IS IT JUST AN SEVERE INFECTION?

It was miraculous to get a scheduled appointment so quickly with the thoracic surgeon.  A scheduler at another facility had said that it was amazing to get an appointment that soon.  I remember Christine excitedly said she had just prayed, as I was calling the doctor's office, that I would get an appointment within a week.  YES!  In fact, I believe that most of my appointments have been miraculously scheduled so quickly because of the many prayers that everyone has been putting before God on my behalf.  James 5:16:  Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Since my productive cough with blood-stained sputum and occasional shortness of breath were the only symptoms that I was experiencing at that time, I went to work on Tuesday and Wednesday after visiting the ER on Nov 21st.  However, on Thanksgiving Day, I started to have chest pains and an increase in my shortness of breath, so I went once again to the ER.

Nothing had really changed with the scans and the doctor basically stated that both symptoms are expected with having such a large mass in my lung.  However, because of the severity of my shortness of breath, I could not return to work.

As I began the "e-check in" process for the surgeon’s appointment on Monday, the 28th, the MyChart program took me to another site to complete an Advanced Care Directive.

I don’t know about you, but when it comes to thinking about death or being incapacitated, I get anxious, and I start thinking very negative thoughts.  My mind gets carried away, and it is as if suddenly God is no longer in the picture.  

So as Christine drove me up to see the thoracic surgeon on Monday, November 28th, I began discussing this with her.  I shared what I was feeling and thinking.  She listened intently and then she guided me through processing these emotions and thoughts. We also discussed the questions that each of us had for the surgeon.  The talk began to help me to surrender all these things over to God so that eventually I became more at ease. I really felt Christine's love for me and God's great love for me expressed through her.   Thank you, God, for Christine being one of my "safe" people.

The thoracic surgeon confidently believed that these spots and the mass in my lungs are more indicative of a severe infection rather than cancer.  He recommended that I follow up with a pulmonary specialist to get a biopsy and do further testing to see what type of infection that I have. 

"Wow", I thought, "Could it be Lord just a bad infection?  Oh please make it be so."  With this new information, I began to have hope that it's not cancer.   But alas, I needed to make yet another appointment with another doctor to  get a bronchoscopy to determine what was going on with my lungs.  More prayers were submitted for yet another miracle to get quickly scheduled to now see a pulmonary specialist and miraculously it was scheduled for that Thursday, Dec 1st.

One of the biggest things, that I have learned with this whole process, is that a biopsy is always necessary to identify a mass to be cancerous.  Scans and other diagnostic procedures can only potentially identify that there is an issue.  After all, a mass could be benign. 

COMMENTS WHEN BLOG WAS FIRST POSTED ON CARING BRIDGE SITE:

Vanessa Soto: Kim thank you for taking us with you in your journey. Lackey Clinic sends their love and prayers to you❤️

Shelly Booker: Kim thank you for sharing your journey with me. I will continue to keep you in my prayers!