Science vs the Savior
This past week we had our appointment with Dr. Schroeder again. It was hard to believe that 6 months had already passed, but pass they did and boy, they flew by faster than I was comfortable with. You get fairly confident after nearly 5 years of positive MRI results, but there's always that niggling thought in the back of your mind, "What if?" This time I didn't do so well in the 'handling it well' department. I stressed out pretty bad, so much so that I made myself physically sick. My head was pounding and I was throwing up pretty steady throughout Friday and spent most of Saturday in bed. Not anything I'm proud of, but, it is a reminder that though there are many times when life rolls along and you think you are strong, there are also times when you may just have a complete meltdown for no reason and you know what? I think that's ok.
We arrived at the Brain Tumour Clinic at HSC and fortunately we did not have a long wait before the nurse called us in to see Dr. Schroeder. The nurse did her little exam, basically weighed him and then had Wes answer her long list of questions and then with a smile she ran out the door saying that the doctor would be in soon. Thankfully, she was right. A few minutes later Dr. Schroeder walked in and then in his usual quirky manner, he moved to sit down in his chair, but just before he actually sat down he blurted out, "The scan was good!" And then he looked at me and probably saw that I wasn't having the greatest day and he repeated, "The scan was good!" and he waited until I acknowledged that I had heard what he said before he changed the direction of the conversation.
He became quite animated as he began to talk about the latest research on brain tumours. He asked if we heard the latest findings and before we could really respond he jumped right into some complicated scientific explanation of why some people die shortly after a brain tumour diagnosis, particularly oglioblastomas and why others, like Wes, seem to surpass any Doctor's prognosis. He used a lot of long technical terms and mentioned a particular chromosome, I think it was 1p19q or something like that. Who knows! Anyway, he stopped talking and asked, "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
We said, "No"
He chuckled as I knew he would...he loves his own intelligence and he's got a lot to love cause he's got a lot of intelligence!
He opened Wes' chart and paged through the thick layer of papers looking for something that would give him a chromosome result from the piece of tumour that they had removed. He wasn't sure, but he was hoping that they had done this particular breakdown on the tumour back in 2008 after Wes' surgery. He continued flipping through the papers and finally found what he was looking for. He quickly read through the paper and just when he reached the bottom of the page his face lit up.
"Chromosome 1p19q...there it is!" He grinned, "I would say that means that Wes should have at least a 14 year survival rate!" He closed the file and that was that. He was so pleased and so were we. But on the way home I thought through what Dr. Schroeder had all said, the parts that I could understand at least. An extra decade and a half of survival was wonderful, but, now science was taking the credit for something that we had been crediting to our Father as a miracle. I wasn't doubting God's miraculous work in Wes' life, but it does get you thinking and that thinking made me feel guilty. I wasn't doubting, I was just trying to work it all out in my mind and I don't think God has a problem with that. Still, I apologized to God for my line of thought but, I knew He would understand that I needed to keep working through this. So, I did, but, He didn't stay silent for long. He knows I'm horrible with scientific stuff!
Well, anyway, as I was rehashing Dr. Schroeder's words, these three verses came to my memory pretty quickly....
"I am fearfully and wonderfully made..."
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb."
"And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered."
I smiled as those words flowed over my heart. Ah, I love it when God speaks!
So, there you go, science took many years to find that one chromosome that is a part of our personal survival journey. And the key word in that last sentence is 'find'. Yes, they 'found' it and yes, the result of their 'findings' is very exciting. Still, what they did find was something that God had created in Wes 50 years ago when he was still in his mother's womb and I would say that's a pretty exciting discovery...for science and for us...
That's our God.
Our Creator
Our Healer
Our scientist
Crazy hey?
One tiny little chromosome can make a world of a difference...
God is always in the details
Amen
We arrived at the Brain Tumour Clinic at HSC and fortunately we did not have a long wait before the nurse called us in to see Dr. Schroeder. The nurse did her little exam, basically weighed him and then had Wes answer her long list of questions and then with a smile she ran out the door saying that the doctor would be in soon. Thankfully, she was right. A few minutes later Dr. Schroeder walked in and then in his usual quirky manner, he moved to sit down in his chair, but just before he actually sat down he blurted out, "The scan was good!" And then he looked at me and probably saw that I wasn't having the greatest day and he repeated, "The scan was good!" and he waited until I acknowledged that I had heard what he said before he changed the direction of the conversation.
He became quite animated as he began to talk about the latest research on brain tumours. He asked if we heard the latest findings and before we could really respond he jumped right into some complicated scientific explanation of why some people die shortly after a brain tumour diagnosis, particularly oglioblastomas and why others, like Wes, seem to surpass any Doctor's prognosis. He used a lot of long technical terms and mentioned a particular chromosome, I think it was 1p19q or something like that. Who knows! Anyway, he stopped talking and asked, "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
We said, "No"
He chuckled as I knew he would...he loves his own intelligence and he's got a lot to love cause he's got a lot of intelligence!
He opened Wes' chart and paged through the thick layer of papers looking for something that would give him a chromosome result from the piece of tumour that they had removed. He wasn't sure, but he was hoping that they had done this particular breakdown on the tumour back in 2008 after Wes' surgery. He continued flipping through the papers and finally found what he was looking for. He quickly read through the paper and just when he reached the bottom of the page his face lit up.
"Chromosome 1p19q...there it is!" He grinned, "I would say that means that Wes should have at least a 14 year survival rate!" He closed the file and that was that. He was so pleased and so were we. But on the way home I thought through what Dr. Schroeder had all said, the parts that I could understand at least. An extra decade and a half of survival was wonderful, but, now science was taking the credit for something that we had been crediting to our Father as a miracle. I wasn't doubting God's miraculous work in Wes' life, but it does get you thinking and that thinking made me feel guilty. I wasn't doubting, I was just trying to work it all out in my mind and I don't think God has a problem with that. Still, I apologized to God for my line of thought but, I knew He would understand that I needed to keep working through this. So, I did, but, He didn't stay silent for long. He knows I'm horrible with scientific stuff!Well, anyway, as I was rehashing Dr. Schroeder's words, these three verses came to my memory pretty quickly....
"I am fearfully and wonderfully made..."
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb."
"And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered."
I smiled as those words flowed over my heart. Ah, I love it when God speaks!
So, there you go, science took many years to find that one chromosome that is a part of our personal survival journey. And the key word in that last sentence is 'find'. Yes, they 'found' it and yes, the result of their 'findings' is very exciting. Still, what they did find was something that God had created in Wes 50 years ago when he was still in his mother's womb and I would say that's a pretty exciting discovery...for science and for us...
That's our God.
Our Creator
Our Healer
Our scientist
Crazy hey?
One tiny little chromosome can make a world of a difference...
God is always in the details
Amen
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