I want to start by thanking everyone who has been praying for my mother and family over the past month or so. Also thank you for understanding that I didn't want to go into details at the request of my mom. This past Monday she finally got a bit of good news and she was finally ready to talk about things and tell people what was going on. Below is the post she put on her facebook page:
In November, I was having a great deal of pain and started some tests. EGD showed nothing. We moved on to the stress test. I failed it and had a stent inserted on December 11 or 12. When they did the chest xray for the stent, the doctor found a tumor in my right lung. Hence, the prayers. After consulting with a doctor in Pittsburgh, he did surgery on January 23. The tumor was cancer. After all the tests came back, all cancer cells were totally contained to the tumor. All surrounding tissue was negative. Today, I had an appointment with the Oncologist and got the actual first good news in a long couple of months. No Chemo or Radiation needed.
Again, thank you all for the prayers and God does answer.
This is the compressed version of what took place, she failed to mention that she had to have part of her lung removed with the tumor. That is not important the fact that she is ok is what is important. As you can imagine this rocked my world (as well as the rest of my families) to the core. What started out as a simple EGD for heart burn turned to a heart cath and stent being put in to lung cancer, all in the matter of 3 weeks. And I might add all of this between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was a long few weeks, but during it all my mothers strength and faith was beyond anything I can find words for. Never 1 time during all of this did I see my mother cry, get angry or be upset. She was the one who was strong for all of us. I can't say how she was behind closed door or at night when no one could see her, or how she feels about it all now.
I will say what I learned about my mother over the past few months is something I will keep with me forever. I have learned more about her faith in God in the past few months than ever before. Not that we were not faithful people before but during a time when most people question and run away, she ran right to her faith and let it wrap her with love and protection. She is one of the strongest people I know and can only hope to be that strong myself and to tech my son to be that way as well. I also saw the way my parents relationship strengthened, not that they don't already have an amazing relationship but it was different. My mother has always been the care taker for everyone, always putting everyone before herself, so this way hard. Yes she has had things done in the past, two knee replacements and a hip replacement but this was different, this was unknown, this was scary. This could have been life or death! She still have the recovery ahead of her but she gets stronger everyday. She has 1 more surgery in a couple of weeks so please pray for her for that as well.
My mother and I have not always had the best relationship, I was a very high maintenance, stubborn teen and made it hard on her but over the past 10 years she has become my best friend and in the past 2 months she has become one of my hero's!
Much Love
Melinda
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