Pre-op Selfie

I want to, once again, thank all of you who have been praying for me.  I am humbled and amazed at the outpouring of love and kindness from my community of friends.  It has been five days since my surgery and I am feeling a lot better than I thought I would at this point. My recovery has been uneventful and relatively pain free.

The Good News

I received good news yesterday from my surgeon.  The cancer was confirmed to be non-invasive and no cancer cells were found in the lymph nodes that were removed.  I also heard from the geneticist that those tests results were negative as we had hoped and expected.  God is good.

The Not-so-Good News

Unfortunately, I will need to have another surgical procedure on Monday to further excise the area because the pathology report showed that the margins were just too close. This surgery will also be outpatient and will be less involved than the first as there is no need to go back into the lymph nodes.  While I am not thrilled about having more surgery, I am thankful that this is an option that could diminish my need for radiation therapy. Fingers crossed.

Cheerful flowers from my Aunt-in-Law, Becky

A Quick Story…

I want to share a quick story to encourage you.  Going into surgery day last week I was not nervous or scared at all.  It seems like a normal person would at least have some butterflies over the impending procedure. I didn’t.  I slept well the night before.  I got up Thursday morning, made my bed as usual, took care of some last minute to-do list items and then we went on over to Cone Day Surgery. As we sat in the waiting area, Kevin and I took some pre-surgery selfies, you know, normal every day stuff… I wasn’t even a little bit anxious… and, I promise, I had not taken any anti-anxiety meds (I had to take Xanax before getting my wisdom teeth out).  I’m pretty sure I have had more anxiety over changing my hair color than I had over this surgery! When my name was called I looked up to find that my pre-op nurse was a friend from church who happens to also live down the street from us.  If it’s possible, I was even more at ease when I saw Joanne’s kind face!  She shared with me that she only works part time and very rarely works in pre-op.  She had not yet heard about my diagnosis and was so thrilled to be there to help ease me into what is normally a scary event.  As she was finishing up with me and getting ready to hand me over to the next nurse, she was called away to go work in recovery.  She and I both knew exactly why she was scheduled to work pre-op that morning.  What a gift! If you have ever wondered if God is interested in the small details of your daily life, please know that he is.  He anticipates our needs and cares about the things that we care about.  I can tell you I have never felt more kept than I have in the last few weeks.  God has carefully placed the right people around me to pray for me and walk this journey alongside me as constant reminders of his presence.  There is no other explanation for the peace that I have had.  God is still good even when our circumstances are not the best.

“Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they?”  Matthew 6:26

Healing Snuggles with my girl

*Originally posted on the “Hogbloggers Site” in May 2015

© Elizabeth Smith 2015