Good Medicine: More on the Recovery Journey

Meet the Rutland kids: Riley, Jack and Callie. I've had the privilege of being at the hospital after each of their birth's and dedicating them to the Lord with their parents when they were all in diapers. I continue to watch them grow and I'm grateful God has let me be part of their family and young lives. They always make me smile and laugh.

If your kids are older and you don't have grandchildren you'll appreciate this. Kids are great medicine. Especially young children (7 and below). If you have any doubt, just borrow some and go visit a retirement or nursing home. Watch the place light up. I love to hug and hold them. Actually I'm like a leech trying to drain the youthfulness out of them so I can absorb it in my aging body.

Their youth and energy is contagious. Kids are infectious. You never know what they are going to say, share, or how they are going to respond. Unlike most adults who've learned to be guarded, suspicious and no longer trust, they are blatantly transparent and vulnerable. They aren't afraid to ask questions to satisfy their curiosity, even if it's something an adult wouldn't dare ask. I don't know which is more fun: children asking or stating the unthinkable; or watching their parents squirm when they do, ha!

Jesus made children a priority. He never dismissed, or ignored them. If anything, He empowered them and told the rest of us that our faith better become more like theirs if we had any interest in God's way of doing things. Last night Riley, Jack and Callie came to visit and brought their parents and a meal. Carefully holding them in my lap (I've still got tender post surgery wounds in my tummy), the world stopped for a moment. I didn't think about tumors, surgery, recovery, pending labs to confirm lymphoma, medical bills, or potential treatment plans. All I thought about was pure love and joy. Now that's great medicine.

In one of the early "Chicken Soup for the Soul," books, the story is told of 6-year old Sasha, whose parents just brought home her baby brother from the hospital. One night the parents found little Sasha, in the baby's room next to the crib. She was whispering, "Baby, tell me what heaven is like, I'm starting to forget."

Children are the breath of heaven. Being around them is to be reminded of God's priorities, tender care and deep affection for each of us. Now that's the best medicine anyone could receive. "Holy Father, thank you for last night's unexpected gift and a reminder of what heaven is all about."

Unexpected Words Become Motivation for Praise: An Update on My Medical Journey

....."suspicious for diffuse b-cell non-Hodgkins lymphoma" those words rolled off my surgeon's lips as he called Friday with the initial pathology results of the mass removed during my robotic surgery on Holy Week. After countless benign biopsy reports from previous procedures and the benign frozen sections taken during surgery, they were unexpected words. My world seemed to come to a complete standstill. For those who have never gotten that news it's a very surreal feeling. Not like a dream, but not like reality either. Everything just stops. Kinda like those crash dummies you see in automotive safety commercials. One minute you’re traveling along and the next minute an impact causes you to be thrust forward and then backward and you realize everything is beyond your control. When it’s over the dummies are immobile and paralyzed in the crashed vehicle. It happens so fast your emotions can't keep up with the information being shared. It's like you are a step behind. You hear the information but it can't be processed. The news and your emotions are out of sync. This happens in seconds, but it feels like forever.

My emotions weren't denial, anger or even frustration. Complete and total surprise would be more accurate. It felt more like a college kick-off receiver who just caught a kicked ball, looked up and noticed his entire team had left the field, but the kicking team was about two feet away and bearing down like a cobra getting ready to strike a field mouse. Do you run, signal fair catch, fall down, or fumble? I think I just got hit, steamrolled by a 6' 6" lineman. Back in the locker room a trainer is waking me with smelling salts. Whoa, what just hit me? Then reality sets in. Everyone has some initial shock, a tear or maybe more. I guess the "glass half empty" people sulk, freak, mourn, or crawl under a rock. But I'm a "glass half full" person. Hope is an important part of my spiritual DNA. Within seconds, but what seemed like eternity, I asked, "Doctor, what's the next step? What do we need to do? What's the game plan?" As quickly as his words had thrust me into the surreal experience, something within me had shifted to offense and attack mode.

We continue to wait, watch and pray. Something we’ve been doing throughout this journey, which began with headaches traced to elevated BP in January. After further tests, word should come later this week confirming the initial pathology results, or revealing a mistake, or a false positive. Let me be clear. I have complete faith and have asked God to heal me physically. However, God will be praised whether it’s lymphoma or not! Biblical joy and praise is not dependent upon human circumstance. Paul asked three times and God did not choose to physically heal him of his often-debated physical ailment. God heals who, when and where He wants. He doesn't owe me an explanation. He is sovereign and I trust Him.

Prior to his prostate surgery not long ago, John Piper wrote a piece entitled, “Don’t Waste Your Cancer”. Among his points: beating cancer is not more important than cherishing Christ. He writes: Satan’s and God’s designs in your cancer are not the same. Satan designs to destroy your love for Christ. God designs to deepen your love for Christ. Cancer does not win if you die. It wins if you fail to cherish Christ. God’s design is to wean you off the breast of the world and feast you on the sufficiency of Christ. It is meant to help you say and feel, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” And to know that therefore, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 3:8; 1:21).

So whatever news comes next week, we resolve to praise God. Nothing that happens in this life can strip away His love, not even cancer. It is a promise of God in Romans 8:35-39. We wait, we watch and we pray! We are grateful for those who have joined us on this journey and been so faithful.

