Tender Mercies

I had every intention of posting on the blog tonight. I was going to write about our exciting, busy lives, being a soccer mom/coach, and a flag football dad/coach, and making fresh salsa from the tomatoes and peppers that we have grown in our garden. You know, the idyllic country life that we love. But tonight warrants a shout of thanksgiving and a prayer for help.

Nate, having a family history of intestinal polyps, and having a sister-in-law with her stomach removed this summer, and an aunt who recently discovered more of the same, felt impressed to have a colonoscopy done. To me, it was a wellness issue, way to be preventative! Nate's not a big "go to the doctor" kind of person, so I was happy that he was taking charge of his health. Friday, the procedure seemed to take a little longer than I expected, but I still felt no concern. Needless to say, I was pretty shocked when the surgeon came in and told us that he had a cluster of "ugly" polyps that were too attached to the mucosal lining to be able to cut them out without risking perforation of the colon. He suggested that Nate have surgery to remove that portion of his colon pretty soon. 8-10 inches.
"How soon, Doc?"
"How about you come back on Sunday and we will prepare you for surgery Monday?"
UM, excuse me while I cry for a minute.
"You'll be in the hospital for 5 to 7 days, and then there will be a two to three week recovery period after that."
The last couple of days have been a blur of quick decisions and generous gestures from family, friends and neighbors. The support has been amazing. From prayer, meals, child care, and helping us keep Nate's practice running, the love is overwhelming, touching, and incredible to me.
We went to sacrament meeting this morning with Craig and Chris, and left a little early so that we could be at the hospital by the appointed time. Although we felt a little anxious about the unknown, we felt that we had made the right decision to continue with the procedure in our little town with the surgeon here.
The first procedure they did was a scan to make sure that there was no cancer spread to other parts of the body. Because of the advanced stage of the polyps, the doctor is pretty sure that we will find cancerous cells in the biopsies he took from the polyps in the colon. His hope was that it has not spread. When he came back with the news that everything looked clear, we felt incredibly relieved. (although we did discover he has a very large kidney stone that will have to be taken care of after this ordeal: that explains the back pain)
This will not be fun for Nate, who has had next to no solid food to eat since Thursday, when he preped for the initial procedure. Right now he is at the hospital being "cleansed" again. That is difficult. Surgery is tomorrow afternoon. We would appreciate your prayers.
About the tender mercies.
"If you would have waited until next year to have a colonoscopy, we would have been discussing how to live out your last days."
Nate felt impressed to have this procedure done.
It will save his life.
I will live mine in gratitude.
I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.