More Waiting...

Last Friday I had the CT scan done of my neck. Thankfully it was normal...especially after realizing my last scan did not include my neck...and I've also had pain on the left side of my neck for several months but figured it was fine since my last CT scan showed no suspicious findings. When I found out my neck hadn't been scanned earlier, I started freaking out that I had a big alien tumor growing in my neck causing the pain. Talk about relief to hear the scan was pretty much normal and that mild cervical spondylosis - a fancy term for arthritis - explains the pain!!!

The lymph node that I can feel measures 1 cm - which is the high end of normal and the low end of enlarged. My surgeon decided to do a needle biopsy... even though it's right next to my carotid artery and proved to be a little tricky. 

 

Dr. Bruns totally rocks, and I watched the whole thing on the ultra sound monitor!

I felt like I had been karate chopped in the neck and was very glad for the weekend. Then we began our wait... for a week... 7 days... 168 hours... Plus we've waited over 2 weeks since my original appointment and over a month since I noticed the lymph node. No stress - HA!

I had been doing pretty well with being patient and easy-going about the wait, but yesterday showed that deep down I may be a bit anxious. Actually, it's been a hard week for all of us, and we all show it in different ways - meltdowns, tears, not sleeping, being irritable, etc. Sometimes the littlest thing will hit like a brick wall, and you can't keep going without a time out and a deep breath.

God is faithful and has used our family and friends to encourage us with Scripture, kind words, thoughtful gifts, and prayer. And just watching the news each day shows us how blessed we are, even if we are a little stressed. So we wait one more day... and trust God... and build more character!

Isn't it neat how a passage of Scripture you've read over and over is suddenly just the right verse at just the right time? That happened at Bible study this week with 2 Timothy 4:17. It's a great reminder that God is with us and giving us strength. He is using us to glorify Him through our journey and will ultimately rescue us! God is good!!!

But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion's mouth.

~ 2 Timothy 4:17