He said, "Yes!"

            Okay, this picture is hard to explain, but it's me and Gary at camp chasing zombies. More on this later.

THE LULU CHRONICLES

Last Friday Gary and I made another trek to Mayo for his every-three-month PET scan. The knots in the stomach were many. If you will remember, Gary was diagnosed with atypical melanoma a couple of years ago and has undergone several surgeries, two reoccurrences and two rounds of radiation. So, we’re always a little bit on edge when the next PET rolls around.

To make a long story short, God said, “yes” this time. No cancer spotted anywhere. This had us doing the happy dance with our oncologist. Once we all sobered up (I’m using that terming figuratively, not literally) our doc proceeded to talk to us about his surprise and delight. He’s in a medical specialty that has more dark days than hopeful ones. On one of our visits, he told us that Gary was the only patient he’d seen that day with any hope. Melanoma kills, plain and simple. Yet, even after being diagnosed with Stage III, Gary is now cancer-free… for now. Melanoma likes to come back with a vengeance, but so far it hasn’t; Hence the diagnosis of atypical.

Our doc has no answers as to why Gary isn’t dead. But of course, I do. God has shown us his great mercy. If He’d said, “No”, would I have still felt like He’d answered my prayers?

Yes. I just wouldn’t have liked His answer as much. For whatever reason, this time God nodded. I believe He intervened. I really don’t know how I feel about that. We don’t feel deserving. We don’t know why we got the nod. We feel a tad guilty because of it. Many others more deserving have lost loved ones way too soon because of this ugly disease. Yet, here we are—two people in their sixties being given more time.

So, I will take this Holy mercy as a gift. I will try to live my days in gratefulness. I will try to express more often to my husband how much I love our life together. And, I will spend more time on my knees, humbled and awed thanking my God for His compassion, his faithfulness and for His undeserved gift of mercy.

It’s all I can do.

Later,

deb