I wanted to take today’s blog post to give another update on my sister. On her behalf, let me begin by saying how much my family and I appreciate the tremendous outpouring of support we have received. Your collective display of love and concern has meant far more than you could ever know.
That being said, we got some wonderful news yesterday. The biopsy came back negative! As you might well imagine, we are rejoicing in this victory!
By way of summary, my sister began hurting in her abdomen just after the first of the year. After numerous Doctors’ visits, they found and drained fluid off of her abdomen and chest cavity. That fluid was found to contain live cancer cells. After further tests, it was determined that the chemical signature of this cancer was ovarian.
A PET scan revealed that the cancer had migrated from the originating organ, the ovaries, to the lining of her lung on the backside between it and the heart. By God’s grace, the Doctor who drained the fluid felt led at that time to go ahead and remove that portion of the lining of her lung due to his suspicions at the time. Later, other Doctors would tell us that, in doing so, he saved her life.
What followed was nine weeks of chemo treatments - three such at three weeks apart for each. Then, after another three weeks, she underwent a complete hysterectomy. At that time, no active cancer was found outside the ovaries. But, the spot where the cancer had begun metastasizing to the lining of the lung was still suspicious and was therefore biopsied. This was the report we had been anxiously awaiting.
Thankfully, the Doctors tell us that it appears the cancer was caught early enough that it had not yet spread. We are informed that cancer could still well be represent in microscopic form somewhere in her body. But we were given a 90 plus percent chance by the Doctors that this was not the case.
She will therefore receive three more rounds of chemotherapy as originally prescribed – again at three weeks apart for each. The Doctors tell us this is intended to “mop up”. Thereafter, as with all cancer survivors, she will be monitored regularly.
There is no denying the blessing we have now received! No doubt this is due in part to the availability of top notch health care. We do not take lightly the accessibility of good Doctors, Nurses, Technicians, hospitals, medicine, machinery, technology, etc… There are many people in the world today who do not have access to such things. And indeed, our own parents and grandparents did not have access to it in their day, even though they too lived right here in America.
But far more important than these things is the hand of Almighty God! That He has fulfilled the promises of His Word to strengthen us in the midst of our difficulty (2 Chronicles 16:9) is evident. That there is in fact a balm in Gilead (Jeremiah 8:22) that has brought healing to His own has certainly been shown to be. That He has never left us nor forsaken us (Hebrews 13:5) has indeed rung true!
And for that, more than anything else, we give Him praise. The Psalmist of old had this same testimony (Psalm 30:2): “O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.”
Therefore, we cry aloud with him (Psalm 103:1-5) and declare aloud: Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: http://biblehub.com/niv/.
That being said, we got some wonderful news yesterday. The biopsy came back negative! As you might well imagine, we are rejoicing in this victory!
By way of summary, my sister began hurting in her abdomen just after the first of the year. After numerous Doctors’ visits, they found and drained fluid off of her abdomen and chest cavity. That fluid was found to contain live cancer cells. After further tests, it was determined that the chemical signature of this cancer was ovarian.
A PET scan revealed that the cancer had migrated from the originating organ, the ovaries, to the lining of her lung on the backside between it and the heart. By God’s grace, the Doctor who drained the fluid felt led at that time to go ahead and remove that portion of the lining of her lung due to his suspicions at the time. Later, other Doctors would tell us that, in doing so, he saved her life.
What followed was nine weeks of chemo treatments - three such at three weeks apart for each. Then, after another three weeks, she underwent a complete hysterectomy. At that time, no active cancer was found outside the ovaries. But, the spot where the cancer had begun metastasizing to the lining of the lung was still suspicious and was therefore biopsied. This was the report we had been anxiously awaiting.
Thankfully, the Doctors tell us that it appears the cancer was caught early enough that it had not yet spread. We are informed that cancer could still well be represent in microscopic form somewhere in her body. But we were given a 90 plus percent chance by the Doctors that this was not the case.
She will therefore receive three more rounds of chemotherapy as originally prescribed – again at three weeks apart for each. The Doctors tell us this is intended to “mop up”. Thereafter, as with all cancer survivors, she will be monitored regularly.
There is no denying the blessing we have now received! No doubt this is due in part to the availability of top notch health care. We do not take lightly the accessibility of good Doctors, Nurses, Technicians, hospitals, medicine, machinery, technology, etc… There are many people in the world today who do not have access to such things. And indeed, our own parents and grandparents did not have access to it in their day, even though they too lived right here in America.
But far more important than these things is the hand of Almighty God! That He has fulfilled the promises of His Word to strengthen us in the midst of our difficulty (2 Chronicles 16:9) is evident. That there is in fact a balm in Gilead (Jeremiah 8:22) that has brought healing to His own has certainly been shown to be. That He has never left us nor forsaken us (Hebrews 13:5) has indeed rung true!
And for that, more than anything else, we give Him praise. The Psalmist of old had this same testimony (Psalm 30:2): “O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.”
Therefore, we cry aloud with him (Psalm 103:1-5) and declare aloud: Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: http://biblehub.com/niv/.