Worth the Risk?

When you receive a new medication, you also get a list of the side effects. Does it make you wonder if the chance is worth it?  In the past two years I have had negative reactions to at least six medications.  The two most serious were Neurontin - rash that stayed for months, and Sutant - a stroke like reaction that ended with me in the hospital for six days. Then there are all of the medications that cause fatigue. Dislike, dislike, dislike...but one of them is keeping the cancer growth at bay.

The drug companies have to, by law, tell us the possible side effects but the worst one, Sutant, wasn't even known.  Do those warnings make you stop and think before taking them or do you ignore them? Do you live like the teenagers, "It will not happen to me" or, do you weigh the good against the potential side effects?

For me, I have even taken one step farther: the doctor says I should continue taking a certain medication based on numbers of tests. My oncologist had a different view as she is focused on the quality of my life and battling cancer. I have to investigate on my own and weigh the pros and cons. What is the appropriate choice for me?  For my family?

I think that we do this in faith too.  God tells us what the consequences of sin are but we either ignore what He says or don't read it.  Sometimes we even say that He will protect us or show us that our choice is wrong if He doesn't want us to go down that path. But, He already has told us! We have the responsibility to read His Word, study what He has said, and obey...or do we say, "This choice is worth the consequences" or "I don't believe that."

For me, the one thing that I must live by is that there is one God.  HE is to be number one in my life.  Once I got to that point in my life, choices became easier and there was peace. Because:

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

before a single day had passed.

How precious are Your thoughts about me, O God.

They cannot be numbered!

Psalm 139:13 - 17  NLT

Thank-You for Your love and guidance, Lord. I will use the abilities You gave me to carefully make choices with my health.