Friday, December 10, 2010

Prayer, Surgery, Pain-YOU Tell Me!

My wise hospice chaplain, told me, among many other helpful things, that I need to present the honest reality to people and not worry about their response/reaction.

So here are two sets of facts for you and you can decide what you think:
Note: The term golf ball refers to a cancerous tumor that I had on my sternum.

1.
- Prior to my golf ball removal yesterday, I have had three surgeries, one major and two “minor.”
- Both of my minor surgeries were very painful to recover from in the days following.
- I was/am expecting intense pain as part of my recovery from the golf ball removal.
- My pain med is “take every two hours, as needed.”
- The last time I took my pain med was at 1:30am last night and it is now 11:00am.
- Hundreds of people are praying for me and asking Jesus to care of me and have mercy on me.

-I am in less pain right now that I was yesterday morning BEFORE the surgery.
-I can raise my left arm higher without pain right now than I could yesterday morning before the surgery.
-I had ZERO (0) pain upon waking this morning.

You tell me, why am I in not in intense pain right now?

2.
-Last Thursday, December 2, I went to visit my surgeon about the golf ball.
-My surgeon with thirty years of experience, his nurse with many years of experience, and myself with no experience saw the stem that went from the golf ball down between my ribs on a sonogram.
-Before my surgeon even pointed it out to me on the sonogram, I distinctly and clearly saw the stem.
-He saw the same thing and pointed it out to me as the stem.
-He told me that I could have the tumor/golf ball removed if I wanted to but that he couldn’t tell me when or how fast it would grow back because it had the stem.
-Before I left, I wrote down in my notes that there was a stem.
-Before I left, I double-checked with his nurse to verify that my surgeon said it had a stem and she said yes.

-When my surgeon did surgery yesterday, Thursday, December 9, there was no stem.
-When my surgeon did surgery yesterday THERE WAS NO STEM and he was able to remove the whole entire tumor (see previous post for surgery info).

You tell me, what happened to the stem?

8 comments:

  1. What an awesome God you serve!!!!!!! Our God is so faithful....no matter what! Thank you for your on-going testimony that is an incredible encouragement for all as we go through our various trials, hopefully, counting it all joy.
    Loving you and trusting God to continue to hold you firmly, yet gently, in His grip,
    Auntie Maggie

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  2. the Spirit is at work bring healing, hope, faith and love to us all through your witness...thank you for your faithfulness in sharing your journey. when i said good by to my brother yesterday, he said, "see you in heaven!" may each us find ourselves there for all eternity through the merits of our risen Jesus! in His grip and in His time. love, bruce

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  3. Martha -

    I talked to Jo last night and she told me about the stem thing as well. It's simply AMAZING to see how God's been working in your life. I'm really excited to hear about the lack of pain.

    Love you!

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  4. I have goose bumps all over!!! What an - incredible story of what is a true miracle! How lucky for you, and for all of us reading to hear this news! You are an inspiration to so many....we're all praying for you and just goes to show PRAYERS WORK!

    Beth Johnson

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  5. That's awesome, Martha!!!
    Karen/owenkitty

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  6. It's the power of prayer, the abundance of faith & miracles in motion.... Reading your post made me smile, because we are all sharing in your Christmas miracles, Martha. Totally awesome and amazing. ;-)

    Much love, BIG hugs and continued prayers.
    xoxoxox

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  7. I've been praying for you and am just SO thrilled for you that this surgery has had such a positive result for you. God really truly is so incredible! "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning, new every morning, Great is thy faithfulness oh God!" Merry Christmas, Martha.

    Megan

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  8. Unending mercies from Abba. :~) I'm so glad for these tidbits of news for you!

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