Tag Archive | surgery

MY CHILD HAS A TUMOR

May13

Today my daughter gets a biopsy done on a tumor. How does a parent deal with something like this? It isn’t the first time she had a tumor, either. A benign tumor in the same spot was successfully removed seven years ago. It peeled miraculously off the nerve to her left arm, and hundreds of tentacles relaxed to allow the whole thing to be pulled from her body. But another grew in its place.

The first time she got a tumor was while she was in massage therapy school. She didn’t tell her parents about it for six months, until she was graduating. She named the lump, “Squish-Squish.” The doctor I took her to see said that the marble-sized lump, above her collar bone, was a fatty lipoma. I went with her to see a surgeon to remove it. Under local anesthetic, the surgeon probed with his gloved hand into her body. As he kept probing, I put my head between my knees, because I suddenly realized he wasn’t finding the end of it, and I could feel my daughter’s discomfort from his finger poking into her un-anesthetized body. I felt nauseous, anxious. She was sent to get CT and MRI scans.

Last week she got another MRI scan. Just last year, she was a new bride. The next month, another tumor appeared. It was egg-sized, below her left collar bone. I wanted her to go see a doctor right away. It can be frustrating to be the parent of an adult child, wanting the best and encouraging but knowing they will do what they want. I waited while she made her decisions and focused on her schoolwork. She got her Associate degree in December with a 4.0 GPA. She finally saw a doctor in December.

Meanwhile, the tumor grew. This one she named, “Lumpy.” It grew to about baseball size, a lump above her left breast. This one had more substance above the skin–the last tumor grew mainly inside the body, where doctors worried it would encroach on her heart. Hopefully “Lumpy” is all above the body, or mostly, and easily removed. My hope is that this one will also be benign, will also peel miraculously from the nerve to her left arm with no stress to the nerve, and that the tentacles will ALL relax, as before, and allow the entire mass to be pulled from her body.

The only difference I hope for in outcome, is that there never be any other mass to take its place. That this is the end of the tumors in her body.

Right now, she is waiting for the doctor. He’s putting her under anesthesia during the biopsy, which is very wise. Like her mother, medical procedures make her nauseous. Even getting her ears pierced as a young teenager, she got sick to her stomach and we had to cancel our planned lunch celebration.

I think one of the hardest parts of having a tumor is the waiting, the not knowing. Trying not to imagine the worst, but still wanting to be able to face whatever will happen. I am learning faith through this experience. Faith to me means exercising my thoughts to believe in the very best outcome, that this will turn out well. That this will go as well as last time. And that this is the last time.

KatieAnne on her wedding day

KatieAnne on her wedding day

Where Do You Turn for Healing?

Oct3

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Where do you turn for healing? In the last post I mentioned that psychotherapy and personal development helped heal my mind and heart. What about physical dis-ease?

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Western medicine can’t be beat for putting people back together after an auto accident or a fall, being burned, or to save premature babies. Expert intervention saves lives, improving the quality of those lives. My daughter’s tumor removal surgery by an expert surgeon extended her years and her quality of life.

Acute medical conditions call for a doctor! Yet even years of scientific study, licensing and practice does not make doctors omnipotent. They still “practice” medicine. Other sources may best help in chronic cases. Reviewing results of traditional medical treatment versus alternative methods for a particular issue may be enlightening.

For example, some in the past put down alternative healers as “quacks,” which I heard doctors of chiropractic called when I was a girl. Now chiropractors are accepted into the mainstream, included on health plans, and respected. I wish they’d been acceptable to my parents when I landed on my chin at ages 3 and 15. A Doctor of Chiropractic may have corrected the curvature of my neck from those accidents, before a vertabra set backwards.

Some people use both traditional and alternative healers. This is the view that I prefer, not one or the other, but whichever is more likely to contribute to healing in that particular instance.

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There are also faith healings, such as those by Jesus Christ (Matthew 9:35), performing miracles. After my daughter’s tumor removal, the surgeon came back in complete awe. I’d told him beforehand that many people fasted and prayed for her, and for him. Afterwards he told me that the tumor came out in one piece, peeling off the carefully-monitored nerve to her left arm with NO stress to the nerve. Hundreds of little tentacles relaxed, allowing the entire tumor to be lifted from her chest cavity. Also her father secretly prayed that the doctor would NOT need to cut through her collarbone to access the tumor, which would have caused many more months of healing. The surgeon said he had thought of a way to access the tumor without cutting her collarbone. He co-created a miraculous surgery!

People may have faith but not be healed (see Doctrine and Covenants 42:43), such as the Apostle Paul, who stated that his “thorn in the flesh” was not removed (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). Then the challenge becomes living with the infirmity, or dis-ease. Faith, prayers, and priesthood blessings can help provide comfort, peace, and answers. Pain may be alleviated with medications, herbs, or meditations.

How do you decide where to turn for healing? Different dis-eases may be addressed individually. Is the dis-ease a problem for which traditional medicine can best help? What is the track record of traditional medicine for this dis-ease? Are there other sources for alleviating this particular health crisis? Generally, when different kinds of healers agree, there is more credibility, with greater confidence in the results. Each person may take responsibility for their own health, searching out their own answers. These are some of my views on physical healing, based on my own experiences and knowledge. I hope that someday traditional and alternative healers will work together in harmony for the best interest of the patient, supplying the best of all available care for the particular needs of that individual.