Dear Friends,
It was so good to see everyone at church yesterday and to be able to give you an update on Connie’s health. For those of you who weren’t able to be with us on Sunday let me briefly share with you what I told our church yesterday. On Friday, February 16, I got home from church and Connie told me that her OBGYN had called and that her biopsy had come back positive–Connie had cancer. I was shocked to say the least. We called Brian Geister, an Oncologist at Baptist and a member of our church, to ask him what we should do. Brian encouraged us to call Dr. Walker or Dr. Mannell at the OU Physicians Center. I called the following Monday and two days later Connie was in Dr. Walker’s office. Dr. Walker said that uterine cancer just didn’t make sense for Connie’s age, small size, etc. She ran more tests and found a tumor the size of a plum in Connie’s uterus. Surgery was scheduled for the following Tuesday, February 27.
Connie and I were both overwhelmed by the number of folks who came to Mercy Hospital to be with us before and during Connie’s surgery. We are so grateful to all of you who prayed with us before the surgery and for those who sat with me and my sons during the surgery.
When the surgery was over Dr. Walker came out to talk to our family and she told us that the tumor was the size of a peach, the cancer had spread to Connie’s cervex, and that she took Connie’s lymph nodes to be biopsied. She said Connie’s lymph nodes looked “plump” for someone her size, but that wasn’t necessarily bad. It didn’t sound good to me at the moment.
Connie got to come home from the hospital on Thursday afternoon and she was very weak and unstable. Not more than an hour after we got home we received a phone call letting us know that Connie’s lymph nodes had come back clean! Hallelujah! The doctor said that we could not have gotten a better report.
Connie will have an appointment with her oncologist in two weeks to find out if any further treatment is necessary. So we will continue to wait and see. This whole experience has been a time of waiting.
Connie and I are learning so much through this experience. We are learning to wait upon the Lord, not on good reports or bad reports, but to wait upon the Lord. We are also learning how faithful the Lord is in every situation. We look back on the past two and a half weeks and we see the Lord’s fingerprints everywhere. He has truly ordered our steps and for that we are most grateful. While Connie was being prepped for surgery Kathy Harris walked into her room and Connie’s eyes lit up. She said, “Are you going to be with me in surgery?” Kathy said, “I sure am. I will be with you the whole time.” Kathy is a wonderful surgery nurse and a godly woman who has been at BCC for many years. Seeing her wonderful smiling face gave Connie comfort at the right time. Dr. Geister has walked with us throughout our whole experience and having his expertise, encouraging words, and prayers have been another sign of God’s provision for us. God is faithful! Thanks so much for your prayers and support.
The last two weeks have been very difficult for us in not being able to share with all of you what was going on in our lives, but we want you to know that we withheld information so as to protect our kids. Connie was 11 years old when her dad got cancer and she remembers what a scary time that was for her. Our daughter, Annie, is 11 and we wanted to wait until we knew definitively what was going on before we told her. We were so blessed to be able to tell Annie the good news on Friday of last week after her mom got home from the hospital. We did tell our sons, Dan and Nate, the day before the surgery so that they would know what was happening as we went into surgery on Tuesday.
I will be away for awhile so that I can take care of Connie and get her back into shape. I told her today that I am her “personal trainer.” I’ve got her walking around the yard, eating three meals a day (even when she doesn’t feel like it), and taking lots of Vitamin C. We are continuing to pray and seek comfort and direction from the Lord. Psalm 188:8 says, “It is better to find refuge in the Lord than to trust in men.” I am learning how true the Psalmists words are. Know that I am praying for all of you.
In His Steps,
Mike