One Year Ago

January 9th 2010

One year ago, January 6th began like any other day. Joe went to work but had a doctor’s appointment at 8:00am. I went to work and was busy in my office when around 10:00 he walked through my door. “I have to tell you something. The doctor said I need surgery today, I have an infected lymphoma.” The first thing that rang in my spirit was, “I am ready for this.” I made a quick phone call to a local surgeon to make an appointment. Our 3:00 pm appointment was interesting as I could see the fear in the doctor’s eyes and his urgency. “Get to the lab this afternoon, we will do a CAT scan early tomorrow morning.” January 8th was when Joe was diagnosed with cancer. We went to see Dr. Berg for another biopsy as then needed more tissue. As he finished the procedure that I watched, he said to both of us, “I hate to tell you this, but you have some kind of rare cancer. I hope to God I am wrong, but I think it could be Merkel Cell Carcinoma. We will have to wait for the lab results to find out the specific kind.”
Joe began to weep and I said, “we have just had a suddenly.” My life suddenly changed in a matter of minutes. We left the Sid Peterson Care center and went to Chilies to sit by the river and talk about our lives. A couple over heard us talking and they were cancer survivors that encouraged us to go to MD Anderson. We made some phone calls to rally prayers and took a walk up the hill behind us in the Heights. We held hands; we prayed and were full of hope, love and faith. Our journey began……little did we know what was ahead for either of us. January 8th, 2009 was a Thursday we would never forget. Our love and faith grew with each day as we made decisions and had to adjust to the quick shift in our empty nest. It has been an incredible year and I know I have personally grown with all the changes and learned to advance in crisis, focus and discover more of the nature of God and how to walk with Him.
Last night I spent the night in the emergency room at Sid Peterson with my dad. He complained of chest pains but it is pneumonia………what is it about January 8th and medicine?