The "C" Word

Cancer. It's a dirty little word.  It sneaks up on you, invading your body and life.  It requires surgery and pain and the treatment - well that's a whole other battle in itself. And if it's not in your body, then you have to watch someone you love deal with it.  And what can you do?  Love them and pray. 

That's where I am today. I've posted before that Daniel's mom has ovarian cancer.  It was in remission. It would have been a year in May. But a week or so ago, they did a routine blood test and the marker was there.  A cat scan was ordered and more blood tests.  Yesterday we found out that the marker levels were increasing.  We should here back today on the results of the cat scan. But all in all, it's looking like the cancer has returned.

I can't write from the perspective of the person who has cancer.  But from the loved one on the sidelines, it's tough.  Most of the folks in our family are action oriented people.  If there is a problem, we deal with it or fix it.  But in this, all we can do is love on Nancy. And pray.  The surgeon has to do the work to physically remove it from her body.  The oncologist has to prescribe the medicines that will, Lord willing, kill or suppress the cancer.  And Nancy, she has to fight all the way.  You see, chemo was not easy on her. 

And that puts us back to prayer.  We can love on her, but nothing that we do can touch the cancer.  We have to sit back and watch the doctors and medicine do there thing. The only thing outside of loving on her that we can do is pray. And sometimes that seems so small. In our hearts and heads, we know that prayer is more powerful that anything the doctors can do, but we also know that God's will may not be our own.  And it's tough.

On that note, I found out that my mom has late stage colon cancer. It's a different situation.  We are not close.  So right now, the only thing that Daniel and I can do is pray for her as well.  Lord willing the surgeon was able to remove all the cancer and her treatments will remove all the cancer from her body.  And we hope and pray that she does not have all the harsh side effects that chemo and radiation can bring.

So if you are reading this, I ask that you join our family in prayer.  Cancer.  That dirty little thing is invading our family.