May 10, 2007

Update from My Dad

I got to talk to Dad earlier this morning.  He is in good spirits, and appreciates all of you who have written or left notes saying you would be praying.

Rather than try to summarize all he said, I will repost what he wrote on his website this morning.  Be sure to read it all the way through, because the last part expresses my Dad's heart.

It's not melanoma - the worst kind of skin cancer.

It's probably not basel cell - the most preferable kind - easily removed.

Most likely squamous cell - which can be removed and is easily treatable when caught in time but does carry the potential of the cells getting loose in the system if they have a chance.

This particular occurrence is unusual in that skin cancer normally begins on the surface. This has begun beneath the surface. I would have totally missed it had it not been right where I could see something a little out of the ordinary when I shaved. We do not know how deep or wide it might be, but the Doctor agrees with me that we are probably looking at a patch instead of a spot.

Upcoming after Joseph's wedding will be a surgical procedure with the surgeon cutting and the pathologist doing biopsies on the spot until they are satisfied that they have all of the little rascal outta there.

So...basically...I'm not out of the woods (it is cancer) but there doesn't seem to be a wolf near by (not life threatening at this juncture).

Thank you to all who are praying and to the many who expressed encouragement at the platform approach to dealing with something like this. I don't want to give the impression that there are not emotional ups and downs. However, the objective is to represent Christ well during this particular phase and whatever phases might follow in time.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about dying lately. (No, not morbid preoccupation - just occasional reflection.) I have stood beside many people as they died and, with this fresh reminder of my own mortality, I have begun to ask God for something. If it will fall to me to approach my death consciously, I hope to be able to be like Pilgrim's friend in Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." As Pilgrim and Hopeful stepped into the River of Death, Pilgrim suddenly became gripped by fear and felt the waters go over his head. However, Hopeful caught his hand and said, "Be of good cheer, my brother; I feel the bottom and it is good."

As I reflected on this it occurred to me that this is one of the primary reasons why God lets us grow older. If we have walked with Jesus as we ought we should be saying authentically to the next generation in a wide range of scary circumstances in life - "Be of
good cheer, my friend; I have felt the bottom and it is good."

Posted by Andrew on May 10, 2007 10:01 AM.