As I sit here watching the news reports from Hurricane Harvey and all of the flooding in the Houston area, I reflect on not just the storm and how blessed we are to be high and dry as of 11am this Sunday morning, but also my medical situation. Many in the area have lost everything except their lives. Massive devastation here for millions. While my prayer is that the water not infiltrate this house, on a much greater scale and perspective, I also pray for so many who have suffered catastrophic loss.
With regard to my medical sitch, lots of unknowns and attempts to resolve my tumor leading up to mid August to no avail. So, we decided to come to MD Anderson and have the open chest upper left lung lobectomy procedure done. We, along with so many praying for me, asked God for a miracle to take the tumor away, and as it turns out that that was to happen via God's sovereign hand in the surgery and not via a non-surgical miraculous healing. The tumor is malignant and I was diagnosed with Non-Hodkin's Lymphoma on Thursday at 2pm per a call from our surgeon's office reporting pathology findings. It sounds like it is treatable and there is a 93% cure rate via intense chemo. So, while chemo does not fix many types of cancer much of the time, it would seem that in this particular type it has good results. I am very blessed to have these odds at a cure. With other forms of cancer, this is not the case.
Sometimes you just have to go through it....
I am reminded of Acts 27 when we find Paul telling the people who were to take him to Rome in a ship that there is going to be a shipwreck and they should not go. No one listened to him and sure enough they wound up shipwrecked off of Malta. The sailors planned to kill all of the prisoners, but they did not. God provided Paul and the other prisoners with favor in the storm via a Centurion who prevented the sailors from carrying out their plan to kill the prisoners. Once he reached land, Paul gets to work helping out and winds up getting bit by a viper while helping out with building a fire. At first the islanders thought that Paul was a murderer because of his plight of being bit my a venomous snake, but he shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no effects from the bite. Paul then proceeds to heal the chief official's father who was sick by praying to God and using the very hand that was bitten. After that the islanders provided everything they needed to get back to sailing to Rome. God used a terrible shipwreck where valuable cargo was lost, reversed a plan to kill Paul, a near death experience in the storm, a snake bite, and then used the very hand that was afflicted by the bite to heal and show the people of Malta who God is through Paul's obedience in the storm. It was God's will, and it just had to be for the people of Malta.
The one thing that sticks out to me is Paul's great attitude. He is a great example of how to keep calm, keep the faith, help out where he saw opportunity, and trust in the Lord completely. So often, we find ourselves in a bad situation, and only looking at our immediate surroundings and falling into a pattern of worry and asking God to get us out of this mess. If we follow Paul's example, we can look beyond, and look at Jesus for greater perspective and grow in the storm. God's purpose for the shipwreck was clearly so that the people of Malta could be saved. And then the end result is that the sailors heading to Rome were provided with everything that they needed to get back to sailing. A clear example of what our role is, and what God's role is. We are in charge of our obedience and He is in charge of the outcome of our situation. Seek God first (
Mat 6:33), help others when you can in the storm, be a good example (
Acts 27,28), and God has a way of providing favor in the storm (
Isa 43) and working things out for His glory and our good (
Rom 8:28).
As difficult as it may be for those who suffer from cancer or other afflictions to do, there is often opportunity to stay positive, celebrate seeing God's hand at work in the storm, and the favor He provides. I look to Isaiah 43 where God promises favor in the storm. For example verse 2 says "When you pass through the waters I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you will not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you."
I have been so blessed through this whole blessed plight of the tumor and now cancer. All the way back to March and the first appointment that Kelly's sister Krista got me with the lung cancer oncologist and then the thoracic surgeon just a couple days after we decided to come to MD Anderson. She got us hooked in with one of the best chest surgeons in the world. Then this past month I had my chest opened up and the upper left lobe of my lung successfully removed. God's healing hand was on me and I got off of the narcotic pain killers in 3 days, and managed to be able to walk roughly 3 miles comfortably just a week after surgery. I have also been able to go through testing (bone marrow core aspiration / bone sample, ECG, PET Scan) requiring me to lay on my chest and rib cage and raise my arms over my head. Incredibly fast healing and clearly the hand of God at work. I got to peek at my Xray, and the tech and I were not able to see any trace of surgery on my sternum 7 days after surgery. An incredibly successful surgery and God at work.
Another example of God working out favor in the storm was that we got the call telling us the pathology results on Thursday at 2pm. Because of my sister-in-law Krista we were sitting with the lead Lymphoma oncologist at MD Anderson who has 100+ published papers and decades of experience at 4pm that day. He ordered a battery of tests, and by 1pm on Friday (less than 24 hours later) God orchestrated that all of it would be done, and done early, because of cancellations due to the hurricane. We got through a bone marrow aspiration, bone sample, EKG, ECG, XRay, and a PET Scan on Friday morning in time to grab a late lunch at 1pm in the cafeteria. I was afforded the chance to witness to God's healing hand from the surgery to several doctors and nurses who were amazed that I had been through an open chest operation just 7 days before. All glory be to God!
I guess the flooding is a similar experience for my sister-in-law and her husband Chris. They have a beautiful house in a nice suburb here in Houston and while there is clear and present danger of water infiltrating the house and ruining a lot of really nice stuff, Krista remains focused on those who have lost it all, a lady who is pregnant and was due to induce this week next door, people that need things like insulin, and so on. A remarkable demonstration of perspective in the storm. I guess nurses just have that...especially those that work at MD Anderson and see a lot of tough stuff.
Sometimes you just have to go though it for a greater cause...
