In Which I Publish a Photo of My Glow-In-The-Dark Freckles

Well, I managed to get a photo of my glow-in-the-dark freckles. (See my post of July 21 about my PET/CT scan).

You can click for a closer view. I had to darken the photo so the glowing freckles would show up better. (I do hope you know I am being completely facetious...not to be confused with infectious, of course. You'll have to get your own PET/CT scan if YOU want glow-in-the-dark freckles. You cannot be infected by mine.)

I like to think that my (imaginary) glowing freckles are a teensy slight foretaste of what our heavenly bodies will be like. What will that be? Scripture gives us these hints...our bodies will be like Jesus' resurrected body. Read on.

In the Gospel of Luke we read of three disciples seeing Jesus in his transfigured (changed) body prior to His death on the cross:

Luke 9:28-29 ²⁸ .... He took along Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. ²⁹ And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming.

The apostle John, who in his Gospel testifies that Jesus is the Son of God ( John 1:34 ) wrote the following:

1 John 3:2
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.

and again he writes of his vision of Jesus in his heavenly body as thus:

Revelation 1:12-18 ¹² Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me.....I saw one like a son of man (Jesus), clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. ¹⁴ His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. ¹⁵ His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. ¹⁶ In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.¹⁷ When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, ¹⁸ and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

Now we know that some language in the Book of Revelation is figurative, some is symbolic, etc. And instead of conjecturing from these verses that in heaven I will have a "glowing" body, I should just quote what Matthew Henry in regard to these verses. He's undoubtedly a much better theologian than I. Here is what Henry said:

1. He (the Apostle John) saw a representation of the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of the golden candlesticks; for he (Jesus) has promised to be with his churches always to the end of the world, filling them with light, and life, and love, for he is the very animating informing soul of the church. And here we observe,
2. The glorious form in which Christ appeared in several particulars.
   

• He was clothed with a garment down to the foot, a princely and priestly robe, denoting righteousness and honour.
  
• He was girt about with a golden girdle, the breast-plate of the high priest, on which the names of his people are engraven; he was ready girt to do all the work of a Redeemer.
  
• His head and hairs were white like wool or snow. He was the Ancient of days; his hoary head was no sign of decay, but was indeed a crown of glory.
  
• His eyes were as a flame of fire, piercing and penetrating into the very hearts and reins of men, scattering terrors among his adversaries.
  
• His feet were like unto fine burning brass, strong and stedfast, supporting his own interest, subduing his enemies, treading them to powder.
  
• His voice was as the sound of many waters, of many rivers falling in together. He can and will make himself heard to those who are afar off as well as to those who are near. His gospel is a profluent and mighty stream, fed by the upper springs of infinite wisdom and knowledge.
  
• He had in his right hand seven stars, that is, the ministers of the seven churches, who are under his direction, have all their light and influence from him, and are secured and preserved by him.

Instead of worrying about what my heavenly body will be like, I am content to look forward to seeing Jesus, remembering again John's words in 1 John 1:2.

Blessings to all of you this weekend morning. May God's light shine in YOUR life!

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Upon Which I Again Glow in the Dark!

Sooo! Again! I experienced Freckles that glow in the dark!

This time I took my camera along so you can see how I get my glowing freckles. (To read my previous post on this topic, go here.)

Periodically, every six months or so, I get a combined PET/CT scan to determine what my pesky ovarian cancer cells are doing. Last November the scan showed no activity whatsoever. That was good news, indeed! But for most of us, ovarian cancer is a chronic disease...it hangs in there, even when knocked down by chemo, waiting for a time when the cells will again begin growing. Some women attain remission for long periods of time. Most of us, however, will have short remissions followed by chemo and, hopefully, followed by another period of remission. Each individual is different, but one thing is certain...ovarian cancer is a nasty, deadly disease.

The PET/CT enables the oncologist to get a fairly decent assessment of progression (or lack thereof) of the disease.

So I presented myself to the clinic. No prep needed other than abstaining from food and liquids the prior evening and avoiding red meats and some other foods the prior 24 or 48 hours.

The procedure is simple. The nurse injects a small amount (doesn't look that small in the photo!) of radioactive material (tracer). As you can see the cartridge is rather large and I'm assuming the metal prevents radiation from emitting out the sides...but perhaps I'm wrong about that...after all, it still must surely radiate through the window of the cartridge.

