a long tale - Judi

[Guest guest]

Dearest Judi...I will let you know when I have my " procedure " .

When I was about 2 weeks from my 13th birthday, our family was taking a

car trip down to the San Francisco area to see family. Well, I was NOT

myself...the silly me had turned into a grumpapalooza! We have pictures

of me standing under the beautiful redwoods, arms folded tightly across

my chest...no smile at all. That was not like me...the little ham. My

parents were totally perplexed. I stayed grumpy throughout the trip.

When we got home, I started feeling really weak and sick...there was a

tremendous amount of infection coming into the potty, and Mom took me to

our hometown doctor. He ran tests, poked around...I had no pain at all.

But the bloodwork came back terribly awry. They admitted me to a big

hospital in Portland, and for 3 more weeks I had every test known to

man...biopsies, bone marrow tests, xrays,barium this & that's,

signoid-yucktomies, and was steadily going downhill.. It was an awful

lot for a just turned 13 year old. The doctors told my parents they

were pretty sure I had a type of childhood liver cancer. They were

going to put me on several days heavy-duty regimine of building me up so

I could survive exploratory surgery. Then they planned on sending me to

Children's Hospital in Boston (this was in 64).

My mom's side of the family was very French and very Catholic, and in

those days we couldn't even visit a Protestant church except for

weddings & funerals. Well, my mom's sister Genevieve was an angel...she

was 'mentally retarded' and functioned around a 12 year old level. She

loved her Catholic church, but she saw her faith in Jesus much more

purely than in complicated doctrinal issues. So, my Aunt Genny, who

EVERYONE in our little hometown knew, asked her Baptist friends, her

Presbyterian friends, her Assembly of God friends, etc., to pray for her

little niece.

The day came when they felt I was built up enough to survive exploratory

surgery. After being in surgery just over an hour, the chief surgeon

called my mom in the waiting room and excitedly told her he had the most

wonderful news...my appendix had literally exploded sometime weeks

before, and the infectious matter had formed adhesions on my liver,

kidneys, everywhere. They were in the process of cleaning me all up

inside and he thought it was a miracle I didn't die from peridnitis

(sp?). My parents were so ecstatic and tearfully relieved. (I never

ever had pain in my right lower area.)

Long story, eh? I think this experience opened my heart to many things,

including the fact that the Lord is bigger than our denominations! My

Aunt Genny reported back to all her friends who rejoiced in my recovery.

Love You Much...

Tess