PS: “Holy Father, today I thank you for a wife, and partner in life and ministry who is indeed my hero! Teach me to serve more like her. Thank you for her quiet strength and and bless her this day."
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Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009 (With Lyrics)

For everyone who ever had a dream and doubted! Watch, listen and bask in a story that defies the odds in our culture obsessed with looks, glamor, affluence and externals. You go Susan and may your God-given talent continue to defy the odds set by a material world!

Grateful for the Saints & Servants at NC Baptist Hospital

All praise and gratitude to God for the saints at North Carolina Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem! Teri and I are grateful to every nurse, nurse's aide, physician, housekeeping staff, food services, volunteer, valet associates, anesthetists, resident and physician-fellows who attended to me during my surgery at Holy Week. To say we are grateful to God for Bowman Gray Medical School at Wake Forest University Medical School, specifically the urology team and my physicians, Dr. Assimos and Dr. Hemal would be an understatement! We really believe God led us to Wake Urology and that was more than affirmed with my recent surgery. I still have a long way to go and only time (the next six weeks are critical) and God's healing hand will tell if this will take care of my unique medical issue, but we are convinced that God has been ahead and over my entire medical journey from discovery to surgery. We started this process with a series of tests, labs, scans and biopsies. With each one we waited, watched and prayed. Now we will continue to wait, watch and pray as we entrust my recovery to His care and continued glory.

One day I hope to be able blog, write and talk about my experience in greater detail in a way that will benefit others and bring God glory. Right now I'm still reflecting, meditating, taking it all in, thinking and praying about all that has happened. I can't write or talk about it without breaking down right now. Here's one small reflection: Every time LaToya, Cheryl, or Summer (and other nurses I've possibly forgotten) emptied my catheter and measured my urine I cried. Every time I cried my abdomen ached because of the nature of the surgery. It hurt to cry and laugh. Still does. It hurt to have someone stoop down and without giving it another thought empty my urine. Talk about servanthood! And to think this was happening on Maundy Thursday, the same day long ago the gospels describe Jesus, humbling Himself and stooping to wash the feet of His disciples. So I'll continue to recover and as I do, Jesus and God through His Word and servants (friends, family and our Mosaic family), will continue to wash my feet, something I'm learning is necessary but something I would prefer to be doing for others.

Talk to you in a six to eight weeks!

By His Wounds

Holy Week begins this Sunday. We cannot bask in the light of the empty tomb without going through the darkness of Good Friday. As part of our Lenten worship we sang this song "By His Wounds" last Sunday. Perhaps it was my ongoing medical journey of late, but a third of the way into the song I could not sing the words without heavy sobs and tears. I just stopped and listened and reflected. Listen and read the lyrics and let God speak to your heart. We are one day closer to Resurrection Sunday, but the Via De la Rosa must come first. Shalom, Monty

Breaking My Blog Fast-IMPORTANT Message!

An important message in my Lenten journey blog break/fast: Get your blood pressure checked!  I don’t care how old you are, or how well you feel, get it checked.  We’ve all seen the ads with professional athletes and famous people admonishing us to get it checked.  Don’t brush it off. 

It’s too complicated to explain here, but a friend encouraged me to get my BP checked after months of battling what I thought were sinus headaches.  Besides the headaches I felt pretty good.  Turns out that headaches can be a symptom of high BP.  I’ve never had hypertension, but my BP was sky-high.  Fortunately, I have a good doctor who is very thorough and he wasn’t satisfied with just prescribing BP meds for me.  He also sent me for a scan to eliminate a rare cause of high BP.  The scan revealed an abnormality, which led to additional scans that showed something more serious.  I have a long medical journey ahead, but if I had continued to ignore my symptoms it could’ve been far too late.   I’m grateful for my friend, my doctor and the specialists to whom he referred me. 

I have no doubt that my friend was simply God’s providential tool.  It only takes a few minutes to get your BP checked and it’s free.  There’s no excuse.  Hypertension can be a sign of heart, kidney, or other medical issues.  There’s a reason it’s called the “silent killer”, as serious damage can be done if it goes undetected too long.  Do your family and personal health a simple favor by getting your BP checked regularly.  It may just save your life!  Okay, back to my Lenten blog fast.  Fellow pilgrims, hold fast to Christ!

 

 

 

Lenten Journey: Out of the Desert

The Lenten journey began this week for the faithful.  The Ashes of Wednesday remind us that we came from dust and to dust we shall return.  For 40 days we enter our own desert pilgrimage based on Jesus' own desert fasting and temptation by Satan.  Our time will best be spent in self- examination and reflection of our walk in Christ, confession and repentance of sin, and finding ways to improve our spiritual health.   Self-denial is also an important part of this journey.  Here we learn to deny ourselves something we would otherwise enjoy.   The emphasis is on our relationship not the sacrifice.  The goal is to grow closer to Christ and bring God glory.  

We will emerge from the desert at Holy Week looking forward to the oasis of Resurrection Sunday!  May God be our guide on this journey.  

P.S. I will not be blogging as much during Lent in order to focus on my own journey and some health issues.