Waiting

The time on the clock ticks by ever so slowly when you are awaiting news, doesn't it?  For instance, I got a mammogram last week.  The doctor's office called me Monday and left a message to call them back.  So I called them right back...and got told that I'd have to wait until she was free to call me.  I waited for six hours.  SIX HOURS.  I was so nervous and I couldn't seem to get anything done.  When I finally did get a call, it didn't even last 30 seconds.  "Your mammogram came back normal.  I recommend you get another one next year."  That was it.  Yet, it was a complete relief.

Now I find myself again waiting.  My brother has been in and out of the hospital for weeks now.  He's been battling skin cancer for years.  After this last round of radiation they said he was all clear, only he found himself back in the hospital a week later from an adverse reaction to a medication...so they thought.  Then, they thought that was under control & sent him home again...only to have him come back in that night because the x-ray showed pneumonia in his lungs.  After another week in the hospital, he was sent home again with the "all clear" message.  Then the next day he was rushed back in an ambulance.

After multiple scans and tests they said that the tumors on his lungs were growing at an alarmingly rapid rate. 

Wait.

Tumors on his lungs?

It was skin cancer, not lung cancer!

They did a biopsy of the tumors and said it wasn't cancerous...but they don't know what it is.  Then, he became non-responsive.  He doesn't seem to recognize anyone in his family.  Oh, and by the way, we found "something" on his brain.  We'll have to run some tests.

And this is the good hospital!

So, tonight he was rushed into emergency surgery because his brain was so swollen they had to go in to relieve pressure.  And I find myself waiting again.  Waiting for a phone call or an email or something to let me know my big brother is okay.

It's these times that make having moved away from home so hard.  Knowing we're where God wants us is priceless.  I wouldn't trade that.  Yet, tonight...I'd kind of like to be in Pennsylvania.

Please pray for my brother.