The Power of Prayer

"But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds," declares the LORD. Jeremiah 30:17

We could both name several times in our lives that prayer has lifted us, sustained us and carried us. Today was no exception! We are true witnesses to the power of prayer. As we left the house this morning, I was overwhelmed by the feeling that so many have stormed Heaven on our behalf. Although the anxiety was still there, I felt peaceful in the fact that we just needed to find out the results of the tests and move forward, and that God would take care of everything else.

I prayed the Rosary while waiting for Brian’s MRI. When we found out the great news (the MRI was clear!), Brian said that he guessed praying the Our Father the whole time he was having the MRI must have worked! He also has a theory that his newly grown beard has made a difference as well!

We were trying to think back during the past year when we’ve seen a doctor and the news was good. The positive side of me says each time we’ve been to the doctor, the news could have been worse. I guess that is true if you consider the December news was only 9 new tumors, when it could have been more. Or the March emergency admission was only for 5 days, not 10. Or the brain tumor was only a ½ inch, when it could have been bigger or been multiple lesions. Or that Brian only ended up with a total of 4 drains coming out of his body, because it could have been more. Or that April 10th marks only the 89th missed day of school this year.

You see my point? It is so hard sometimes to really see the positive side. When we were first told of the multiple tumors right before Christmas, Brian said to his doctor, “what next?” Fast forward about a month and what was next was the brain tumor. (He quit saying things like that!).

So for today…the MRI was clear! It almost felt like Dr. Anderson was speaking a different language. The tumor looks just like it should following the stereotactic surgery, basically totally destroyed. It will take time to completely dissolve, and sometimes there can be leftover dead cells that continue to show up on a scan. In mid-May he will have a more specific type of MRI which will help keep close track of this. His chest x-ray was also clear! He has had a few CT scan over the past months, most recently on March 15th, which we already knew was clear of melanoma. He’ll have a repeat CT scan on the same day as the MRI on May 16.

I hate to have to say this, but there does appear to be a melanoma growing on Brian’s back. I discovered it near a melanoma battle scar recently, and we had it checked out today. The good news is that it is small, and did not show up on the chest x-ray, which leads us to believe it is simply a subcutaneous spot. This tumor is likely the result of the tumor he had removed in June…the pathology report showed that it did not have a clear margin. Normally they would have gone back for a wider margin, but that was the same day we discovered the adrenal gland tumor, and opted to jump right into IL-2 treatments. The hope was that the IL-2 would nix this margin. As we have since found, Brian’s specific melanoma laughed in IL-2’s face, so that plan somewhat backfired, which is probably how this current tumor began to grow.

Because it is up against another scar, it will need a larger margin to be taken in the O.R. instead of the office. We will wait until the results of the May tests, and then schedule this for the week after school is out. This will be a simple recoup, compared to what he has been through. I’ll keep track of it between now and then to be sure it doesn’t change any. Hopefully his current chemo will start to kill it off. We’re not letting this get us down. Brian’s got his dukes up, and he’s in this war to win.

We are so thankful. We feel we made the right decision to go ahead with Brian’s surgery, even though it put him through so much. The doctors have taken such good care of Brian. We are blessed to have God lead us, and to put the right people and treatments in our path to bring us to this point. The Lord continues to carry this burden that only He can bear.

What a great way to celebrate the Easter season!