Ironic Blessing

Today our dear mama is having a portion of her colon removed. Julie and I have made the pilgrimage home to care for her. Before you read any further, please pray for our mama. Her name is Kathy and she is a jewel. Pray for her to have peace, the surgeon to have a steady hand and sharp mind, pray for her to have rest and a stress-free recovery.

March is Colon Cancer Awareness month. I find it an ironic blessing that all this came about this month. Mama had never had a colonoscopy and her doctor had been on her about it for a while. She finally scheduled one. She hated every minute of the prep and the waiting on the procedure proved to be a bear also. She had to wait for hours. We got updates from our Aunt J, who had taken her, and it went from comical to maddening, real quick!( My favorite part was when Aunt J told her she would take her anywhere she wanted to eat afterwards and she told Aunt J she just wanted to go home and eat scrambled eggs. I still laugh about that.)
After the procedure she was told they found a spot and that they removed as much as they could but a lot was left behind. It was located in a spot that was very hard to get to and would require surgery.

She went to see a surgeon a few days later and he told her that her primary care doctor saved her life. He said that spots like the one she had are the ones that turn into cancer in a matter of time. The portion they removed during the colonoscopy came back cancer-free, and he has faith that the portion they remove today will also be cancer-free.

If you are over 40 and have family history of colon cancer, please schedule an appointment. If you are over 50, you need to make this part of your yearly routine. I cannot even fathom what I would do if my Mama had not had this test done and later found out that this preventive measure could have prevented an ugly battle with cancer or even death. What an ironic blessing!

We will keep you posted on her outcome. Thank you for keeping Kathy in your prayers the next few weeks. She will have a lengthy recovery and she doesn’t take to well to people tending to her….so pray for Julie, she will be the nurse with the longest duty! Better her than me, to be honest. Mama will be asking me to go home after a few days. Laughter is truly the best medicine!