(Read Part X)
Thought I would finish up my 15 part series on how Saved By God’s Grace began while we are in the process of moving to Kenya and getting our internet back up and running…
Now back to surgery day. After Dr. B left I was in and out of sleep that entire evening. Poor Chuck was sleeping on a broken recliner in the corner and every time I moved he woke up! Turning over wasn’t easy and you don’t realize how much you use your stomach muscles until they are cut into! The next day, however, I was up out of bed walking around the nurses station, listening to my iPod and asking when I could go home! Dr. B said I had to stay until the biopsy results came in.
During those few days we had family come visit and Chuck was so attentive to when I needed or wanted to just sleep! Once the results were in though, Dr. B said I could go home. There was no sign of cancer in any of the biopsies so no further action was needed – no chemo or radiation! However he did want me to see an oncologist to go over what to expect, medically, in the future.
The days following surgery were filled with resting! I mentioned before you don’t realize how much you use your stomach muscles until you can’t really use them. Vacuuming, sitting, standing etc. all use those precious core muscles and mine felt like I’d done so many sit-ups that I was constantly in a cramped state! However, like most things, it eventually got better and things became easier. The Lord again helped me with the recovery by having me in good physical condition to begin with and I thank Him for that.
After getting back on my feet the next few months were filled with visiting the oncologist, we’ll call him Dr. M, MRI’s, CT’s and blood work. It was basically making sure the cancer had not moved to another area (with colon cancer they look to the liver and lungs). Spots were found on my lungs after my first MRI or CT (I had so many of them I can’t remember which one I had first!), but neither the pulmanologist or thoracic surgeon could say whether they had been there since birth or recently and they wanted to crack my chest open (in other words – surgery) but we decided against that plan, Chuck was confident God had intervened and my trust was in Chuck’s confidence and experience with God. Again, this was an area God was continuing to work on in me – my trust needed to be in God, not Chuck, taking care of me.
(Go to Part XII)