December 14, 2004

• ...An Awakening   The phone woke me at 1:30 this morning. Ah, I can hear what you are thinking!! "10:30!! I am lucky if my kids let me sleep until 6:30!!" p   This morning I was up til around 4 a.m. Around 11:15 I called Brenna down from her room **no she wasn't asleep yet** as I remembered the Geminid Meteor shower was at its peak last evening. If you have never spent 3 hours hanging out the window of your van in subfreezing weather to look for shooting stars, teach your child about constellations, the milky way, and the Pleaides,  you are missing out on a wonderful opportunity! *G* No sarcasm inserted at all right there. I kept thinking over and over how cool to be able to do this with my daughter, with no thoughts or repercussions from having a 9 year old awake until 2 a.m. In 6 years she may not remember that yesterday we read that the real hill that the Battle of Bunker Hill took place on was Beacon's Hill, or the structure of sentences with subjects or predicates, or even that squids and octopi are mollusks, but I can guarantee that she will remember that meteor shower, snuggling with her mom to stay warm, and the cobra constellation she picked out in the moonless sky. Education comes in many forms...   ...speaking of which, I will get back to the 10:30 phone call. On the other end of the line was my friend Donna. She and her husband are some of our best friends. Her daughter is my daughter's best friend. Her son and middle child, are my two favorite teenagers. I didn't mind Donna waking me. I minded even less when I heard the news she had to relay.     Going back a bit over a year ago to a morning when Donna's brother in law, Scott, was found by her sister lying on the floor of their townhouse foyer. Scott is a teacher and had been on his way out the door when, we later found out, he had a seizure that put him down and out. Lisa had trouble rousing him, and when she was able finally able  to do so he had no memory of what had happened. Following an ambulance ride, blood tests, MRIs, CAT scans, and a myriad of other medical procedures, Scott, in his late 30s, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. This diagnosis for any of us would be devastating, but combine it with the fact that Scott is the father of two young boys that adore him, the main income earner for his family, and a very loved husband and father and friend, we all were in shock. Scott's own mother died several years ago of a brain tumor though the kind she had was not the kind he was diagnosed with. Scott's initial diagnosis was of a small tumor located on the outside of his brain. More tests, more scans, more brain mapping for neuro surgeons, and then surgery was scheduled. When Scott's head was shaved and his skull cut open , and the tumor was revealed. Upon his diagnosis, the tumor was originally mapped at the size of a pencil eraser. The tumor was now the size of the yolk of a large egg. The doctors removed as much as possible in an 8 hour surgery at Johns Hopkins, closed Scott up, and hoped for the best. Testing on the tumor revealed that it was benign. Friends and family alike breathed a sign of relief.   Four months later tests showed the tumor had grown back. More than quadrupling its original size, the tumor was now the size of a baseball. Surgery was quickly scheduled, Scott's head opened up again, and as much of the tumor was removed as possible, which was very little. Where originally the tumor had been on the outside of his brain, now it had grown into the brain tissue making much of it inoperable. New biopsies revealed the tumor was cancerous and growing at amazing speed. The doctors at Hopkins again closed his skull, this time giving little hope for family and friends. Radiation was scheduled daily for weeks on end in a hope to delay the tumor's effect on Scott's basic functions. Doctor's warned that in 25% of the cases of this type of tumor, the radiation had little to no effect, and in fact the tumor would continue to increase in size. We all prayed, Scott went to radiation treatments and held on to the hope that the doctors could heal him. He had been all through this before with his mother just a few years before.   There was a difference though, in what happened with his mother and what was happening with him. First of all, his mother wasn't a Christian. Does healing only come to those who are Christians? Absolutely not! But hope certainly comes much easier to those that know where their future lies. And it also comes easier when God has given a word to someone before all of this even started. You see, Scott's wife Lisa was giving a scripture in her prayer time, and a word from the Lord. He told her that someone in their family was going to have a tumor and that God wanted to heal them. A very specific word. I remember when it happened as Donna told me about it, and I remember talking to Lisa about it.   Forward back to Scott's last surgery.   The Hopkins surgeons closed Scott up, and immediate plans were made to do radiation on the tumor to prolong his life. Not heal him, and the tumor was incurable through any means known to the doctors.  Is that a lead in line or what?   Donna's call to me this morning was that the MRI Scott had last week was read by the radiologist. It was read by the surgeons. It was read by everyone....   THE TUMOR IS GONE   The impossible has been done. God reached down, and keeping the Word of promise that was given to Lisa over 2 years ago, He has removed every trace of tumor from Scott's brain. The tumor in the brain matter is completely GONE.    I am spending time today going from tears to laughter, with a good mix of the two at the same time.   What a wake up call! I will wake up to this any day!                                                                                                    Blessings...                                                                                      Kathie Jehovah Jireh...God Our Provider Jehovah Rophe...God Our Healer

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