GOODBYE EARL!

Okay. Now before you read this go down to the post published before this one and open it up. When the song starts, minimize it, then you can read this post.
Let's talk about "Earl". "Earl" is the golf ball sized "mass" that appeared in my groin area (just above the bend in my leg). I was feeling some pain on Saturday night, March 15th and then found Earl on Sunday morning. Not something you like to discover just minutes before you have to leave for church. I talked with Rick (isn't it great to have a brother-in-law to call when strange things show up in your groin?) Rick diagnosed me over the phone with a hernia. Makes sense since I had been sick since the middle of January and my ribs were still aching from coughing for two months.
My doctor was out of town for Spring Break, of course, and I didn't want to wait another week to see him, so I called another doctor (big mistake). This doc says, "Ooohhh! Das biiiig! It's not hernia because I can't push it back in." Okay. It wasn't pretty when he tried to push the sucker back in! Anyway, he says it's my lymph node, and "let's be honest. It could be cancer." Thanks Doc. I'm feeling much better now! He sends me to a surgeon, but I can't go until next week cuz we went to the beach for Spring Break. Try keeping that off your mind for a week!
The surgeon agrees that it's the lymph node and puts be on an antibiotic for a week. I take it easy and it goes down a bit. So the surgeon says, "Let's wait another two weeks and see what happens." Meanwhile I can't even look at Mandy's blog and everytime I look at my kids I start to cry.
Well this is where faith, prayer and the temple come in. Tom gave me and blessing, which said that I was going to learn some patience and other things the Lord wants to teach me. I went to the temple and had the sweetest experience I've ever had. I learned great lessons that day and I came home feeling like everything was going to be fine.
To make a long story short, the doctor finally decides "Earl had to die" and wants to schedule surgery right away (he doesn't agree with me that it's a hernia). He said he would remove the "mass" and have a biopsy on it. I just hated the word "mass". Well this was right before my dance recital and Hollywood kids performances, so I had to put the surgery off for another month. Finally I go in for surgery on Wednesday. It's scheduled for 12 and the doc had an emergency. So they finally wheeled me in for surgery at 4:40. It was kind of scary since I had never had any surgery before. But everything went well. I woke up to the doctor saying, "It was a hernia". The nurse told Tom it was a big ole hernia. Rick's such a great doctor. He can diagnose over the phone!!!
I'm doing fine now. A bit sore but feeling better every day.
GOODBYE EARL!!!!!!!!