Meeting with Surgeon & 3rd Grade Football player

Friends
Dyan & i met with the surgeon yesterday & it went very well. Dr. Wagner took a lot of time to answer a lot of questions. The cancer began as a red mole on the inside of my knee that started small like a pimple & grew then stopped, i had it for a few years, i asked about it when i was taking my son to get warts frozen off of his hand at the Dermatologist (Dyan used to always take the kids but now that she's working i went, otherwise i probably would not have thot about getting it checked, that's called God watching out for you!:) It was 2.1millimeters deep (less than 1 is thin, 1-4 is intermediate, 4+ is deep). The pathology on the tissue removed from my knee came back clean. One of the 2 lympth nodes taken out came back positive. So the goal is to remove any other cells in my lymph nodes first.

I have stage 3a cancer, the surgery is called a lymph node dissection or lymphadenectomy. I will have all of the lymph nodes in my right groin removed, i will have about a 9 inch incision from my inner thigh to my hip. The surgery is Thurs, Nov. 3rd at 10:30am & will be an overnight stay. I will have a tub for about 4weeks to help with drainage as my body heals.

Pathology results will take around a week. I will be having a full body scan later this week to check if there are any other areas that show any possible cancer. After these results are in i will meet with an Oncologist to discuss treatment options. Most likely i will have a year of interferon, which works to kill any other possible cancers cells by treating my immune system.

Yesterday afternoon the reality hit me of what I and my family will have to go thru over the next year. It's one thing to have painful or challenging things happen to you, it's another thing to know ahead what's going to happen & walk thru it with courage. Here are a few things that encouraged me yesterday.

Having an amazing wife that's walking thru this with me! Having a few close friends call me to check in. We are stronger together! Then i thot about what Jesus experienced. He prayed before he had to face being crucified God if there is anyway we can bypass this i ask you to give me an out, if not then i'm ready to go thru with this because i know you will use it for amazing good in my life & others. Jesus felt the same things we feel when we would rather not have to face a difficult circumstance & God saw him thru it & used it for good. Many of you are believers in God because of Jesus Christ was willing to go thru!

Then this morning i read Mark 11:22-26 Jesus says have faith in God. Ask whatever you need & live each day believing & God will make sure to bring you thru it (that's the Fred version! lol) Do you remember as a kid when you're parents would tell you not to let anyone pick on you, stand up for yourself, rather than doubting yourself. Sometimes we have to look whatever we're facing straight in the eye & say move over, God has good plans for me today.

So let me share my story about the 3rd Grade Football player. There is a boy on Luke's all star team who's twin brother was diagnosed with a very rare bone cancer this fall & had to quit playing because his leg was hurting. I met his dad a few days ago & we talked a little about Trevor's cancer and mine.

Last night at after Luke's game (tough loss to Mt Vernon), this dad came up to me and said his son might try to make it out to this coming Saturday's game & he asked if i would be willing to talk with him for a few minutes. Even as i type this right now i'm almost overcome with emotion. What a gift to get to encourage this tough little 3rd grade football player and his family as they battle cancer! :)

God is already using this journey in so many ways & i know there are many other ways God is going to use this to grow my faith & my families & many other people's faith. You all know my favorite thing to do is talk to people, especially about faith in Christ! Pray for little Trevor & his family! I have a hunch that he will inspire me more!

Make it a great day!
F