The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful

First of all THANK YOU. Thank you for all of cards, notes, calls and gifts. We are overwhelmed by your love and generosity. Everywhere I look in the house, there are signs of the amazing love our friends and family have showered on us. We so appreciate this and thank God for all of you.

Now the good...
Yesterday, we had a great visit with the surgeon. I had the bandages and the gross tube removed. The surgeon was very positive about the surgery and my progress. Interestingly, he indicated that most likely he would present my case at an upcoming conference because it was so unusual. (I have written and presented papers before, but being the subject of one is a new thing.) We see him again in three weeks on August 7 (our 16th anniversary, what a way to celebrate!). At that time, I expect he will release me to start chemo.

We left there with the feeling that we had been given an awesome gift. Three weeks to feel normal and to heal. No lingering questions or worries, just three weeks to enjoy our life.

But then came the bad...(this story is a little gross, feel free to skip ahead)
That night, the bandage the surgeon had placed over my drain hole was soaked with fluid. This is lymph fluid - did they teach about that in your health class??? (Mr. L, did we skip that chapter?) So Paul and I decided to change the bandage. Well, as the tape came off, it really hurt and I started to cry. You can guess what happened next, Paul freaked out - just a little. Between the gross, leaking wound and me crying, he just didn't know what to do, so he started yelling (he would say speaking forcefully) at me. He was just trying to get me re-bandaged and taped up and I was crying and crying. We finally got the hole covered and the bandage taped on. When we calmed down, we just looked at each other and burst out crazy laughing. That was not our finest hour. I thought later about the wedding vows. You kind of have an understanding of richer/poorer, maybe even better/worse, but when you say sickness and health, you never, never consider that someday you will be taping up a leaking hole in your wife's armpit. I sure am glad Paul really meant it.

Now the beautiful...
The day before I had surgery my friends Marilyn and Elmer came to my house to pray with me (thank you so much). Elmer mentioned he had heard someone say that when we are worried about something, flying for example, we can pray and think of the pilot's hands being the hands of Jesus. Jesus would be in control of the plane. I spent the whole rest of that day and the next praying that all of the doctors' hands would be the hands of Jesus. Yesterday, I had the chance to read the surgeon's notes on my operation. First, he removed the place that had been marked in the biopsy. But after that, he put in his hand, felt around and located a hard spot. He removed the spot and the surrounding tissue. This spot was the primary tumor. Now, maybe any surgeon would have gone back and looked around, but I prefer to think that Jesus had a hold of his hand and help him to locate and remove the tumor. I am so grateful that God showed me how He clearly answered my prayer. Thanks for praying with me. Cara

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1