OK, we can handle this...

After the initial feeling of getting kicked in the gut Wednesday wore off, Thursday was pretty much life as "normal" (remember, we have a new "normal"). We got over our pity party and realized that this was just a tiny bump in the road and were determined to move on past it.

This morning we were to meet with Dr. Blouin and get more details on why a second surgery was needed and what that really meant. When Allison talked with her on Wednesday, she was in the hospital waiting room since her dad was having colon surgery (did I mention its been a bad year?). There she was in a crowded waiting room but feeling very much alone as she heard Dr. Blouin over the cell phone say we need to go in again. She was taken by surprise and couldn't form logical thoughts around what was happening....thus, our meeting this morning.

We arrived 20 minutes early like we normally do for all of these appointments. Hey, why can't we ever be on time to church? They call us back and I have one of those "here we go again" feelings. Dr. Blouin is running late the nurse says, she's still over at the hospital. We're instructed to sit tight and she'll be here in a few minutes. All the coffee I've had this morning is screaming at me so I decide to take a restroom break while we wait. After returning I'm suddenly terrified...all the exam doors are shut and I don't remember which one Allison is in! Pick the wrong door and I'm ruining someone's day! #2...I'm sure its #2...I look around, yeah, its gotta be #2. Thank goodness I see a familiar face, whew! Why I didn't knock first to make sure I have no idea, that could have been a train wreck! Anyway, right room, so we wait...

Dr. Blouin arrives and begins drawing on a notepad so we can better understand the situation. They take the cancer out and remove a "marginal" amount of good tissue from around the cancer. They then freeze that tissue and slice it into tiny sections to test. The initial test didn't show anything but then they run a separate set of tests and that test indicated Ductal Carcinoma In Situ. HUH?? That sounds bad! No, DCIS is a non-invasive form of cancer. Its not life threatening but left alone it could turn into an invasive cancer like the one they removed. It may take 5 years, it may take 50 years but eventually it can become a problem.

So on December 1 at 2:00pm we will go to Dr. Blouin's office (yay, no hospital!) and she'll remove more tissue and have it tested. We pray that the DCIS will not be present and we can move on to the next step of healing. She did say again that Allison would have to have radiation but that chemo is still unknown at this point. She is ordering another test today that will help make that decision. We pray also that chemo will not be necessary, but as we've said all along, not our will but God's will be done.

To top off this "positive" news, we got a call on the way home that Allison's dad was getting out of the hospital today, a day or 2 earlier than we originally thought. God has really been good to us today. Lord, help me to not take these good days for granted. I love the little brunette from Lyman that you've given me to spend my life with. Forgive me for not always showing her that. And thank you Lord for letting me choose door #2!