SURGERY? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' SURGERY...

Ok...the bottom line: No surgery will be required!!!

I quote Dr. Mehran: "I am cancelling your surgery, Mr. Madaris. Go home and enjoy your summer..."

Medical Details (P.E.T. scan results interpreted):
--the spot has shrunk in size
--metabolic activity around it has decreased
Therefore, no need for surgery. Another quote of Dr. Mehran: "metastases never get better; they always get worse. So there is no need for surgery here."

The radiologist used the word "normal." It's been a LONG time (17 months) since that word was used after a P.E.T. scan of me. (I savored it deeply...) Dr. Mehran sez there *may* still be a little disease there, but that if so, it would show up at my followup scan in 4 months & we could do surgery then if needed. The upshot now, though, is there is clear, convincing medical evidence that God is taking care of this. Maybe...just maybe...we're about to enter a long season of "nothing to see here" scan results.

Mike & Lisa's Reaction:
--overwhelming joy, obviously!!
--a spontaneous, um, allergic reaction let's say. (we managed to wait until Dr. Mehran & his two students cleared the room before having this allergic reaction...)
--Incredible thanksgiving to Jehovah Shammah, the Lord Who Is Present
--An overpowering sense of "why us?" as we sit here drinking coffee surrounded by so many who are clearly not where we are in terms of their cancer journeys. More on that later, perhaps.
--Great excitement about mowing my own lawn, trimming my own hedges, playing w/ my new weedeater, busting up stumps, etc. this summer
--Equally great excitement about some big projects @ wk that have been on hold for those 17 months. (my boss will be glad to hear that...)
--Equally great excitement about some other non-work, non-lawn-care projects that are percolating around my no-anesthesia-needed mind. Be afraid...be kind of afraid.
--Great humility and thanksgiving
See "Why Us?" but also to know that so many have been praying specifically for us and for my healing. Do not ever doubt the power of prayer again!!!!

Note: had the results from yesterday's scan been different, that would definitely not have diminished God's goodness in general, nor toward us. But I ain't gonna lie...I'm glad He chose to display His goodness this way! *smile*

Thank you all so much, my friends. Know that I have already thanked God for you & asked Him to magnify Himself more clearly to you and through you.

With Great Love, Humility, & Thanksgiving,
Mike

"So, even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come...Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you? You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again..."
Psalm 71:18-20

p.s. - As we walked out after getting the great news, I wanted to stop in the big waiting room & say loudly, "Be Encouraged! There Is Hope!!" (dang allergies...)