Hey John,
I wanted to let everybody know the background about my visit to the surgeon yesterday and tell what Jesus did for me.
To start with, in July, I went for my yearly doctor’s appointment, and they sent me home with a test kit to screen for colon cancer, which is a normal procedure. I usually throw those kits away, but this year as I was looking at the kit, the Lord brought back to my mind the time when Debbie was going through her cancer, and Amanda pleaded in a meeting for everyone to please get their health screenings like the doctors suggest so problems can be caught early on and dealt with when they are much easier to fix.
Something about having that thought come to me as I was looking at that kit made me consider, and I decided to take heed to my sister’s advice and do the test. The result came back abnormal, so they referred me for a colonoscopy. I had that done two weeks ago, and they removed a large polyp. The tests showed the polyp had abnormal cells that were a step below cancer, but not cancer. The colonoscopy doctor said he thought the wise and safest thing for me to do was to have surgery to remove extra tissue from the area and be sure no abnormal cells were left. But he left that decision up to me, whether to refer me to a surgeon. It sounded like surgery was the only safe thing to do, but I needed to decide on a hospital, so I told him I’d talk to my family and let him know the next day.
That evening, I started letting some people know the situation, including you, John, and asking for their feelings about the surgery. You’ve taught us that when a majority of the body feels the same way about something, it isn’t wrong, and I wanted to get a “multitude of counsel”, even though I felt strongly that I should have the surgery. Everyone agreed that I was taking the right steps to have the surgery, and the love and support I felt from the body encouraged me and picked up my spirit. By texting with different ones that night, I also found out the best hospital and the best surgeon. Debbie T. highly recommended her surgeon, Dr. C–, to see what he recommended; so, I asked my doctor the next day if they could refer me to him. (They said yes, they use him all the time!) I was able to get an appointment with Doctor C– on 9/25 – only 8 days after getting my colonoscopy results.
Debbie says that is fast for him.
Donna and Bess met me at the hospital for my appointment, which is so special that they wanted to take time to be with me for this (and others had offered and would have done the same). Bess was just as content as she could be to wait in the car the whole time, because they would only let one person in with me. She even knew that possibility ahead of time and still wanted to come and be there. It really helped me to have Donna there with me, and she was willing to stay there with me all day if need be. She wasn’t worried about the time or how many things she had to do elsewhere; she was just there for me. How special is that? How many people in this world get that kind of treatment? (When I just typed that word treatment, the thought came to me that God gave me a treatment!)
I thought the appointment would only be a consult visit, but they went ahead and did a procedure to look at the area where the polyp was removed. Dr. C– didn’t see any of the polyp remaining and recommended not to do surgery now but to do an ultrasound in 6 months to make sure there is no growth in that tissue, and if not, there’d be no need for me to go back. That was such a relief! (He also told me that he got paid to do surgeries and the more of them he did, the more he got paid. He said he wasn’t trying to get out of work, but he just didn’t think I needed surgery at this point!) Praise God!
I am 49 years old and not due for a colonoscopy until age 50, and, honestly, I probably would have procrastinated on having it done at 50. I had zero signs of anything abnormal going on. But if I hadn’t listened to the thought Jesus gave me, and followed Amanda’s advice, and had waited another year or more before going for a colonoscopy, that polyp could have turned into cancer by the time it was found.
Jesus has really taken care of me and given me the best possible outcome and care in all this, and the sweetest family! The other thing I think is important to say is that I listened to the body and let them help me with my decisions. Different ones told me things I needed to hear, and I made the best choices as a result. We need each other, and we can’t do it alone! I thank Jesus for letting me catch this early before it was any worse, and for not needing surgery now, and for my wonderful family!
Lyn