It's February and Tom has been complaining he just doesn't feel good. He goes to the Doctor because he has had a problem with depression since he had a stroke a few years back. The medication is prescribed for that and we make an appointment for a physical in April.
Around March a swelling started on the inside of his left knee. It's uncomfortable, being he has the appointment with the Doctor already I remind him to have the Doctor look at it for him.
The blood work for the physical comes back everything is fine, the Doctor says he is fine but he doesn't know why his knee is swollen. So Tom goes for an x-ray, This is where all the Divine intervention starts. Normally the chiropractic office his niece and husband operate is closed on Saturday, but the day Tom stopped there to ask for an x-ray Glenn is there doing some odd jobs around the office. He stops what it is he is doing and goes in to take the x-ray.
He looks at it and says something is wrong, but I am not a Dr. and I will have this x-ray read and get back to you. Within a day Christine, Tom's niece, who is a chiropractor and a medical student calls Tom at work for him to come home right now he needs to have an MRI. Of course, Tom protested saying he was working, but he realized something must be very wrong because of her persistence.
The MRI is done and confirmation of some kind of cancer is diagnosed. Originally everyone said that Tom would probably lose his leg. As you can imagine we are blindsided with this news and can't think straight. But by luck or Divine fate, Christine is the medical student and a chiropractor she arranged for the subsequent test to be done within the next few days. I was so upset it would have taken me weeks to get all these appointments arranged. Plus with all the contacts from having been in the business, and school, the test result were given back the same day.
For the last few years with depression and anxiety, Tom was suffering. I was searching for a coping mechanism which I found in Yoga and meditation. Most people don't understand that meditation is not something unusual, it's listening. Praying is talking to God and meditation is listening. While I was meditating I saw that Tom wouldn't lose his leg. I saw a drawing of a bone replacement and a leg with no skin on it, just muscle. The foot was moving and the indication was the muscle would be the problem. In the next scene, I saw a foot poking up under the covers, the left foot was flopped over to one side. It was as though I was Tom and I was looking down at my own feet. I knew then Tom would not lose his leg. There had always been a question as to if there could be reconstruction or if it would be an amputation.
One night I had a short dream. It was very different; I saw my hand holding a little pot with a paper lid. I open the lid and a voice said "holy oil". I remember thinking to myself "oil"? I thought it was holy water, I never heard of holy oil. I am converted Catholic and may not have learned all there is to know.
Women at the gym are a great support group of very loving people. Ann Du Haime and I have known each other for about 25 years. After our Pilates class, Ann said: "I heard Tom is not well, what is going on?" So I explained the cancer situation to her and she began to tell me about her granddaughter and Ray's painting of St Ann and the Blessed Mother. When she told the painting weeps holy oil, I said "Ann I had a dream about holy oil last night." I explained the short dream to her. She and I agreed this is a sign and we must get in touch with Ray. Ann arranged a phone call with Deenie and Ray that night. Tom was going back to the hospital the next day for more chemotherapy. We prayed together on the phone that night. I visited the rosary house to pray with the group. I took home holy oil and put it on Tom every day and prayed the rosary.
Tom has had 2 chemotherapy sessions, then a surgery to replace the tumor and bone including his knee. The morning of the surgery all the Doctor's come in to talk to you. I had a few questions for Dr. Wittig, he sits down and as we are talking he says look what I have and put this large metal cross in my hand. He said it was made by a patient with the metal from the world trade center. Having the concerns of the surgery on my mind I didn't realize what happened until a few days later. All of a sudden I remembered. "Wow, he handed me a cross!" That was a sign from Above.
After a six-hour surgery, the Dr. came to me with a huge smile on his face. He told me Tom did well and the surgery went well. About a 1\2 hour later the nurse comes to being me to the recovery room. The nursed assigned to him was at the bottom of the bed, all the monitors on one side of the bed. I went to the side that was clear for me to get near his head to talk to him As I was rubbing his face to comfort him and let him know I was there Tom asked me "Do I have two legs?" I was bent over him near his face when I look up towards his feet and reassured he was whole, I saw exactly what I saw in the meditation, which explains why in the picture I saw in my mink, it looked like I was Tom.
Finally, the pathology report comes back. On Friday 08/18/2006 the oncologist comes and says, "I guess you heard the good news?" We said "No". The Dr said the tumor was entirely dead! What more could you ask for? Tom still needs Chemotherapy 2 more times just to be sure more cancer cells aren't around. The treatment is very hard on his system but we have to go through with it.
I pray the rosary daily and pray in gratitude for the blessing we received. On my refrigerator are the words Ask, Trust, Believe, Let-go and Thank. When you say your prays know that they are heard.