Some news is hard!

The Good news is that my June 17th thyroid surgery was successful and is healing well. It is so wonderful to be able to breathe freely again. The other news is that the pathology report is back and contrary to what was initially thought, 2 different cancers were discovered. There was a small tumor that was completely removed. The large mass they took out was another type, kind of rare and more aggressive, 4.9 cm so considered Stage 3. I just received the results of testing yesterday and it has NOT spread into the lymph nodes. So, I am scheduled on July 15 to have another surgery to remove the left side of the thyroid. After that they will probably use a radioactive iodine pill to make sure all the cancer is gone. Then begins hormone replacement surgery. While this is not the news we had hoped to be sharing, we are confident in God’s good purposes and our hope is in Christ. As we approach another surgery and the question comes up again as to being scared, we have the same answer. Either way it comes out, I am a winner, I like the way Paul puts it in Philippians 1:20-22 “as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.”