It was about eighteen months ago that Sim first came to me and mentioned that he thought he felt a strange lump. I'll be completely honest here and admit that I brushed it off and told him he had probably pulled a muscle. He is certainly a tough guy but he also (like most men) can overreact a just a little bit to the smallest ache or pain.
Shortly after that we went into full swing preparing for his upcoming deployment and although he mentioned the lump again on occasion, we were not overly concerned. When Sim returned home from his deployment this past December he mentioned to me that the lump was still there and it seemed to be getting bigger. He wanted to talk to his Coast Guard doctor about it and I completely supported him. At this point I started to think to myself, "I hope this isn't a big deal...what if something is wrong and here I brushed it off a whole year ago."
Long story short, Sim's CG doctor was amazingly proactive and sent him for further testing and upon reviewing his scans immediately referred us to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston where we were under the amazing care of Dr. Fieg and his staff. MD Anderson did a lot of testing but the results of the tumor biopsy were inconclusive. Since we knew it needed to come out regardless because it was growing, Dr. Feig arranged surgery for the end of June. There were quite a few risks as a result of the surgery, primarily the risk of the procedure seriously affecting Sim's fertility. We put our trust in God and together with our families support, we moved forward with preparing for the surgery.
Surgery day came and I honestly don't know if I've ever felt more scared. This man: my guardian, my best friend, my love...was going in to have surgery that could potentially change our lives forever. Those hours while he was in the operating room and I walked the halls of the hospital, I rotated between praying fervently that the tumor was benign and could be removed successfully...and trying to avoid thinking about what was actually happening at all.
Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death. ~Author Unknown
Thankfully the tumor was benign and we were ever so thankful to receive great news regarding Sim's prognosis and expected recovery. He spent four days under the amazing care of the MD Anderson hospital staff before he was released to come home to recover. Because of the nature of the surgery and how invasive it was, he's been off work and recovering for the past five weeks but he has finally reported back to work today. I think he was beyond ready to get out of the house and back into his routine!
While this whole situation has been a personal struggle for us, we believe that the amazing love and support shown by our family and friends has meant so much. If anything please let our experience, give you confidence to go to a doctor when you notice something about your body that just doesn't seem quite right. It's worth it...you are worth it.
We are forever grateful that we did not have to face cancer this summer but we have also been reminded that our health is incredibly fragile and should be appreciated because you never know what tomorrow may bring. What we do know is that God has carried us through this part of our journey and we are thankful for what we have today, which is each other. We're patiently waiting for his next blessing that he hopefully has in store for us and our family but we know we're in the excellent hands of a loving Father, which has allowed us to grow in a way we might not have if we had not been given this experience.
1 comment:
Thank you for sharing! You two wonderful people will be in our thoughts!
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