Mom, the trouper

On September 20th Mom had her double mastectomy. The long and short of it is, it went off without a hitch. It all happened so fast, really. My Mom was the biggest trouper I have ever seen. She focused on shopping for pajamas, thinking ahead (even talking about Christmas presents), and future treatment plans. She didn't get upset at all. She was so sweet as she was waking up from surgery, requesting a kiss on the cheek from everyone in the room.




Her surgery was 9 days ago and she has had very little pain. She is healing beautifully and the first steps were taken during surgery for reconstruction. She has seen the surgery site and said, "It didn't look as bad as I thought it would." I was afraid it would be a set back to see that area. But she seems to have no remorse over her loss at all. She just wants to get rid of the cancer. Probably a perk of having 68 years of life experience. Her attitude has been so graceful. She did have the lymph nodes removed on one side. But the pathology report came back with no signs of cancer left in her body. They gave her a 94% chance of full recovery and no relapse. I have been told those odds are very, very good.

I know the six rounds of chemo and the other steps for reconstruction will be difficult. We are not completely oblivious to what is down the road. But I am grateful for how well she is doing today. Thank you, dear friends, for praying. Honestly, I think the week before the surgery was more difficult for me than for her! On the way home from Birmingham the night before her big day I saw this beautiful sunset (at the gas station).
I was so overwhelmed with the cancer that I kept asking Jesus to just ride in behind the clouds and rescue me from all this brokenness. I was SO, SO ready for Him to come back right then and take us all Home. But that wasn't the day. And so we woke up and faced the music, and it was good. And tomorrow will be another day. And we all survived. And I am reminded again that no matter what the suffering or trial for this season of life might be, with Jesus there is always, ALWAYS something amazing to look forward to!

"Gratitude never comes from avoiding difficulty, but from finding yourself sustained through it. The degree of joy rises from the degree of gratitude, and the level of gratitude corresponds to the level of God's grace experienced in our suffering. God's sustaining providence brings relief, even when life becomes unspeakably difficult."

~Randy Alcorn