Friday, March 12, 2010

No Cancer!!!

So yesterday was one of the best days of my life! I'm sore, and have a rough time getting up and down, and rolling over, but my remote control muscles are working great! I caught an episode of The Price is Right, and now the universe is back on center.

Before surgery yesterday in the prep room, the Dr. came in to visit and talk about what was going to happen. He had already done that for me when in his office, but I guess it's standard protocol for the entire staff to repeat themselves. Each nurse asking me the same questions, and now the Dr. repeating the procedure... The plan was to take out a Lymph node in my deep groin - or lower inguinal space of the retroperitoneal cavity. While on the table, the surgeon would send the lymph node to pathology, so they could inspect it for disease (Cancer is all I was thinking about), if the lymph node was healthy, then they would go to plan B a deeper node, and continue this until he found a unhealthy node to sample. Luckily for me, the first node was diseased so I only have a 4 inch scar near my downstairs. I understood from the Dr. that if I awoke with a small scar then that meant I had cancer.

When I awoke I asked the nurse in the recovery room if I had a large scar up my abdomen or if it was a small scar. He replied I had a small scar, I then knew I had cancer. The nurse hadn't heard the results - actually I don't think they do, they just have a job of making sure I was comfortable. I tried to convince him that he owed me $500 for a bad bet he made with me before I was knocked out, but to no avail - he wasn't coughing up the dough! It wasn't until Jenny came into the recovery room that I learned I didn't have cancer. WHAT A RELIEF!!!

Turns out the first lymph node they removed was in fact diseased, but not with cancer, at this point they aren't sure, so we start a new waiting game while the pathologists study the tissue and figure out what is making me so weak, and sore. Dr.'s guess is Sarcoidosis or Valley Fever.

My faith in God, my testimony of tithing, and my loving friends have blessed my life this past month! I love you all, and I'm so thankful for answered prayers, answers that pushed us to move to Phoenix, answers that comforted my wife and kids, and answers that calmed my mind, so I could focus on staying happy.

With every blessing I've had, I was reassured that with the Lord's help, and the support of loving friends and family, the Limburgs would be OK, and we are! So thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. If I need to rally the troops again, I'll make sure to send out the war cry so you can come to our aid again. And if you ever need our help, please don't hesitate to ask!

I love you all!

9 comments:

Christina said...

war cry--hilarious!

YES the eyebrows will be saved and the mustache contest can move forward!!

Amy-Sue and Gian Del Bello said...

We, as your friends, are grateful to have witnessed this miracle in your life. We hope your health gets better so you can continue to be in our lives!

Ang said...

WONDERFUL NEWS Limburg Family! Hopefully they can give you a diagnosis soon.

The Gray Family said...

YAY!!! So glad things went well. Good luck figuring out what is going on, but glad that the "C" word is out of your vocabulary for now!

Melissa said...

Fabulous! So happy to hear that. Don't know what Valley Fever is, but it sounds better than Cancer.

the Chandler chronicles said...

:):):):):):):):):):):):) YES! So happy for your family!

Sara said...

i love the way you see things. loved reading this.

Kristin said...

We are SO grateful to hear you don't have cancer, but we do hope they are able to help you get well SOON!

Unknown said...

That is good news. Keep us posted as to what's really going on. Hope it something treatable. Good luck.