“The Result of Karen’s CT Scan Is Back”

The last two scans that were taken showed that her cancerous mass had decreased a total of twenty-seven percent. Both times we received a phone call with the good news of the results. This time there was no phone call. We both went into our appointment this morning with a sense of not exactly dread; but somewhat of apprehension as we both expected to hear that the mass had increased since being on maintenance chemotherapy.

We were pleased that our apprehensions did not prove true. When we left the infusion center (the lab technicians were not able to get a vein for Karen’s blood test so we had to go to the infusion center for a blood draw through her port) on the way to the clinical research nurse’s office, we met our doctor in the hall as he was on his way to seeing a patient. He took the time to stop and talk with us and explained that the mass was stable. By this he meant that it did not decrease this time; but at least we could be thankful that it didn’t grow. He told us that he would talk more with us tomorrow.

The clinical research nurse explained the same radiologist that read the first CT scan is the one that reads and measures the report every time. While of course we wanted to hear that the mass had decreased, we can be thankful that for now the mass hasn’t starting growing with the lesser maintenance amount of medicines.  We of course will want to know tomorrow if the doctor will be changing the medicine or will we continue on this course for a while?

We did receive some good news. Several lymph nodes that concerned the medical team and were being watched are now back to completely normal. We are happy to hear the word “normal” when it has anything to do with Karen’s situation.

And by the way, my Karen still has a great sense of humor. She insisted that she was fine to go to the grocery store and pick up just a couple of things. She dropped me off and went on to the store. I worked on posting some more Daily Prescriptions to my web site and when she returned home I helped carry a couple of bags of groceries inside. To my delight as I reached into one of the bags was a delicious one-third of a cake from the bakery. I looked at my sheepish sweetheart as she said, “Your monster in aisle nine seems to have struck again!”

I am so glad that she hasn’t lost that great sense of humor. What a lady!

We are rehearsing the lessons of waiting. “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD” (Psalm 27:14). Waiting does not mean to be inactive or idle. It is living with the full expectation that our great God is sovereign and He has a plan for Karen, myself, and you. We don’t want to fight or rebel against His plan. We want to live in full expectation of walking with Him each day and relying fully upon Him.