In the last three months, all three of my kids have had to deal with something I hope they don't have to go through again.  Cancer scares.  It was enough that I had to consider it three years ago with my own cancer.  And if I had my way, it would ONLY be me going through it and never them again.  Anything not to have to see your kid hurting.  First it was John who had a lump.  He finally had it looked at and the doctor said to watch it, but at the moment it was not cancer.  Such a relief!  

Then Jessi.  She had her mammogram and was told she needed to come back for more images.  She was also warned that they would be taking extra images and if needed sending her in for ultrasound, which they did do. Ugh!  But once again, results were NO cancer.

But right there in the middle of this with those two, Dennis was at his doctor and the doctor noticed he had a lump on the side of his neck.  He said it was his thyroid and there was a tumor.   The tumor was really big, especially if you are the Mom of the person who has the tumor. He was having trouble breathing and swallowing and coughing a lot . A biopsy was done and it came back inconclusive.   So cancer or not, he still needed the tumor removed. Surgery was scheduled to remove half of it.  The doctor wanted to leave half of it, in hopes that the remaining half would take over and Dennis would not need hormone replacement.  If the results came back as cancerous, then the plan was that at a later date, they have to go back in and remove the rest.  

Well, we are rejoicing that for the third time, we were given the NO CANCER results!

I am so very thankful that the results are clear, that my kids are well.  I know that even if God had  allowed one or all three of them to endure a cancer diagnosis, that each of them would have held on to their faith and strength and battled it well.  But for now, I keep on praying that their minds do not have to endure it ever again.  The questions, the fear, the scare, all of the what ifs?.  We all know that Heaven is our goal, the thing we look towards at the end of our journey here, but in the meantime, we hold on to life and enjoy the journey.

Meanwhile, I was happy to have Dennis call and ask if I could come down for the surgery.  I was like...ummm...you are asking me to come down?  It was a given that I would be going down!  But it was so sweet to have my grown son call and ask me to be there.  Moms just love to be needed.   To want me there, to want me to help with little things, like picking up kids from school and helping with before school chores and evening baths.  It was fun to have extra time with them in their everyday life, well, except for the surgery part.

Thank you, God, for these beautiful children!