KIDNEY

Okay, here's a long, faith-promoting story for you....

Back in August of 2008, after being laid off from G.E., Chris applied to the FBI. He did all kinds of interviews,  exams and physicals and passed everything with flying colors. According to the lady in charge of his case, he was "in." All he was waiting on was the date he could go to the FBI Academy for training. Now, at the time, I didn't tell him that I was having uneasy feeling about it all. I just figured it was stress and put it in the Lord's hands, knowing he would lead us to what was best for our family.

Fast forward to now (July 2009), and we were still waiting for his date for the academy. The FBI was giving Chris the total run-around, claiming they had misplaced his file and all kinds of crazy things. I felt bad for him because he was still unemployed and getting very frustrated with the whole process. Then one day they called and said that, upon additional review of his medical records, he needed to be seen by a urologist. (INFO: In January of 2008, he had blood in his urine for a few weeks. Too much lifting at the gym? Kidney infection? Not sure what caused it, but after some antibiotics, he was fine a month later.) So now he has to see a specialist to have his kidneys rechecked. He goes in for the appointment, the doctor tells him he would like to do a cat-scan and an MRI to check things out. Now is probably a good time to mention that the health insurance for him and I (through my job) doesn't become effective for a few more weeks, but we can't afford to wait that long. So he goes in for the scans on a Thursday afternoon. The Radiologist sees some "shadowing" and orders a kidney scope for the following Monday. According to Chris, he has all the signs of kidney cancer...

I can't even explain the fear and hopelessness we experienced over that weekend. It was suffocating and awful in every sense of the word. How could this possibly be happening, on top of everything else?? Surely there was a blessing, somewhere in all of this mess.

I went with Chris to the surgery on Monday afternoon. He was pretty calm, considering the procedure he was having done. Not fun for any guy, let alone one who had repeatedly told his nurse wife in the past, "If I ever have to have a cathedar, it is your responsibility to shoot me first. I AM SERIOUS." I think it helped that one of Chris' closest friends, an anesthesiologist, has passed a good word onto the coworker who was taking his case. The guy was very nice and promised "You won't feel or remember a thing. I promise."

Time didn't exactly fly by, but soon enough the surgeon was in the waiting room giving me the news we had been praying for. "I could find nothing wrong with his kidneys," he said, "every looked good." If I hadn't been so thankful, I would have just started bawling right there. It was wonderful news. Chris was going to be fine!

These are the cute cards the kids made for Chris before his surgery:

"Don't be scared"

"Everything is going to be allright. We love you."

Chris recovered for a few hours and we were on our way home, thankful, relieved and exhausted. Now he had exactly two and a half days to recover before he flew out to interview with some bank in Kansas City, Missouri. He wasn't exactly excited about it, but it was an interview.....