A Prayer Request

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If you don't have time to read further, I just ask that you pray for my mother whose cancer has most likely returned and spread to her lymph nodes.

For those of you who have already been praying for my mother, thank you from the bottom of my heart.  It turns out that she needs prayers more than we thought.  Two years ago, she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.  After a surgery to remove her thyroid and a radioactive iodine treatment that would kill any remaining thyroid tissue, her doctors were certain that she was cancer-free.  She has gone in every six months for a cancer scan and they've all come up normal.  However, during the last one, her endocrinologist saw what she believed to be some thyroid tissue remaining.  It wasn't a serious issue, she would have just needed another radioactive iodine treatment to get rid of the rest of the tissue just as a preventative measure.  There was no concern that the tissue was cancerous, but just in case it was, it was best to eliminate it completely.

My mom was sent to an oncologist because she had a very extreme negative reaction to the radiation treatment last time.  She met with him and he wasn't certain that she even needed the treatment and since radiation can cause cancer, it's better not to do it unless it's absolutely necessary.  She had been waiting for the call about whether or not she needed this preventative measure and was completely blindsided when the oncologist called to tell her that he saw abnormal tissue in her lymph nodes and is almost positive that the cancer was back and had spread.  

She’ll have a biopsy as soon as she can get in and then as soon as cancer is confirmed, will start treatment.  We don’t really know what that will entail at this point, but we are hopeful that whatever treatment is will be effective and she’ll have many more years to be a Nana to my little Lucia.  

What makes the return of cancer even more difficult is that a good friend of mine was recently diagnosed with the same type of thyroid cancer.  She’s gotten a lot of comfort from the fact that my mom is healthy and cancer-free after her treatment.  We aren’t telling her right now about the return of my mom’s cancer because we don’t want her to worry that she’ll have similar complication.  I think one of the most difficult aspects of cancer is that even after years of being cancer-free, there is always a part of you wondering if and when it will return.

Although we have already been praying and it seems as though things have gotten worse, I feel that God has perhaps answered our prayers in ways we didn't even know they needed to be.  If the endocrinologist hadn't noticed the remaining thyroid tissue, my mom wouldn't have been sent into the oncologist or received more tests.  The spread of her cancer wouldn't have been detected, at least not for a while, and perhaps the cancer would have progressed to a more advanced and perhaps untreatable stage.  From what we know at this point, it seems that the cancer is treatable and that she will have a good chance of survival. 

Would you please pray for my mother and friend, that they will receive quick and effective treatment and find peace in the Lord as they wait for their outcomes?  And for their doctors, that they will be able to correctly diagnose and treat the cancers?  Thank you!