Let's Just Praise the Lord!!

Mom had a follow up appointment with Dr. Bayles on Tuesday and received some amazing news. Dr. Bayles said that the tumor had good margins, meaning that when he removed the mass, he checked in the remaining tissue for evidence of the tumor. He takes small portions of tissue and sends it away to the lab to test for cancer. ALL of the samples were negative!!!! This means that he was able to remove the complete tumor leaving no evidence of cancer! This is phenomenal! In addition to this, the Doctor said that ALL of the lymph nodes he removed were negative for cancer!!! According to Dr. Bayles, mom is CANCER FREE!!! He doesn't even recommend radiation. He said that his work in mom's mouth was detrimental, but if she had radiation first it would be more devastating. He feels like radiation is not worth the risk to her body and the risks out weigh the benefits at this time. She will visit the radiologist and discuss this plan with them, but I have a feeling that Dr. Bayles recommendations will be valued highly. On top of all this good news Dr. Bayles staff asked mom to swallow some water and she was able to swallow it!!! She can have her cake and eat it too as far as I am concerned! They said to take eating by mouth very slowly, but to try and over time her coordination will improve. Praise the Lord!
I met my parents at the hospital after their appointment. They were happy, tearful, weightless and praising God. My mom said that she was not looking forward to going to radiation. We decided to celebrate by going to lunch. Mom picked out some jello. She was able to swallow it. When I asked if she could taste it she smiled brightly and said with tears in her eyes, "Yes!" I had a wild hair and asked her if she wanted to just suck on one of my potato chips. She looked like a kid, she raised her eyebrows and said, "Yes." It was a fantastic potato chip! We have so much to be thankful for. God has been so faithful. He has carried mom through all of this for His Glory. For purposes that are higher than us. As we were leaving Zachary said, "Grandma Judy is not in the hospital anymore!" and Elin said, "Yes and Grandma Judy is all better she can eat JELMO (my kids version for Jello) Praise the Lord." Like I said, the Lord has had His hand in our lives through this, molding, even the young ones, to bring them to himself. Praise the Lord!!!
My sister Meg is arriving from Oklahoma to care for mom for the month of June. She may write more updates to this blog. Thank you for your prayers and love on mom!!
Ingrid Hope