If you have been following my posts, I have been writing about the things I experienced and how it gave me the faith I needed to turn my problems over to Jesus.
What I recognize now is that Jesus was preparing me for something "bigger." I didn't know while I was taking those steps that they would help me have the skills needed to tackle my daughter's cancer. If you would like, go back and read the other "Lessons."
1 - NEED Jesus
2 - TRUST Jesus
3 - LISTEN to Jesus
4 - WALK with Jesus
Lesson 5 - Follow His PLAN
I had only heard of the Mayo Clinic, I had never been there. Many people we talked with said "why are you going all the way over there?" "We have great doctors in Madison and Milwaukee." I couldn't answer that, something kept telling me to go to Mayo. If you have never been to Rochester, MN or the Mayo Clinic, you might not know how big it is. There is a massive system of underground network from one building to the next - it goes on and on. Overwhelming for these country folk.
While waiting to see the doctor, I looked around at the other families waiting too. Each had their own challenge - each a story. What was waiting for us.
We went to the office, a friendly young man was waiting. No words were spoken yet - he looked at us - we looked at him - and sat down. He turned to Anna and said "I'm so sorry you have to go through this"...he looked at us and said "but we know Jesus heals." Yes, a Christian. He was the doing is fellowship at Mayo, learning to be a pediatric oncologist. He proceeded to tell us about the physician we were going to see. "She just returned from a seminar in Europe where she was the guest speaker. She is the world leading authority on Rhabdomyosaracomas. It is her speciality. No one else in the world has studied this type of cancer more than her." Could you believe it, a Christian resident and the world leading authority on Anna's type of cancer. Now I knew why I had such a strong feeling to go over to Mayo.
After many days and many tests, we returned to her office. She began to explain to us what this cancer was, where it liked to grow, how we would treat it, loss of hair, sickness - it was just so overwhelming. "Only about 3-4 kids in the United States each year have a Rhabdomyosaracoma in the bladder and rarely are they girls" she said. She then handed me a sheet of paper with a calendar of dates and acronyms for drugs I couldn't pronounce much less spell. "What is this, I asked." "This is a protocol" she said. "It is the recipe or plan we have followed before for treating this type of cancer." I had no idea. I just thought we would go over to Rochester, they would take out her tumor and we would be on our way. I looked at the calendar it was 42 weeks. 42 weeks....of drugs, tests, surgeries and radiation. As I held this piece of paper - all I could think about was - how are we going to do this?
She told us to go home, come back the next week and we would get started. Get started....for 42 weeks of unknown. Little did I know then, how much this protocol - PLAN would shape our lives.
"I know the plans I have for you, plans of hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
Lesson 5: follow His PLAN
Blessings from Ringle, Wisconsin.
What I recognize now is that Jesus was preparing me for something "bigger." I didn't know while I was taking those steps that they would help me have the skills needed to tackle my daughter's cancer. If you would like, go back and read the other "Lessons."
1 - NEED Jesus
2 - TRUST Jesus
3 - LISTEN to Jesus
4 - WALK with Jesus
Lesson 5 - Follow His PLAN
I had only heard of the Mayo Clinic, I had never been there. Many people we talked with said "why are you going all the way over there?" "We have great doctors in Madison and Milwaukee." I couldn't answer that, something kept telling me to go to Mayo. If you have never been to Rochester, MN or the Mayo Clinic, you might not know how big it is. There is a massive system of underground network from one building to the next - it goes on and on. Overwhelming for these country folk.
While waiting to see the doctor, I looked around at the other families waiting too. Each had their own challenge - each a story. What was waiting for us.
We went to the office, a friendly young man was waiting. No words were spoken yet - he looked at us - we looked at him - and sat down. He turned to Anna and said "I'm so sorry you have to go through this"...he looked at us and said "but we know Jesus heals." Yes, a Christian. He was the doing is fellowship at Mayo, learning to be a pediatric oncologist. He proceeded to tell us about the physician we were going to see. "She just returned from a seminar in Europe where she was the guest speaker. She is the world leading authority on Rhabdomyosaracomas. It is her speciality. No one else in the world has studied this type of cancer more than her." Could you believe it, a Christian resident and the world leading authority on Anna's type of cancer. Now I knew why I had such a strong feeling to go over to Mayo.
After many days and many tests, we returned to her office. She began to explain to us what this cancer was, where it liked to grow, how we would treat it, loss of hair, sickness - it was just so overwhelming. "Only about 3-4 kids in the United States each year have a Rhabdomyosaracoma in the bladder and rarely are they girls" she said. She then handed me a sheet of paper with a calendar of dates and acronyms for drugs I couldn't pronounce much less spell. "What is this, I asked." "This is a protocol" she said. "It is the recipe or plan we have followed before for treating this type of cancer." I had no idea. I just thought we would go over to Rochester, they would take out her tumor and we would be on our way. I looked at the calendar it was 42 weeks. 42 weeks....of drugs, tests, surgeries and radiation. As I held this piece of paper - all I could think about was - how are we going to do this?
She told us to go home, come back the next week and we would get started. Get started....for 42 weeks of unknown. Little did I know then, how much this protocol - PLAN would shape our lives.
"I know the plans I have for you, plans of hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
Lesson 5: follow His PLAN
Blessings from Ringle, Wisconsin.
We serve an invisible God who is more real than the cars we drive or the houses we live in. We are so quick to trust in doctors and earthly things; but when in the middle of our difficultly we can turn to Jesus and tell Him how good He is to us; we/you have become a person of genuine faith.
ReplyDeleteGod always answers prayer; not always the way we might expect.
He is our healer.. xo
ReplyDeleteSo sorry ya'll had to go through this, Jacky! Thanks for sharing! Blessings from Bama!
ReplyDelete