Note the metal box at my elbow which is used to transport and store the cartridge. I can tell by how the nurse handles it that this is a heavy box...most likely, it is lined with lead which protects from radiation...I think.

The tracer travels through your blood and collects in organs and tissues, and particularly collects in actively growing cancer cells. Once you have received the injection, one must wait for about an hour for the tracer to travel throughout the body. A small waiting room is dedicated to this hour...they want you to be resting AND they don't want your radioactive body wandering around bothering other people with its radioactivity. Or at least that's my assumption. (The radioactivity dissipates in about 6 hours.)

After the hour, comes the test itself. Some people are intensely claustrophic while in this chamber but I find it to be quite relaxing, really, and usually catch a short catnap while undergoing the test. No Problemo!

When finished, I go home, turn out the lights and look in the mirror! Yep! Glowing freckles! Really! Truly! (I posted a photo later...here)

At the end of the day, the radiation is gone, and I am again a normal human being. One without glowing freckles. But still, one with cancer. This time two small lymph nodes that have previously glowed in the dark are found to be glowing again. Pesky things.

By the way, the nurse/technician who injects the tracer wears a badge that monitors and measures her exposure to radioactivity. I'm not certain I would like to have her job. Sure, I get radiated every time I do one of these tests, but if I were younger and thought I still had long life ahead of me, I'm not sure I'd be so care-free about receiving the radiation.

(My current chemo schedule is pretty easy....carbo/gemzar every other week. Pretty benign side-effects so far, for which I am grateful.)

PET/CT and Glowing Freckles and Reports and Hope

Living in a small town, population 2700, has its limitations. But in our small town the available health care is not one of those limitations.

Our small town hospital has working arrangements with Big Hospitals in the City north of us and the Bigger City south of us. That means they are able to provide clinics/treatments/specialists that are otherwise available only in the City and the Bigger City. As a result our small town hospital provides excellent service to a large rural area. And since we sit close to the state border, it serves patients in two states.

To provide indepth PET, CT and MRI scans the hospital works with two mobile units that come to town every other week. One of those big trucks has the letters "MRI" marked on its side and it sits beside the hospital every other Friday. Every other Saturday the PET/CT truck will be sitting there.

The local radiologist reads those scans and can have his written report ready sometimes within the hour. And certainly within 24-48 hours, depending on whether this is a weekend and if it is or isn't an emergency. That may not be too amazing to you but it is to me. I belong to an online ovarian cancer forum and some of the ladies,who get their cancer treatment at very large hospitals in very large cities, complain about waiting 2 or 3 weeks for the results of their scans. Perhaps they do not know that they have the right to copies of those reports themselves. Perhaps they do not ask, as I do, "May I have a copy of the written report as soon as it is completed?" The doctors/nurses/technicians are always happy to comply with my request and I have never seen any reluctance on their part to provide those results.

My early scans in 2009 were CTs. In January 2010 the oncologist ordered a combination PET/CT. That same week we watched the movie Avatar in 3-D! Since prep for the PET/CT included injection of a radioactive substance I figured I had glow-in-the-dark freckles just like the Na'vi people in the movie. At least for a few hours...the stuff dissipates within 6 hours, during which time they advise you to stay away from babies and pregnant ladies and don't go around hugging people. (Moral...don't hug anyone with glowing freckles!)

You may be asking, "What's the difference between a CT and a PET? And why combine the two?"

Basically, it is this...."In one continuous full-body scan (usually about 30 minutes), PET captures images of miniscule changes in the body's metabolism caused by the growth of abnormal cells, while CT images simultaneously allow physicians to pinpoint the exact location, size and shape of the diseased tissue or tumor.Essentially, small lesions or tumors are detected with PET and then precisely located with CT.." You can read more here.

Last Saturday I had another PET/CT. Monday I was soooo apprehensive, worrying about negative results, that I just couldn't make myself travel the two blocks to the hospital to pick up the report. Instead I waited until this morning to go to the front desk and ask for the report. The lady there handed me a sealed envelope and even as I held it in my hand my mind sputtered with "what if".

