Surgery Recovery Update {Dec. 31, 2019}
Photo from our family vacation in November 2019.
The surgery was 10 days ago now. I am recovering slower than I did last February after the first one, which is what the doctors expected. There are a lot of things I am dealing with currently. I am more tired and my lower back is acting up after 10 years of staying quiet. I face an intermittent headache everyday, possibly the effect of coming off the Keto diet. I also have a grumbling tummy due to the effects of anesthesia and pain drugs. But I am looking to the Lord everyday for strength to have a good attitude.
I did get to preach our Sunday service the last 2 weeks. This was good for me as I am still working a little even though we are on Christmas break.
A couple days ago I was reminded of a basic “suffering” scripture, it was on a bumper sticker of a car that passed us on the freeway.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him,
so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13
It may sound odd to speak of a basic suffering verse, but that is how I cataloged many of them in my mind as my life and ministry progressed through the years. The quote reminds of us of who does what. God does the filling of joy and peace. Our responsibility is to trust Him. Then we overflow with hope, again by God’s power.
Maybe thinking about our responsibility is important here. What does it mean to trust Him? Here is the beginning of a little of what it means to trust Him:
1. Trusting God begins with NOT trusting ourselves. Our self-reliance dams up the beautiful strength of God. The American way is so anti-Christian. Be strong, trust no one, do it your way, get tough. Listen, trusting God ALWAYS begins when we are at the end of our own self.
I am speaking to the 98% of us who are control freaks here. Let’s go!
2.Trusting God is letting go of our will to joyfully accept His will. Let me be abundantly clear, I am not sure what God’s will is at times. Often it is not clear. He has made many promises. They are sweet to the soul and as solid as granite.
I will never leave you or forsake you…Hebrews 13:5
I have loved you with an everlasting love… Jeremiah 33:3
I know the plans I have for you...Jeremiah 29:11
Do not let your hearts be troubled…John 14:1
In this world you will have trouble, take heart I have overcome the world… John 16:33
For God so loved the world…John 3:16
I will wipe away every tear…Revelation 21:4
I could list hundreds more. Trust is about holding on to the promises of God. Find them, memorize them, preach them, hold tight to them!
3. Trust is about holding on to Him when all earthly strength is empty. Believing, depending, putting our faith in, receiving, accepting are the action words.
These are the beginning words of what a human does to begin a relationship with Jesus. If you have not said those sentiments to God, do it now. Believe that He is the powerful God of the universe, depend on Jesus to be your only savior from your sins, put your faith in his love and justice displayed at the Cross, receive his enormous gift as it is, a beautiful free gift, all the while accepting it as God makes the first move to offer this to you.
God saves us through our faith, he also sustains us through faith!
Back to my health and recovery. I am suffering physically more now than most anytime in our cancer battle. My back hurts at night pretty bad. I did get to swim yesterday for the first time in more than two weeks. Swimming is a key to getting my back strong again. I hope to swim again today. I did see a chiropractor friend and am stretching often. The headaches are getting better, just slowly. Amy and a few others really want me to gain a lot of weight back. I weighed 160lbs two days ago. I began the cancer battle around 192 or so. BTW I ate real pancakes this morning for the first time in 10 months- Oh my- so good! I had first pizza and first spaghetti last week. Yummy carbohydrates are so good! Oh how I missed them. I may start a Mediterranean type diet after the cruise. Still thinking and fact finding.
Next Monday January 6 I get a CT Scan to see if I can fly, I may have air in my brain. It takes more than a month for that to dissipate at times. We are hoping and trusting to go on our annual friends cruise Jan. 12-19. If I have air in there, we will have to drive. It is a Long, long way drive. We have our first Oncology visit at MD Anderson in Houston on Wednesday January 8 to figure out a new treatment plan.
Here is a good list of prayer requests:
That I can sleep better all through the night
That the lower back pain goes away
That my head stops pounding
That I gain some weight
That we get a good new cancer treatment plan that is effective
That I can fly on January 8