“This is it. Let’s do it!”... I sound like a contestant on fear factor.
Thank God for giving us such wonderful weather these past few days, the sunshine has definitely helped keeping my spirit up.
Surgery details:
I’ll be checking in at 9am tomorrow at the UW Medical Center – Surgical Pavilion. At 10am, they’ll start injecting some radioactive tracers into my body for sentinel node mapping. The actual operation will begin probably around 1 – 2 hours later depending on how fast the tracers are moving inside my body.
I’ll be staying at the surgery recovery room for about an hour after the operation and then move to 4 South of UWMC for an overnight stay. The plan is to check out of the hospital by noon the next day.
I will have a drain sticking out of my body after the surgery to drain the fluid inside the surgical area. If sentinel node biopsy shows cancerous cells, the doctor will perform an axilliary lymph node dissection, and I would have another drain sticking out from under the armpit as well. Hopefully I’ll only have one drain to deal with. The drain will be removed after one week if everything looks normal.
Items of thanksgiving:
(1) Mom and Dad arrived safely yesterday and to my surprise, they willingly came to our Easter worship service today.
(2) Esther, Ivy, Lavina and Vivien for making me healthy food and fresh fruit juices. I feel so pampered.
(3) God took care of Siang’s agonizing toothache. He actually had a surgery before I did. (He had a root canal 4 days ago.)
(4) The power of God’s love manifested through everyone around me. I feel so overwhelmed with God’s love that I had little time left to worry and to feel scared.
Lesson learned:
Vivien made an appt for me to meet with a pastor she met at the ancient path seminar. His ministry is to pray for healing for others. It was a sweet time meeting this gentle 73-yr-old pastor. I know God has the power to heal, whether in a ‘supernatural’ way or through conventional medical means is totally up to Him. If God wants to, He can heal me just like that and make the tumor disappear. My selfish desire is of course is to avoid surgery and not to lose my breast. But if His perfect plan is for me to go through the operation because He wants to build my character, I will willingly submit. I trust that His plan is the best and that I will go through whatever way that will bring the most glory to Him.
Romans 5:3-5: “… but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
Prayer Requests:
(1) Cancer stayed contained and do not spread – that there’ll be a clear margin for the tumor and negative sentinel nodes.
(2) Pray for a smooth, successful operation, for wisdom for all the docs and nurses that will be involved in the surgery and my after surgery care.
(3) Pray for speedy recovery and I'll be able to do some simple exercise to keep my arm and shoulder mobile after surgery.
(4) That I'll be emotionally prepared to get used to my body after the surgery.
(5) God's love will touch the hearts and minds of family and friends who do not yet know Him.
Thank you all!