Surviving cancer

I was getting ready for what I thought would be a routine doctor's appointment that day in 1994. Little did I know how my life would change and what the Lord had planned for me.



As I was getting ready for my appointment, I heard a voice say "you have cancer". I was home alone but the voice was so clear and loud that I turned to see who was speaking. Since I had always been very healthy, I shurgged it off as my imagination. I took a few steps and felt like something inside me had burst. The pain only lasted a few seconds but the pain was so intense that it brought me to my knees. As I lay on the floor, again I heard the voice say "you have cancer". I prayed and asked the Lord, "Lord, if that is you speaking to me, please give my doctor wisdom".



I went to my doctor and he said that all looked good and sent me on my way. As I was walking in the hallway, I heard someone calling my name. I turned to see it was my doctor. He said "in case something else is going on, let's get some x-rays done". I know God was in control because my doctor had already sent me home. When I got to x-rays to schedule an appointment, God was there. Normally it is about a 1 1/2 - 2 week wait to get an appointment. They took me in immediately. By the time I arrived home (I did not have a cell phone at that time), there was an urgent message from my doctor telling me to get back to the hospital NOW. Of course, it was later in the evening by the time I got the message and the doctor was gone for the day. First thing the next morning my husband and I went to see my doctor. We were told that I had a tumor in my right kidney and it had to come out immediately. I was put into the hospital that day and had my kidney removed the next morning. After surgery we were told that I had renal cell carcinoma and that type of cancer would return. There was just no way of telling when or where it would hit again. The turmor had grown inside my kidney and burst through. That was the pain I had felt a couple of days before. Doctors told us the tumor was the side of a softball.



Well, it took several months to recover but God was awesome and walked with me the whole time. I was cancer free for 10 years. In 2004 I was praising God for healing me from cancer and that the doctors were wrong. My cancer had not returned. Then I heard His voice again say, "you have cancer". By now, I was getting x-rays every year and sure enough, I had another tumor on my left kidney. One third of the kidney was removed. In 2005 it had returned again in my left kidney and another 1/3 of the kidney was removed. By God's sweet grace, I am living with 1/3 of one kidney and doctors tell me they can't understand. What puzzles them is that that small portion of my kidney is working as well as 2 full kidneys according to my kidney function tests. I tell them it is very simple, my God is in control.



In June of 2006 the cancer had moved to my left lung and the whole lower lobe was removed. December of that same year, again it had moved to the upper lobe of my left lung and was removed. Because it was caught so early, my doctors agreed to let me get through the holidays before doing more surgery which was done in January of 2007.



In 2008 the cancer has moved to my bones and then the doctors gave me 4-12 months to live. The only thing they offered me was to keep me comfortable and out of pain with morphine until the end. Well, God has other plans for me again. I have not had to take any thing for pain in months and it has now been 10 months and I am doing great. I have to take chemo every single week for the rest of my life and I expect that to be a long time. I don't know why He would choose to allow me to go through cancer so many times but I know He has a plan for me. My prayer is that He use me in ways I can't even begin to imagine to minister to others going through any illness or deep valleys. I only hope the story of what He has done in my life will give hope to anyone reading this blog.

blessings from a cancer survivor,