly felt thick and I managed to swallow the lump in my throat. Although she had estimated pathology results to come a week after surgery, she received them a mere 2 days post-surgery. Good news: the margins were negative for the golfball-sized mass they removed. Negative margins are what we hope for;. It means she removed sufficient flesh to know they got all the cancerous cells. Not-such-good-news: the sentinel node biopsy — dye runs from the mass to see which lymph nodes are fed by the mass. Protocol is to remove those nodes that show the dye. Two of my lymph nodes showed dye from the cancer mass so she removed them during surgery. The concerning part of the pathology showed micrometastases in those two nodes. That means cancer spread. Although they were tiny (micro) cells, cancer had still spread. Still my cancer was rated as stage 1.

The presence of micrometastases influenced the course of my treatments. The surgeon indicated that I likely would receive a bit of everything from the oncology menu, instead of avoiding either chemo or radiation. I went into surgery thinking they’d remove everything, there would be no lymph spread, radiation would be minimal, then on to blocking the HER2 cells. Now the radiation may be more extensive, and chemo a likely part of the plan. And I’m not sure how they discern whether these micrometastases have spread beyond the lymph nodes since a few individual cancer cells aren’t visible on MRI or sonogram. Thankfully, according to pathology, the few cancer cells had reached those two removed lymph nodes, but gone no further.

So much to process. More appointments coming. Breathe. Am I going to die? Not today.

“Don’t waste moments in fear of things that fear can’t change.” Unknown

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6 NIV

 

Surgery – lumpectomy (4/9/2025) July 2, 2026

Filed under: First Things First — cstatenclark @ 10:59 am
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The night before my scheduled surgery, my checklist consisted of 1) take “before” photo of my “cancer breast”, 2) stop eating/drinking by midnight, 3) pray for the surgeon and for my own peaceful sleep. The morning of, the checklist was 1) shower with Hibiclens, 2) wear something comfortable and button-up, 3) remove all jewelry, makeup, lotions, deodorant, 4) pray again for surgeon and all her medical team. I was as prepared as I could be. We were prepared. Peace was God’s gracious gift to me as we drove into Austin.

The surgeon showed up early and was ready to get the show on the road. Prayer warriors were warmed up, ready to intercede on our behalf, and wore their Team Carol t-shirts in support. I told the surgeon that half of Bastrop and friends across the country were praying for her and her team. She, in turn, told us she had prayed for me as well. What a way to warm my heart.

During all the prep (gown, IV, BP, reviewing which body part was to be operated on), the medical staff was so kind. In reviewing my medical history, they became super interested in my past stroke from 30 years ago, peppering me with dozens of questions about reason it happened and recovery from. That kept us all occupied as we rolled down the long halls to the surgery room. The chilly room and bright lights made me thankful for the anesthesia which gently and quickly coaxed me into dreamland. What seemed like only moments later (actually about an hour), I was in recovery with the team saying how well the procedure went. Since I was not experiencing pain and woke up fairly quickly, it was soon time to get dressed for the drive home to Bastrop. Wow – that was quick!

I didn’t experience much pain at all afterward, but they gave me hydrocodone before I left the hospital, just in case the drive home was painful (bumps, braking, seatbelt).  Before bed that night, I took my last dose of hydrocodone “just in case” I had trouble sleeping (which I did not). The next day, I barely had pain at all – only slight tenderness. So I transitioned to Tylenol, then within a day to zero pain meds. Since the small incision was securely glued shut, I showered the next day and we took “after” photos. To our surprise, that breast didn’t look horrible. How in the world could the surgeon remove a golf ball-sized section of tissue from my breast without it looking misshapened? She’s talented! We both felt very blessed for the smooth surgery and minimal pain.

Pathology of the surgery tissue would take about a week for results. The following Sunday, one of the hymns we sang at church was A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. My eyes overflowed with with gratefulness for a mighty God.

A mighty Fortress is our God
A Bulwark never failing
Our Helper He amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing.

For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe
His craft and power are great
And armed with cruel and hate
On earth is not his equal

Did we in our own strength confide
Our striving would be losing
Were not the right Man on our side
The Man of God’s own choosing


Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He
Lord Sabaoth His Name
From age to age, the same
And He must win the battle.

Martin Luther