But I opened the envelope and began reading, slowly and carefully. Medical reports are written in medicalese but since I had read previous reports (and googled key words) I knew what to look for. I knew which words might be "good" or "bad". I read it carefully once. Then I read it carefully a second time. And even though I have not yet reviewed this with my oncologist, I know he will be very happy with it. And with his choice of chemo.

My Onc Rocks!

Those few exclamatory words do not negate my recognition that God is in all of this...that He has chosen this path for me to walk...that He is working in my life every step of the way, using this to test and refine me and cause me to trust Him more deeply every step of the way. This earthly life is temporary and we must not put all our hope in this life only. We must remember that. And in our hopes for good health, we must not lose sight of the eternal hope we have in Christ Jesus. When all is said and done, our only comfort, our bottomline comfort, must be that we are not our own...that if we belong to Christ we belong to him body and soul, in life and in death. That is where our true comfort lies. We are safe in His hands in life. And we are safe in His hands in death.

For you see...while the scan results today were good...there will come a day when they are no longer good...or I will succumb to some other disease of old age. I'm in my 60s. That means in a few short years (or at the most, decades) my life will be over. That is the way of this world and of this life. That's where we end up. But as Christians we are comforted by the words of Scripture...the promises that Christ has died our death and now gives us His life...that He will not lose one of those that are His. (John 6:39)

So in regards to "aging" and moving towards physical death, I think of these verses: 2 Cor. 4:16-18 "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
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Freckles That Glow in the Dark

Freckles that glow in the dark. That's what my daughter wished for after she first viewed the movie Avatar. That was the week of my PET scan.

Just prior to the scan the technician injected a dose of radioactive substance into my arm. Interestingly, the substance came in what appeared to be a lead cartridge. Lead shields from radiation!

According to the literature given me at the time, the radioactivity would dissipate in 6 hours or so. But I figure during that time I had freckles that glowed. I am my own avatar.

Last night Hubby and I went to see the movie. And as is everyone else who views the movie, we were fascinated by the special effects. We were flying along with the Na'vi, swooping through the air on our trusty steeds, loving the people, viewing the 3-D effects with fascination.

But you know! I found 2 or 3 parts of the movie really, really irritating.

Numero Uno! Why was Sigourney Weaver's character so caught up with ciggiebutts! I mean...what part does tobacco play in a futuristic science fiction movie? Couldn't the character emit an aura of female toughness without grabbing for a stupid ciggiebutt? Couldn't she "act" the part without a nicotine prop? What's with all that, anyway? My own private opinion is that some tobacco company contributed $$$ to the movie...but perhaps that's my cynical attitude working overtime.

Dos! The character played by Stephen Lang was just a little too pat. Too unidealistically harsh. It was as if the writer was making much of an "anti-military statement". Too predictable. Too robotic.

Tres! As seems usual lately, it seems Hollywood is making a "statement" rather than a movie. That's not all bad...but from the first moments of the film the statement was terribly predictable. There remained no suspense except that of anticipation of seeing more of the Na'vi and their world.

The "world" of Pandora is portrayed as a fascinating place...wouldn't it have been a much more interesting movie if we had seen a little more indepth into the life of the people with the glow-in-the-dark freckles?

It seemed to me that the makers of this movie would advocate the destruction of humankind itself for it seemed to me they insinuate that humanity is the "source of all evil".

Wait! Maybe that is true! Evil IS in our hearts. Romans 3:23 says it clearly. We are all sinners...all of us are broken and intent upon doing our own thing, sinners who choose self over "the other". But there is a solution...and it is not something we can attain to in and of ourselves. We need the work of God in our hearts.

My recommend on the movie? See it for its technical beauty. Take in that part of the story about man's destruction of man as being true. But do remember to factor in the promise that is not shown in the movie...that for each one of us there is the promise that we need not remain in sin. That through faith God works in us, both to will and to do His good work. That this is His will for our lives... that we love Him and we love one another. And that someday there will be no more sin. No more crying, no more pain, no more death. That's a promise. And God keeps His promises. Revelation 21:4.

I'm betting the new heaven and the new earth of Revelation 21:1 will be far more beautiful than can ever be portrayed in any movie. Even a movie in 3-Dimension.

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