The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith

The Business of Waiting

One of the most difficult things about dealing with medical issues is the waiting. You spend time, sometimes hours, in waiting rooms. And then you wait, sometimes for weeks or months between new information and the implementation of that information.  But waiting can be a good thing.

We feel fortunate that our waiting room time has been minimal so far. Dr. Shields has a sign in the check-in clerk’s window that says, “If you haven’t been called by ten minutes after your appointment time, please talk to the receptionist.” Dan’s appointments have been on time, or close, at each medical facility and office we’ve visited in the past month. And I ask myself, “Has it only been a month since we started this journey.” Yes. It was September 29 that we first found out about the melanoma lesions growing in Dan’s body.

But we learned last time Dan had cancer that his condition places us in a new mission field where we see people we would not have encountered without this diagnosis. Twelve years ago I prayed numerous times for other people in the waiting rooms. I even talked to and prayed with a few as God directed me. I was reminded of those experiences when we entered Dr. Shield’s waiting room for the first time this go-round. But we were alone in the waiting room. While we waited for last week’s appointment (Thursday, October 26) I remembered God’s nudging from the previous wait time and began praying for the other people around me.

Most of the time people in a doctor’s office waiting room act like strangers in an elevator seeking everywhere to look in order to avoid eye contact. Except in the waiting room of an oncologist’s office where strange things sometimes happen. Before we were called in, a thin elderly gentleman with an oxygen tank was called in for his infusion. Obviously enjoying a well-rehearsed joke, the nurse who came for him quipped, “I hope you brought your veins with you this time.” We all laughed with him as he moved towards the infusion room entrance.

Later a young woman entered, checked in, and sat down. Shortly after she looked around the room and, seeing a friend, she moved to the seat next to her and they chatted animatedly and amiably before one was called for her appointment. Both share the common experience of cancer. Since our experience twelve years ago we have found that cancer survivors, friends and strangers alike, enjoy a sort of fraternal relationship with others who have had cancer. They eagerly compare “battle stories” of going through chemo-, radiation, and immunotherapy.

We had hoped to get started with Dan’s treatment this week, but we found that we had to wait yet another two weeks. Waiting for the treatment to start is okay, though, because we agree with the doctor that we want to get this right. We found out that Dan’s brain MRI on the 24^th revealed no lesions in his brain. When he told our daughter, he said that he had had a brain MRI and they found nothing there. I love his sense of humor!

His biopsy sample had been sent to a university in Georgia for verification of the diagnosis (and yes, it is metastatic melanoma) but there is one more test to determine if there is a B-RAF mutation involved. And the local lab had to wait for the sample to be sent back in order to do it. So there you have it. We’re waiting.

Without a clear understanding of God’s sovereign will and how He uses everything in our lives to bring us into closer intimacy with Him, we would be devastated, chomping at the bit to get started with treatment, and anxious for this to just go away. However, 1 Peter 1:7-8 gives us a template for moving through a difficult time in our lives:

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: whom having not seen, you love; in whom, though now you see Him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

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Prayer request: Dan’s stamina is rapidly decreasing. He continues to work full-time as well as rehearse for an upcoming choral concert. Before his diagnosis he also committed to preach on Sunday, November 5, as pulpit fill for our pastor who is on a much needed vacation. He’ll be speaking at two services in the morning and presiding over the communion service in the evening. Please pray for the needed energy and concentration for all this, especially as he ministers on Sunday.

 

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