The Test Results Are In

In my last post I asked God to not wait too long. I was referring to His acting in our situation with Diane's tumor as well as cluing us into how we would be proceeding. We'll He didn't wait.

The doctor called TODAY with good news!

There are NO cancer cells anywhere AND the tumor is not a grapefruit sized beast, but rather more in the orange category!

YAHOO!

The course of treatment is going to be a medicine called Yaz. How's that for kind of crazy? If Diane's body accepts this medicine the tumor will shrink and go away.

So our prayer request now is for Diane's body to be okay with the medicine. Her disease sometimes makes taking new medicine a nightmare. Please pray that that does not happen in this situation or we could be facing surgery. We don't want that.

Pray also that the stuff I'm learning will stay in my head. There's a lot of it and some of it keeps falling out. I'm having to put it back in there and keep after it!

Thanks God!

Bob

Our Visit to the Ultrasound Tech

Today was Diane's ultrasound.

We probably should have gotten up, eaten breakfast together, had devotions, prayed and then headed off to the doctor. But we didn't.

For some reason we both got up like normal, had our coffee, got ready and left. I think maybe the idea of what we were going to go do or possibly find out was too big and ominous to allow "normal" into our lives.

I feel kind of bad about that. I'll do better next time.

Anyway, we got there a bit late and quite surprisingly got right in. I figured we'd do penance for arriving late - like an additional 45 minutes of waiting, but not this time.

It felt like any other day when you go to a doctor's office. People doing their work, setting up machines, working on computers, etc. We were there for an ultrasound, but we weren't there to look for a baby. We were there to look for a tumor. I wanted to tell them all to pay attention. We were in the building and this was important. But I didn't. Diane was glad.

It was odd to sit there and watch as the lady moved the wand around Diane's belly just like she had 19, 17 and 16 years ago when they were looking for our kids. I didn't like it when the monitor showed fuzzy images, one of which I knew wasn't supposed to be there. I had a million questions racing through my mind. Questions like, "Which one is it? The black one on the left or the oval on the right? If it isn't the one on the right then what exactly is that thing? It's not a baby right? No, must not be...the lady hasn't fallen off her stool yet."

The tech took pictures and measurements of the fuzzy thing on the left side, so I eventually figured that was the culprit that had brought us here. I finally got up the courage to ask if that was it and she said it was. I was surprised. My past experience has been that Ultrasound techs either don't know much English (that's not a slam against anyone - they just tend to not talk much), or they really take that "Thou Shalt Not Tell the Big Secrets" promise seriously.

The morning took a turn when the tech couldn't find Diane's ovaries. She looked and looked but they were in hiding. She finally told us she thought one of them was back behind "a plume of Bowel Gas". The other was just MIA. I told her we hadn't had any problem finding them back when we needed them for making children. She laughed and then told Diane we were going in for a closer look. It turned out to be about as bad as it sounds. And the bad thing is, I"m not sure she ever did find those stinking ovaries!

When the whole experience was over I brought Diane home and she went to bed. She was fairly worn out, both emotionally and physically. I sat at the computer to study, but found my mood to be rather blue. I didn't like it.

After lunch I took her to work, but I could tell she was different. She wasn't herself. I left feeling concerned.

So now we wait.

And you know how that goes. In your mind you see images of the place where the person reads the scans. And you see him come to the scans of your wife and you think, "Be careful there buddy. That's my wife's scans you're looking at." Or you wonder why it takes so long. Why do you have to wait? Don't they know that waiting is a form of ancient torture? Do they enjoy making you wait? Surely the system can't be THAT backed up right? I'm convinced it's all a medical field conspiracy. After our last 5 hour wait in the Emergency Room I swore I'd never go back to that place again!

But the doctor said she'd be in touch and so we'll wait. We trust her. And we know that sometimes no news is good news, right? And we know also that God is in this deal and we trust Him even more than the doctor and so we'll wait on Him too.

Just don't be too long God, okay?

Thanksgiving 2006

Today is Thanksgiving.

We got up early this morning - at least Diane and me. Had our coffee, visited with Teddy and Carmel (the dogs), picked up the traditional Thanksgiving day paper that weighed 10 lbs and began our morning.

Thanksgiving traditionally includes crepes for the kids made by me. This is always a favorite. So I spent an hour mixing and cooking these wonderful thin french pancakes for everybody. After rousing the kids (one of whom stayed up till 5 a.m.) we enjoyed an increasingly rare breakfast together. It was nice.

Diane likes to put up the Christmas tree on Thanksgiving day. I think Christmas is way too long and way too comercialized so, of course, I grinch about it and put it off as long as possible, but usually subcum Thanksgiving night. She is like a kid in a candy store. I'm grumpy.

