Back to WOW Archives

Date: October 17, 2009

Books & DVDs Kingdom Chums by SQuire Rushnell Read Our Letter To Parents When God Winks on New Beginnings by SQuire Rushnell When God Winks by SQuire Rushnell When God Winks on Love by SQuire Rushnell When God Winks on You by SQuire Rushnell

I'd had a bad cough for several weeks that wasn't getting any better and went to the doctor. He did a chest xray to rule out bronchitis or pneumonia and sent me home with some prescription cough medicine. Being the good wife that I am, I then passed my cough on to my husband, Dave.

He went to his doctor, who gave him an antibiotic instead of first doing a chest x-ray. Ten days later, he went back to his doctor for a previously scheduled physical, the first in five years. He told the doctor he wanted a chest x-ray. Both his parents died of lung cancer and although he'd quit smoking more than 25 years ago, he was still concerned. His doctor told him that a chest x-ray is the worst way to check for lung cancer because it doesn't show up. Dave said he still wanted it. The doctor agreed and was probably more shocked than anyone when the x-ray showed a spot on his lung. The doctor sent him for an MRI, which revealed a lesion or a tumor. A week later, he saw a surgeon who sees this type of tumor a lot more than his regular doctor. The surgeon told him the tumor is blocking an airway in the lower quadrant of his left lung, which has 0% capacity. How could this be? He's a professional drummer and hadn't noticed any adverse effects when playing.

The surgeon scheduled Dave for a bronchoscopy, which is performed in an operating room under general anesthesia. During the procedure, a tube would be inserted down Dave's throat with a scope so they could take a piece of the tumor to biopsy it.

The surgeon found me in the waiting room and let me know that Dave was in recovery. He took me in a little consultation room and shut the door. "I'd be really surprised if this was not cancer," he said. After that, he said a bunch of other stuff about possibly having to remove the whole lung and worrying that if he got an infection that turned into pneumonia, it could kill him. It was all a blur because I was hysterical.

We spent the next several days in a fog, praying, and just appreciating being together.

Two days later, the test results came back. It was NOT cancer, a fact the surgeon who was sure it was, said put Dave in the "less than two percent" category.

Once we got the good news, I saw the God winks:

1. I gave him my cough
2. Dave asked for a chest x-ray and persisted despite the doctor's reservations
3. The tumor was in a place that showed up on the x-ray
4. It was benign, which is rarely seen.

So, even though the tumor still has to come out and we're most likely facing surgery, we know how much we have to be grateful for.

Robin