"Bad News - Good News"
Dear Friends and Family,
This year has had its ups and downs for us. Many of you have experienced the same in your lives. We are indeed living in the last days. Satan is out to steal, kill, and destroy God’s people. But the scriptures tell us in Deuteronomy 31:6 "Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your GOD, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you."
I would like to share Lena’s testimony with you. She was experiencing some female problems, and was spotting, so she went to the doctor to be checked out. The doctor told her she would have to have an ultrasound because it appeared that she might have cancer. The ultrasound showed that she had a tumor in her uterus and that the uterus wall was three times thicker than normal. The doctor referred her to a gynecologist. When Lena called the gynecologist’s office they said she couldn’t get in for another three weeks. The day of her appointment the office called and said the doctor had been called to the hospital for an emergency. They had to reschedule her appointment for three weeks later because the doctor was going to be on vacation. One delay after another.
Eight weeks had passed and Lena was finally able to see the gynecologist. The gynecologist took a biopsy of the tumor and said it didn’t look like cancer, but would know for sure after the biopsy report came back. The next week Lena got a phone call on Good Friday morning, it was from the gynecologist’s office and the doctor wanted both of us to come to the office. The gynecologist told us that the tumor was cancerous and Lena will need to have a hysterectomy. I remember Lena saying to the Lord, “Why me, we give our tithes, we give offerings, we give to the poor, we feed and clothe the needy, we pray for the sick, and we are doing your work and we reach out to the lost. How can this be?”
We set up an appointment with an oncologist in Grand Rapids and made sure that they accepted our insurance. We were told it would take three weeks before he had an opening. We couldn’t believe it, another delay.
A week had passed and I started feeling uncomfortable in my spirit about going to Grand Rapids. So I checked with our insurance and discovered that both the oncologist and the hospital did accept our insurance, but they were out of network and we would have to pay 30% of the bills. We canceled the appointment and started looking for somewhere we could go that was in our network. We found an oncologist and hospital in Mishawaka Indiana, but Lena couldn’t get an appointment for another six weeks. That meant it would be a total of fifteen weeks since Lena first went to our doctor. Another delay. At this point we started to get very concerned because of all the delays. After seeing the oncologist he said it would be another three week before he could do the operation. We could hardly believe it, another delay.
He said that he could do the DaVinci robotic surgery if she qualified physically. That way they would only have to make five small incisions instead of cutting through her stomach wall, but we would have to get several reports from the doctors and hospitals of previous tests and procedures. Getting the tests and procedures wasn’t as easy as we thought. We tried getting test results from a doctor in Kalamazoo and were told that the test file on the computer had been corrupted and they couldn’t retrieve it, so we had to use a different test report that they had. Then the doctors weren’t able to read the EKG from our local hospital, so we had to get another copy of the EKG. The hospital said they would call us when it was ready. Three days later we received it in the mail. Yet another delay. I faxed it to the oncologist’s office on Friday afternoon after office hours because her surgery was scheduled for the following Monday. We didn’t know if Lena qualified for the DaVinci robotic surgery until we seen the doctor the day of the surgery.
Now for the Good News !
Praise the Lord! Lena qualified for the DaVinci robotic surgery and I was able to pray for the surgeon and the anesthesiologist before the surgery.
When Lena came out of the recovery room, someone said “everything must have gone alright because she’s smiling”.
After surgery Lena had no pain and didn’t need any pain medication, not even a Tylenol. Lena slept through the night and when the day shift arrived the nurses and their supervisor rushed into Lena’s room and asked “is it true that you didn’t need any pain medication throughout the night?” They couldn’t believe that someone could have a complete hysterectomy without any pain. They told her that she was a miracle. They said if she could eat breakfast and lunch, and keep everything down, and then walk, she would be able to go home. She ate breakfast, then lunch and kept everything down. Then it came time for Lena to walk. Most people can only walk very slow, but the nurse had to tell Lena to slow down. Lena was discharged 24 hours after she came out of recovery.
It was truly a miracle, no pain, no chemo, and no radiation treatment. You see God caused the wall of her uterus to be three times thicker than normal so that the cancer couldn’t penetrate the wall and spread.
Psalms 28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him.
We have much to be thankful for. Try to always look at the Good News or positive things in life and don’t dwell on the Bad News or negative things. Remember that a ray of light will disburse the darkness.
Jesus is the light that will cast out the darkness in your life. Just call upon Him in your darkest hour and He will bring the light back into your life.
1Chronicles 16:34 Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
We Love You,
Evangelists
Dick and Lena McNees