Sometimes it feels like I’m just going in circles. I got a call earlier today with results of the second biopsy on my spine. Like the first, it was inconclusive in determining the exact nature of the tumor. It did find abnormal cells growing but they do not have the markers that indicate any (at least common) cancers. The doctors are careful to point out that this doesn’t mean it’s NOT cancer (or a very rare one that doesn’t show up on these tests) but at this point they have nothing to tell them that it IS cancer either. (And they’ve thrown all the testing you can think of at it to try to make that determination.)
Although this biopsy was again inconclusive and it feels like we’re just going in circles, I have to count this news as a huge blessing. After all, we’ve been praying intensely for a non-cancer diagnosis for weeks now (and that seems to be where this is all pointing, little by little). I also keep wondering, in terms of answered prayer, what a miracle looks like under a microscope. When you pray for healing or a miracle or to save a life, I can imagine that maybe it wouldn’t add up on the normal diagnostic images a pathologist would usually look at. And maybe that’s what we found out today.
The doctor called back this afternoon when they made a second discovery. Some tissues that they had saved and cultured a while ago just showed something. Culturing these samples to see what they grow is not something that they normally do but since everything else wasn’t adding up, they decided to at least start them a few days ago. One of the samples showed a streptooccus sanguis infection. This is one of the more common contaminations in the lab (so it may be nothing) but it may also be everything.
They are very worried about this finding. They are going to rush additional blood cultures to look for more of it in my system but it will be at least 3 days until we know more for sure. They are going to re-admit me to the hospital tomorrow so that they can rush these tests, monitor my condition, and so I can be on IV antibiotics to fight the infection (if it is there).
Folks, thank you all so much for your prayers for me. I believe our God has the ability to heal people – even miraculously. That’s what we’ve been praying for and that’s why we’ve been praying. I don’t know what that looks like under a pathologist’s microscope. Maybe it looks an awful lot like what they saw today. Please count these results today, although inconclusive, as a huge blessing and please keep me in your prayers as I head back to the hospital for at least a few days for monitoring and to fight this infection.