Cancer Update: Feeling the Burn
When the radiation regimen began early last month on my chest wall, I asked my radiologist how I could encourage healing in my lungs. He gave me a simple prescription: breathe deeply, drink lots of water, and keep your cardiovascular rate up through exercise (pumping up your heart rate brings more oxygen to radiation-damaged tissues).
Now, it’s impossible for me to do aerobics, hop on a treadmill, or take a 2 mile walk. But what I can do is have Ken affix my hands to an arm exercise-cycle with athletic wrap, and let me go at it – after about 5 minutes, my heart’s pumping hard. And that means a better chance for my damaged lungs to heal.
Yes, I’m ‘feeling the burn,’ and I’ve got 1 Corinthians 9:25 to inspire me, “All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for any eternal prize.”
For me, the eternal prize is to honor Christ as best I can through this ordeal, following what John Piper said about his own cancer-battle: “Cancer doesn’t win if we die; it only wins if we fail to cherish Jesus Christ.” Amen to that! So thank you for cheering me on with your prayers. I’m about three-quarters of the way through radiation, asking God to zap any and all cancer cells within my chest wall :-).
–Joni Eareckson Tada
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