No, you won't find that in the Bible or preached from the pulpit in your church on Sundays. At least I hope not!
Getting to play the role of Jesus in our church's Easter outreach this past spring, my kids have still been making jokes about me being Jesus.
"But, mom, Jesus said yes to it!"
About a month ago, I had my dentist check out a small growth on my tongue. She wasn't sure what it was, but referred me to an oral surgeon.
Once he looked at it, he said he doesn't touch masses on the tongue, and referred me to an ENT (ear, nose and throat specialist).
When I saw him, he didn't like the look of it right away. He made the right call and scheduled a surgery for me to get a biopsy of it the next week.
Here's the spiral!
My appointment with the ENT was on Wed, July 5. He scheduled my biopsy for the following Tue, July 11.
Between those two dates, my neck started swelling on the same side as my tongue growth. It started as swollen lymph nodes, as if my body was fighting a sickness or something. We figured it was because of the prodding from the ENT as he was looking at it.
The swelling began to cause pain in my neck, and then it tightened up my shoulder muscles, which left feeling super nauseated.
My wife had called the ENT's office on Monday and again on Tuesday, asking how quickly we could expect results from the biopsy to know how we needed to proceed. She explained about my neck, but they didn't seem concerned about it.
Until they saw me when I came in for the biopsy surgery!
It felt like a golfball, but it probably wasn't that big. I felt like my neck was in a brace and I couldn't turn my head without pain.
They decided to get a biopsy of the neck before putting me under for the biopsy of my tongue. They removed about 3mm of fluid from it to test to see what it was. Then I was carted into the OR, and I woke up a few hours later!
Though the original plan was not to stay in the hospital, I was admitted to get an antibiotic to fight off the initial results they found in my neck. They had discovered an infection and wanted to keep it under control.
Also, the immediate results of the biopsy of my tongue came back as cancer.
Now, many people immediately shudder when they hear that word, as they think of a loved one who had a terrible experience with the same word.
For us, it was sort of surreal.
We had expected it, but we had a peace about it.
So hearing that was the result brought more clarity and comfort since we now had an answer as to why my tongue had been growing in a weird way.
A few days later, I was released from the hospital with an appointment scheduled in Columbus at the James Cancer Center the following week. The Infectious Disease doctor had been pushing for my release pretty quickly so that I could get down there to figure out how to address it.
As we waited at home, it was a strange few days. We helped the kids finish packing for church camp, and shipped out two of them on Monday, and another on Wed. Then we sent the littlest one off to "Grampa Camp". So Rachel and I had the house to ourselves.
I was given a picc line to administer an antibiotic each day at home. We made plans and calls and received a lot of messages and texts of support and prayers. It was overwhelming and honoring all in the same sense.
Let me explain three different appointments I had that week (which was last week in real time).
Monday -
I met with our chiropractic office to get muscle-tested to figure out what supplements my body needed right now. It's always fascinating how that works, yet it is almost always on-point when my body responds to them.
We had lengthy conversations with him about what was going on and how to help my body begin to thrive.
Wednesday -
We called a doctor in our hometown who is well-decorated and who used to work at the James Cancer Center in Columbus. He specializes in what is called Nutrigenomics.
I didn't know what that was until last week. He helps patients look at the correlation of what they eat and what their body needs. We sat with him for over an hour and a half, with him sharing so much content and info that we felt like we were being blasted with a fire hose.
We immediately went across the street to have my blood drawn so he could begin making recommendations to my diet and my supplements based on what the bloodwork showed.
For the past few years, I have been secretly desiring to find a doctor who would do this for me. I never would have imagined it would take finding cancer in my body to get me to this point though!
It has been fascinating as we have learned that certain foods we thought were healthy, are actually not healthy for a number of reasons. (I'll share more of what I have been learning and experiencing in the next few weeks and months, so I won't share any of that here right now.)
Thankfully, I have been making small improvements in my diet and supplement routine over the past few years anyway, and the changes I'm needing to make now are not that much different from what I have been practicing already.
Thursday -
We met with the ENT in Columbus. They asked lots of questions and reviewed the charts from my biopsies. They were well-informed already, and they put me at ease with their skill right away.
Here's what it boiled down to:
- I will get a PET CT Scan to find out if the cancer has spread beyond my tongue and neck. Honestly, we are praying that it is only on my tongue, not anywhere else!
- I will have surgery on Aug 18, during which he will remove the cancer from my tongue and another surgeon will reconstruct my tongue with muscle and tissue from my forearm. They will be helping me with learning to talk and use my tongue again right away after surgery.
- I will have 6 weeks of radiation treatments that I can do here in Lima, to finish off the cancer cells, especially the ones in my neck and lymph node area. But again, we are praying that will be gone before this point and can be avoided.
So, that was all last week!
And how are we doing?
Depends on the moment, some days.
Overall, I am in great spirits. I'm not in pain. I'm mostly just uncomfortable with what feels like a marshmallow in my mouth, and an IV in my arm that prevents me from being as active as I want to. My neck is barely noticeable anymore.
We have been amazed and overwhelmed by all of the support. Some have given us money. Some have sent encouraging notes and messages. Some have prayed huge prayers of faith. Everyone has shown us love.
It has been the best part, knowing we are not alone.
No, the journey is not over yet. There are still some tough things ahead.
But you know what?
We can do hard things.
And you can too!
If you've read this far, I encourage you to follow along on this journey. Most of our updates will be on Facebook, but I'll give some here from time to time as well.
Here's your challenge for right now though:
Whoever you know that is facing some huge health challenge or bad news from the doctor, reach out. Send love. Show them you care. Tell those you care about how you feel now, before it's too late.
Because how we treat people matters a lot.
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