today .

Mike and I flew to St. Louis today for our second post-surgery check-up. We were eager. Several days ago Mike noticed a bump on his neck close to his incision. He told me on Sunday. When Dr. Haughey entered the room, after greeting us we were eager for him to examine the bump with his knowledgeable fingers. He reported the size and position of the "ovoid mass" and "BB module" to his nurse Nicole. After doing a scope down his throat (routine at these check-ups) he said that "yes we need to get that out". He started explaining the surgery that we need to do to take care of this. This might be hard to understand but we trust Dr. Haughey so deeply that these very hard words were at the same time comforting because he was helping us take care of this. We talked about how this surgery would not be as invasive... how it would be a much more simple maybe 3 hour procedure... maybe 1 night in the hospital... that we knew there was some lymphs affected further out... that he would open just the upper end of the incision to reach and remove the affected node(s)... that his recovery would be much faster... and that he would recommend following up with a helper-dose (mild dose) of radiation on the left neck only after the surgery. At the end of the day I am so tired that I am not sure I am making sense but I wanted to say something so that we could ask for your prayers. Dr. Haughey's nurse Nicole will call us in the morning to let us know when Bruce has a window in his schedule to do the procedure - maybe even this week while we are here. We won't know until tomorrow, but after we have processed the news we decided "let's get this done as soon as we can."

On the plane today I had brought my calendar and had finally taken the time to fill in the events that we have on our calendar over the next two months and we reviewed them together. Feeling proud and satisfied I think I even said "It sure feels good to get this stuff written down to see what we are doing.." After hearing that another surgery was in front of us and we were pondering the reality of it, one of my favorite verses from James swirled through my head: 13Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15

Good lesson. We are going to bed tonight thankful that we have the care of a great doctor... thankful for the goodness of a sovereign God we trust our lives with...and thankful for great friends to pray for us as we continue the journey.