Part 2 of Stage 2

     I'm thankful that I work with children for so many reasons.  This time, oddly enough, it's because that's how I got "bronchitis."  One of my favorite students patted me on the back one day while shaking his head and said, "Sowee I gabe you my sickness."  And in response now I think: Bless you child!  Bless you and your grimy hands!  Thank you for not covering your cough!  Because if I never would have gotten a virus, I don't know when we would have caught the cancer.

     On September 26th, after being told I had bronchitis about 10 days previously, I called my sister from my kitchen floor.  Actually, I called my mom first and told her I was thinking about calling 911 because I could barely breathe and wanted a second opinion.  She told me to try Karen first.  Thankfully, Karen was able to rush over and pick me up.  She put peppermint oil in my hands as I struggled to get breath in and out of my lungs.  She rubbed my back in the car as tears started to form.  She demanded that they do a chest x-ray while I was getting a breathing treatment.  And she drove me to the ER when Patient First pointed out what looked like a cumulous cloud on my x-ray.  I "likely had pneumonia."

     I've thought about what I would have done if she hadn't answered her phone.  Or if she had answered, but hadn't been close enough to make it to my apartment in time.  Thank God the timing was right.  Sometimes I can be "too tough."  I don't think I would have called 911.

     When I got to the ER they did 4 more back-to-back breathing treatments, among other things.  I got admitted and Karen told my parents they should probably make the hour and a half trip.  They had told me I needed a CT scan because they wanted more information than what they could see on the x-ray.

     The first time a doctor used the word "tumor," my mom was in the room with me.  I think she was concerned, but didn't want me to panic or jump to any conclusions yet.  But I wasn't afraid.  I honestly felt calm.  Whatever was happening to me was happening to me... and it was out of my control at this point.  I'm not afraid of dying anyway.  My good friends know that.  I don't particularly want to die, but if it's in God's will then He'll use it to accomplish something greater.  I have no doubt about that.

     "Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"  -Matthew 6:27

     I definitely had pneumonia.  Fluid in my lungs.  Infection around my lungs.  And swollen lymph nodes.  They were referring me to an oncologist because they suspected it might be lymphoma.