Miracle Worker

Tumor is Gone?!?

How It All Happened

I honestly don’t even know where to start. I’m still in shock. Late spring I found out by ultrasound that I had a tumor growing in the left side of my neck. Over the summer, I was scanned again by ultrasound and it was still there. Meanwhile, I was referred from one doctor to the next who didn’t want to touch it, and was finally referred to the Ear Nose Throat (ENT) cancer wing at a hospital outside of town, (even though they were still hopeful it wasn’t cancer).

The ENT doctor recommended a CT scan to determine exact location prior to surgery, so she scheduled the CT scan for the Saturday before surgery on Monday. While at the CT scan they gave me a contrast dye through IV to help visualize important organs and…well, whatever else it does.

Morning of Surgery

The ENT doctor recommended I pack a bag, just in case I need to spend the night at the hospital, so I did. Matt and I had already finished up our Advanced Directive, just in case it was needed, and I put that in the bag too. My mom had flown into town to help take care of the kids, so Matt could come with me during the surgery and be my driver to get back home.

I needed to be at the hospital at 9:15am, so we hugged the kids and left around 7:30am. We arrived to the parking garage just before 9am, which is also when my phone rang. It was the surgical team. The surgeon had just reviewed the CT scan and in summary said, “So, this is pretty unusual, but our findings indicated that there is no tumor. This is highly uncommon, but obviously not impossible, because it just happened. But, basically, we need to cancel surgery because there is nothing to do surgery on.”

I asked him to repeat it about 5 times. Meanwhile, Matt is just looking at me confused, in the middle of the parking garage of the hospital.

After I hang up, I tell Matt what happened, and we are both kind of in disbelief. Like, complete shock. Wait, what?! I’m not having surgery today? I don’t have a tumor anymore? Are they sure? Then that means…was this a miracle? There was a tumor, and now, mysteriously, it’s gone?

Yes, that is what it means. I had a tumor in my neck and now it is gone. It stumped the surgeon.

It is a miracle. God, with his mighty hands, evaporated a mass growing inside my body.

Is This Real Life?

This happened yesterday morning. I’m still completely flabbergasted. It honestly doesn’t even feel like real life, it feels too convenient. Like, I just HAPPENED to have a tumor, and I found out it CONVENIENTLY went away minutes before surgery? That feels a little too Hallmark movie for me.

And then I have to remind myself that this didn’t just happen to some random person. This happened to me! I feel like God is up there just laughing at the timing of this. His timing is perfect and nothing surprises him.

What Now?

And now? Now, I go about my day. Motherhood with little kids doesn’t stop and pause. I still need to change diapers, discipline, and make breakfast. Just last night, I lost my patience and had to say sorry to our four-year-old-daughter.

It does have me thinking about being present today, and how to better parent/wife to them. And so, being rather goal oriented, I made some goals:

1. I will reduce the amount of time my children see me on my phone in front of them.
2. One day a week, I am going to put my phone in a drawer and not look at it for 24 hours.
3. Each day, I will ask each child, individually, how they want to spend the next 10 minutes with mommy. Do they want to play? Read? Color together?
4. Each day, I will ask my husband what I can do to better serve him today.
5. I will find time, each day to read/ or listen to the Bible.
6. I will start a daily sentence journal to help remember small moments.

What about you? I would love to hear from you in the comments if you have had a miracle story, or if you have made any similar goals.