Waiting

"Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." Ps. 27:14


Most of the time I'm pretty good with waiting for the LORD, not great, it comes and goes, of course, but my patience is most of the time a gift. BUT...

Boy am I glad yesterday is over with. At the hospital at 8:45...waiting with Jen in the "holding room". Jen is now trying to convince the nurses that, no, she is not pregnant even though her HCG count is still elevated, (It's a Catholic hospital and they are not going to proceed if she might be pregnant.) and she is trying to explain PSTT because they have never heard of it. Move with Jen to the surgery prep center...more waiting. The Dr visits, then the anesthesiologist, the nurses prep her, and now we're waiting for the results of the HCG test they've given her. 10:30 and the results of the HCG test come in at a down level of 9.6, and the xray from yesterday showed her lungs to be clear, so we know nothing has spread to her lungs. Woohoo! That was God's gift of encouragement before she went into surgery! So the nurse gives her a "Happy Juice" shot. Kisses and hugs, and they wheel her away at 10:50.

The knot in my stomach tries to return as Steve and I walk down to the waiting area, check in with the Pink Lady at the desk and find a spot to settle in. Now for the looooonnnggg wait. The Dr. had estimated 1.5 to 2 hours and the Dr finally appeared again at 1:40. It was nice visiting with Steve (blessing) and I had remembered to bring my bible so I had my quiet time (more blessing). Mike joined us about noon and we continued the waiting. 1:00 and I now have my eye glancing constantly down the long hallway watching for the Dr. to appear and I'm getting antsy. I said I am usually patient, but I'm not good at sitting still for very long. Finally at 1:41 the Dr. begins the long walk down the hallway toward us and we're trying to read his face before he reaches us. His face does not look sad and worried. (Yes! I think. But I'm wondering if he is just good at not showing expression, since he has made this long walk out to many families in the past 30 years.) He has good news for us! Albeit, not THE best news, but definitely good. Jen is doing well, he did not remove the mass; he took 4 biopsy samples; he still does not know if it is TSPP, but is suspecting that it is a well disguised fibroid. And... he brought pictures. Pictures?? I wasn't expecting that. It was so much easier understanding everything as he explained each picture (about 20 of them). But, whew, so much to remember! I definitely heard the part about the mass not having penetrated the uterine wall, and that Jen was under no threat of anything right now. There was something about her fallopian tube; something about seeing another specialist (reproductiive endocrinologist, RE). He also said Jen would be in recovery for about an hour.

When the Dr. left, Mike went home to fix dinner for all of us (minus Jen), and Steve and I discussed and compared what we had heard, and after about 10 minutes, you could see the adreneline withdrawing from each of us as we started looking and feeling very tired. And...more waiting. But, oh, the RELIEF! And my eyes closed with prayers of thanksgiving to our mighty LORD!

At about 3:30 Jen was moved out of recovery and into a room. More waiting...but this time the waiting was easier and more welcomed. Even though she was feeling nauseous, she started looking better as the moments ticked by. By the time I left at 9:00, she was ready to sleep and to come home in the morning.

And now, more waiting. We are waiting for the pathology report. There are not many labs setup to handle testing for TSPP, so that adds to the wait time, as we wait our turn.

God's perfect timing will happen once more!

POSTSCRIPT:
It's now Saturday and the pathology report came yesterday with VERY GOOD NEWS! The biopsy showed NO cancer!!
"I call on you O God, for you will answer me; give ear to me and hear my prayer. Show the wonder of your great love." Ps 17:6-7
Praising God for His great love!