"You should start a journal."

There are many things in life that we wish we had done and many things that we had not done. But I do wish that I had taken the advise of my sister, when she had encouraged me to keep a journal of the walk that was to begin with the diagnosis of stage 4 cancer.  Why do I regret now, that I did not ?
Because according to my doctors, they really did not expect me to live past a year at the most.
And now NINE years later, David and myself, along with many others, have witnessed the mighty , merciful loving hand of God . My regret is that I did not document every single minute of this walk !

(Photo of cutesy worm courtesy of Google search)

 

 

 

 " Help, I coughed up a worm !!"

(Warning, this is sort of yucky.)

 

One sunny morning in October I woke up feeling a little congested and coughed.  As I did , something unusual was coughed up. I spit it out. Yuck, it looked Exactly like an earthworm. You know how they look , kind of pale, when they drown in water puddles ? There was not blood or anything else, just the worm.  I grabbed the phone, called my primary care doctor, and told the receptionist that I had coughed up a worm and I was on my way !!  The wormy thing was put in a jar with water and a lid and taken with me.  When I got to the doctor's office they saw me almost immediately. It's not everyday that a patient coughs up a worm.

"Yes ," said my doctor.  " Yes" said his partner.  "It sure does look just like an earth worm !" they agreed.

The first thing they did was, an xray.  I remember sitting in the exam room for quite a while waiting for Dr. G. to come back in the room with the results. When he did come back in , there was a very serious look on his face. "Debbie , I think we have a big problem. " he said. Then he showed me the xray.  In both lungs there were "spots" everywhere. Some were as big as a quarter . We counted by sight at least twenty . "Is it cancer ?" ------- "We can not say at this point, but this is serious."

Blood work was drawn and an immediate appointment was made for me to have a "fine needle" biopsy. 

Before I left the exam room, Dr. G. put his hand on my shoulder and prayed that God would keep me 

and give me grace to get through the trials (that he knew) were coming.

Praise God for our brothers in the Lord who are physicians !

Yes, I was stunned, but relatively calm.  I tried to reach David, but was unable to.  So I called a dear friend who lived near the doctor's office and my pastor.  They met me at the local Burger King and we three gathered in my car and talked, cried and prayed.  

End of part one.