Biopsy Results are in


I don’t want to keep you in suspense, so here is the short answer:  It’s not cancer!

 

I was leaving one of the childcare providers I visit for work and saw the phone number from Big’s surgeon, Dr. R, on the phone.  I immediately pulled off and answered. 

 

Dr. R: Hello Mom, How’s your day?

Me: I think whatever you tell me will determine that!
Dr. R: Then you are having a GREAT DAY! We got Big’s pathology report back and she doesn’t have cancer.  She has Kikuchi Fujimoto disease.  Do you have a pen and paper, because I know you need me to spell that.

 

After he spelled it, I of course asked what it was.  Dr. R admitted its really rare and he doesn’t know much about it.  He told me what he knows:  Its benign.  Its usually treated with anti-inflammatory meds and sometimes steroids.  It is caused by lots of dead cells building up in the lymph nodes.  Its usually in Asian women.  Its often mistaken for Lymphoma.  Biopsy is the only way to diagnose Kikuchi Disease.  He will be consulting with Big’s pediatric hematologist, Dr K, to see what needs to happen next, if anything.

 

I got to work and googled it.  Here is what I’ve learned.  It usually resolves itself in under a year and rarely reoccurs.  There is no definitive reason it occurs.  It can go away without any treatment.  Like anything else, there are times it doesn’t self-resolve and occasions where there are complications, but that is extremely rare.  Read more about it here or here.

 

I can’t even find words for how I feel.  One new Facebook friend, acquired through this ordeal, posted this meme, “Just when my hallelujah was tired, you gave me a new song.”  That is the most accurate description of my feelings I can come up with right now.  I have been feeling so emotionally weary and wrung out.   I am a kind of soul weary that sleep can’t help.  But now…. My HALLELUJAH is back. 

 

Psalm 126 is a favorite of mine.

 

When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”  The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.  Restore our fortunes, LORD, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.

 

This past month I have sown with so many tears, but now my new song, my hallelujah, rises to HIM.  HE HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR ME AND I AM FILLED WITH JOY!  I have my fortune, my daughter, whole and healthy.

 

May I only ever give Jesus all the GLORY.  And may this part of Big’s life, this addition to her testimony, remind her to point all the people she comes in contact with to the Giver of Songs of Joy, the Hallelujahs are always and only for Jesus!

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