I spent the morning at my physician’s office going through a slew of tests in preparation for my surgery. I got a green light on every item. The results are being sent to Dr. Patel’s office in Orlando.
I left Dr. Fravel’s office to head to the airport for my flight to Texas to go to Corpus Christi to perform a wedding for a dear friend.
On the flight to Texas, I sat next to a Marine Lieutenant General (3 stars). We talked non-stop for the 2 ½ hour flight. It was fascinating. He invited me up to DC as his special guest for a VIP event at the Marines Barracks. I’m going to make it happen!
Now for a whole new twist in my life.
While waiting at the airport, my daughter Katie sent me a text with a passage of scripture. She said, “I thought of you when I came across this verse today.”
Joshua 1:9 in The Message Bible: “Haven’t I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take.”
Katie’s text came at 3:21 PM.
Fifteen minutes later at 3:36 PM, I was on the phone with Dr. Clemenz’s office, my dermatologist. Over the past several weeks I had developed a sore on my nose. I thought it was no big deal until it started bleeding. I knew I needed to see Dr. Clemenz. With Mary’s skin cancer issues from the past, we both faithfully go to Dr. Clemenz every six months to have our skin checked. Usually she can catch cells when they are very pre-mature and simply freeze them off. This one was different. In my spirit, I knew it wasn’t going to be good. She took a biopsy of my nose: you may have noticed the bandage this past Sunday.
Now back to the phone call. At 3:36 PM I was informed that the biopsy had come back positive for cancer. As I understand it, there are three basic types of skin cancer: basal cell carcinoma; squamous cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma. I have the second level – squamous cell carcinoma. It is cancer, but it is treatable.
Katie was totally unaware of the nose biopsy. She was simply being faithful to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to encourage her Dad.
Later this month I will have surgery on my nose to remove the cancer cells. The procedure I will have by Dr. Chow is called Mohs Micrographic Surgery. Basically, Dr. Chow will give me a shot in the nose and remove a layer of skin. I will wait while he exams the skin tissue. If there are cancer cells on the edges of the removed tissue, he will give me another shot in the nose and remove more tissue. He will continue this process until he has “clean margins.” The Mohs surgery is the most exact and precise method of skin cancer removal. It minimizes the chance of re-growth and lessens the potential for scarring or disfigurement… which is very important to me since I have such a pretty nose.
Dr. Chow is trained in surgery, pathology, and reconstruction. The best option would be that the cancer is completely removed in the first step. If multiple steps have to be taken, as happened to Mary about 10 years ago, then I will go to a plastic surgeon. He will remove skin tissue from my neck and graft it onto my nose.
All of this will happen prior to my trip to Orlando for my prostate surgery.
I have to say… for someone who has never had a surgical procedure other than my wisdom teeth being removed and has never been sick with anything more than a bad cold… I am making up for it in 2010.
In my quiet time this week, God gave me these verses:
You have allowed me to suffer much hardship, but you will restore me to life again and lift me up from the depths of the earth. You will restore me to even greater honor and comfort me once again. (Ps. 71:20-21)
God has given me the privilege of facing these challenges. He has given me the blessing of growing in my faith so that I can please Him even more. He has given the joy of facing two unrelated cancers so that I might be able to teach you more effectively the truth of God’s word and the His glorious promises. I want you to see the truth of God’s word lived out in my life.
As for this moment, there is one thing I know for sure…
“Jesus loves me this I know. For the Bible tells me so.”
That’s enough for me…
