Having scanned the man…

After nearly a week of waiting, the message came through from both my Hospice consultant (who can access my records at my request) and then the Oncology Dept that my MRI scan results indicate that the shadow on my liver is nothing more than a harmless haemangioma. That’s such great news and we’ve all allowed ourselves to go “phew”. There remains though the question of the lymph node lump in my arm pit. Apparently there’s some thought that the plastic surgeon will be enlisted to remove it, but that’ll be addressed at the meeting of the ‘Multi Disciplinary Team’ on Monday and I’ll then know more. At the same time as all this, I’m conscious that the ever-present lump at the primary site of the melanoma (on my inside leg) feels slightly bigger and, like its sibling under my arm, can be a source of some discomfort at times. Like some uninvited house guest randomly wondering around causing a disturbance in all sorts of rooms, this cancer is one that seems to have that capacity. One month, it could be ‘here’, the next, ‘there’ then ‘down there’,  or ‘up here’.

Just a couple of hours before I heard the news about the scan result, I’d been reading the first letter of Peter (1 Peter) in the scriptures. I read words so familiar to me from over the years,

“ ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

I did, and he does. Sealed in blood.