We were already thinking that we'd name our little guy Josiah. When we got the cancer diagnosis, and we realized that Josiah means "Jehovah Heals", it seemed like a precious promise during that hard time. The name just fit perfectly for that time in our life.
I hadn't been to see the eye specialists since a week after Josiah was born. So much has happened since then. Josiah is twice as heavy as he was, he smiles and laughs, and he is teething. So in a way, it seemed like much more than three months had gone by when we walked into the office.
I didn't really expect the tumor to be gone. Every time in the past ten years I've gone in to get it looked at it has always been the same verdict...."it may have grown a little, but not much, and we don't know what it is." So I didn't expect anything to be different. Shame on me.
I got my eyes dilated, and got called into the picture and ultrasound office. The lady who was doing the ultrasound had to look for a while before she found the spot she was looking for. Nathan joked, "It's gone!" Then they sent me back to the waiting room.
Finally, we got called back to meet with the doctor. While we were waiting for them to come tell us what had happened, we heard them talking in the hallway. What we heard made our hearts sink. We heard, "Sarah", "choroidal melanoma", "9.6 mm", "tripled in size".
I thought that was it. I would loose my eye at best, and my life at worst. Both outcomes would be extremely likely for a tumor of that size. Nathan tried to stay positive, but he had heard the same thing.
Our doctor walked in, and I tried to brace myself for the bad news.
"Well, it shrunk." the doctor said. Nathan and I both sat there, not quite believing it. "It went really well." And then he showed us the pictures. English was certainly not his native language, but he was able to communicate to us what had happened. This was the underling, the lower doctor who came to see us before the main one.
After he was gone, Dr. Mashayekhi came it. He reiterated what the other doctor had said, and told us he was extremely pleased with how well and quickly the procedure worked. The fluid surrounding the tumor had drained and was absorbed by the retina. He said all that was left was basically a scar.
Also, the partially detached retina I had that was causing the migraines had been due to the extreme swelling in my eye. The treated area was actually so swollen that it was pushing the retina out, causing it to partially detach. That was also completely healed.
He said he didn't think I needed any more treatment, but that I would need to come back in four months to make sure it didn't start growing again. He said there is always the possibility that they missed a few cells, but he said that this seems to be such a low-grade tumor that he doesn't anticipate that to happen. I also will need to keep up with cancer screenings to make sure that it didn't spread. He said obviously he can't promise anything, but he doesn't want me to worry about it because it seems unlikely due to the low-grade nature of the tumor.
Then we were sent on our way.
Nathan got pictures for proof.
And we were left trying to let everything sink in.
Nothing is certain obviously, but we got good news. Unless this thing starts growing again, or unless it has spread, we are done with this pesky tumor forever!
We are so thankful that we had the best physicians on earth, and the Great Physician on our side.
The temptation is to believe that technology worked, and that is why this tumor shrunk so well. But we know that God is the One in charge, and we are so grateful that He chose to kill this thing!
I do have another cancer screening in a few weeks. Not the full-blown MRI and X-ray one, but the blood-work one.
We'd still appreciate prayer that...
1. The tumor doesn't grow back.
2. The cancer didn't spread.
Thank you for praying with us! Now please join us in praising God!
"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
--Ephesians 3:20-21
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