after going through several personal trials during high school/ college, i realized that the way the Lord wanted to use me was as an trailblazer, an encouragement to those who followed the path behind me. and i wanted all the personal pain i suffered to not be for nothing...i wanted to help & share my experiences so that others didn't have to go through life alone. i asked the Lord to bring people into my life that were about to walk down the same road that i had just been down. i wanted to be able to encourage them in the Lord, be a testimony of God's faithfulness & promises that He never leaves us. and i have. i have always had someone to share with directly after i've walked through the dark, shadowy valley of death. and in the particular instance of my health/ cancer scare last month, i literally was walking in the valley of death. and while i do not feel like i've cleared it or escaped it, i have been on a hill basking in the life-giving sunshine. what i didn't expect was someone to have someone follow me down that path & into that same valley so quickly.
"But after I am raised up, I, your Shepherd, will go ahead of you..."
matthew 26:32
she finally decided to go to the doctor to figure out why she was experiencing shortness of breath...while just sitting sometimes. they ran a slue of tests, including CT & PET scans. the tests turned up empty on answers for the shortness of breath, so they called it asthma. but they did find something on her scans...spots, masses, lisions, call em what ya want but in the end they are things that should not be there! a few spots on her lung and even one on the kidney. my entire family was caught completely off guard. for 1 thing, she never smoked regularly...or even at all. and 2, she can't drink a glass of anything sort of alcohol without getting giddy-she's a lightweight-so a closet alcoholic she is not. and 3...i was the one who had just been told & untold i had cancer.
long story short, they are indeed calling these spots cancer. mainly because non-cancerous masses would not take the dye for the PET or CT scan like these did. she underwent surgery last week to remove the spots on her lung. all went according to plan. although they did find a few smaller spots, once they got in there, that did not show up on the scans. that meant a longer incision, a longer surgery time, a longer recovery time. the doctor said it was all stage 1 cancer and they got it all....meaning no need/talk of follow-up radiation therapy. she did lose 20% of her lung capacity. which means keeping up with my boys will be a little harder, but the snuggles from them will be even sweeter.
as for the kidney spots, the plan is to get those taken out in march or april. but i think that will depend on how she recovers from this surgery. so prayers & thoughts of a speedy recovery and fullness of health are more than appreciated...they are coveted!
i'm never sure why i walk through trials before someone else does, i just know that is how the Lord uses me. and i don't think i'll ever figure out his schedule...especially with this scenario. but whatever buffer or encouragement i was able to serve for my mom, i'd do it again in a heart beat. but this time there's a sweetness of knowing i get to do this adventure along side my mom.
all that being said, i'm off to visit a doctor here. turns out i didn't end up being able to get the MRI biopsy done the day we left virginia. that was a blessing in disguise! {matt}s grandmother recommended a great local breast specialist. so we'll head off to see her today. i will try to update things here on the blog when we hear anything. i know that people are checking in on me via this sweet place of mine here on the interwebs.
so please, come on back for info. or comment with questions for me or about my mom. and if you're incredibly shocked at this cause i haven't told many people at all, then shoot me an email: kristiruckel [at] gmail [dot] com. so thankful for this community i've found here!
Wowza! Will be praying for peace and perfect health for all Ruckels and those near & dear to your hearts.
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