Evals - day 1

Wow, what an incredible day!  After enjoying a delicious, organic breakfast and smoothie for less than $5 for the both of us at the CTCA cafeteria, we had about 4 amazing stress-free hours of appointments.  That's right, I said stress-free!  CTCA put us up in a Comfort Suites about 5 minutes away from their facility and they have been amazing!  I got dehydrated from the flight and woke up at 3:45 a.m. with a terrible migraine.  I called down to the front desk and bless their hearts, the staff brought me up some Aleve which helped take away my migraine.  Yay God!  After our breakfast, we met with the finance department who mentioned several times that if we, at any point, have any financial difficulty, to let them know and they can work something out.  "Don't worry about the finances," they said, "just concentrate on getting well."  How many times do you hear a hospital tell you that?!  Every nurse, medical assistant, cafeteria staff member, security guard, intake doctor, finance person and front desk personnel has mentioned to us how much they LOVE their jobs and not one person made us feel stupid, dismissed, or an inconvenience.  What a difference today was from our previous experiences!   We got our own "room" which included a hospital version of a lazy boy chair for me (Seriously - I've got pictures to prove it!) and a flat screen t.v. to watch while we waited.  We actually never had to really turn it on as everyone was on time and we were done with all of our appointments 1/2 hour early!  AMAZING!  Neither one of us felt stressed or even overwhelmed!  And every person that saw us reminded us that they just present the options but the final treatment is up to us!  Amen to that!

After our appointments, we got to wander around and checked out the patient library, gym, the salon, gift shop, the rooftop garden and the outdoor eating area which included a putting green and a shuffleboard court.  I almost feel guilty!  Then we got to enjoy another delicious organic meal while we both sat outside in shorts in 70 degree weather.  What an incredible day.  God is so good!  The best part is the AMAZING amount of peace that we both feel.  We can see God's hand in all of the tiny details and how He pulled all of this together and the ways He keeps reminding us that He's got it and He's got us.  After the rough night, I was feeling a little bit stressed this morning and read this morning's devotional from "Jesus Calling."  Check this out "Approach Problems with a light touch.  When your mind moves toward a problem area, you tend to focus on that situation so intensely that you lose sight of Me.  You pit yourself against the difficulty as if you had to conquer it immediately.  Your mind gears up for battle, and your body becomes tense and anxious.  Unless you achieve total victory, you feel defeated.  There is a better way.  When a problem starts to overshadow your thoughts, bring this matter to Me.  Talk with Me about it and look at it in the Light of My Presence.  This puts some much-needed space between you and your concern, enabling you to see from My perspective.  You will be surprised at the results.  Sometimes you may even laugh at yourself for being so serious about something so insignificant.  You will always face trouble in this life.  But more importantly, you will always have Me with you, helping you to handle whatever you encounter.  Approach problems with a light touch by viewing them in My revealing Light."  Yeah....wow!  Here I was worried about how would we know what decisions to make and what would they say and then God reminds me....Don't worry!  And after that, I walked in His peace the whole day.  I can't wait to read tomorrow's!

Speaking of tomorrow, we have a full day of appointments starting at 8:30am and going until 3ish.  We will be meeting w/my surgical team, the oncologist, the Naturopathic doctors, the mind-body caseworker, the nutritionist and our case manager.  We were told today that by the end of the day tomorrow we will have my treatment plan and that we can opt to immediately start treatment or go home and come back.  Please continue to pray for God's wisdom over those decisions.  Tomorrow will be a BIG day but we know that God is and will be faithful to guide us to the right plan for me.