This year we're putting the tree up early - like right after we ate breakfast. Yesterday Chris and I got after it and got all the lights up and working outside in the yard, on the fences and on the house. We even got the manger scene put into place. And as we did this I found a strange kind of a movitation to get it done. I wanted to do it. And I wanted to do it before she got home last night. We made it...just barely.

Today I find I am motivated to get this Christmas tree up and all the decorations going.

Why? Why is it that when you find out that one you love has something like a tumor that you suddenly find the energy, motivation and desire to do things for them that you previously did not have?

For me it is because I want her to be okay.
I want her around.
I want to grow old with her.

And I don't want her to have a tumor.

Questions run through my mind that are too scary to answer right now. Questions that begin with, "What if" and don't have pleasant answers.

This thanksgiving brings much thankfulness for us and for me. And most of it revolves around two people - God and Diane.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Bob

Another Prayer Request

Today Diane went in for her annual "girl" type check up.

During the course of the visit the doctor discovered what she is calling a Fibroid tumor.

Wow.

When Diane called me she was pretty shook up. For me, it was a kick in the gut. I feel sucker punched.

Next Tuesday we'll go in for an ultrasound to find out exactly what we are dealing with, the size, treatment, possible surgery, etc.

In the meantime, we are asking for all of our friends to join us in asking God to handle this situation for us.

So please pray.

Thanks,

Bob

An Invitation to Join our Prayer Warrior Team

If you've found your way to this post by accident or by invitation, please read on!

Diane and I are heading off in a new direction in our lives and while it is exciting, it is also somewhat unsure...especially for Diane. I know she is dealing with questions such as, "Will we make it?", "Will there be food on the table?", "Can he do this?" (meaning my new job), etc.

One thing we have discussed is that we've got to have prayer cover to be successful in our new venture. And so we are forming a prayer warrior team. If you join this team we are simply asking for your prayers on a daily basis for some specific goals we want to accomplish.

Here's the list for Phase 1. Phase 1 will last from now until the end of January.

1. Please pray every day that God will give Diane peace and that He will heal her from her Fibromyalgia.

2. Pray for God's hand on our kids' lives as they'll be attending church on many Sundays apart from us for a while.

3. Pray for us that we will be strong during this transition time.

4. Pray for success in my pre-licensing and testing phase. I am now studying for this and will go to OKC sometime in December to take the actual test. I have to pass this test in order to obtain my real estate license.

5. Pray for the sale of my first house before the end of January. This will put food on our table and make my wife much easier to live with!

6. Pray for God to be speaking to our hearts and giving us comfort as we are absent from FCC during this time. We'll be in church somewhere, but not with the people we love so much.

7. Pray for God to already be working to reveal to us churches where I can go to help. I'm looking forward to talking with church leaders about why their church is or is not growing. I'm looking forward to preaching in pulpits and to being able to help churches that have lost their preacher for some reason. I'm very excited about these opportunities. I'm also hoping that this may develop into consulting opportunities.

That's it for now. If you will join us as a prayer warrior here's what we are asking of you...

- that you will pray daily with us for these seven things.
- that you will be faithful to lift us up before the Lord.
- that you will stay in touch with us so we can give you updates of how God is leading (or let us stay in touch with you).

I am hoping to build a large team of committed people who will join with us faithfully. We believe in the power of prayer and believe strongly that this is a key element to moving forward. Will you be one of our prayer warriors?

If so, please respond to me via email or to this post if you are in the blogging community. I'll write soon about how the response is coming and keep you informed of how God is working in our lives.

Bob

Hey World...I'm back!

Not that anyone will see this right off the bat, but I'm back.

I took down my old site as I felt that circumstances in my life at the time dictated it. However, those circumstances have now changed and so I have decided to begin posting again.

In last few days life has been pretty crazy. I'm in the midst of a job and a career change. It is all very exciting and somewhat nerve racking too. But one thing is sure. I know that God is in this and that He is leading me and Diane into a whole new world. I'm going to be able to work with churches in an incredible way. And I'm very excited about that.

In the meantime there is pain involved. Isn't there always pain involved when change comes about? But pain usually doesn't last forever and this certainly won't in our lives. It really is sort of a mere inconvenience...except that there are people involved who are very dear friends. I feel badly for them - even more so than I do for myself.

There is also relief involved. Much stress in my life is now gone and for this I am very grateful.

I'm surprised at how quickly I am adapting to the changes swirling around me. I can see God's hand in this in every way.

So check back often as I will be writing now on a variety of topics and chronicling our new direction and journey in life. I enjoy the blogging community and look forward to hearing from you.

B