Percentages

About a month ago I went in for my yearly mammogram.  My mom had breast cancer and so my doctors started me on my yearly "check-ups" about 4 years ago.  This year again they found a spot they were concerned about.  So I had to go back for a follow-up.  Mammograms are not comfortable, nor would I choose them often, but they are not as awful as some comics have described (at least for me.)

Any way... I digress :)

After my follow-up they determined that they needed to do a biopsy to determine if the mass they were seeing was cancer or not.  As I processed going through this procedure again, and knowing that there was a chance it was cancer, I came to an interesting truth.  When the doctor was telling me what she had seen and why she needed to go in to check on it, she told me that 15% of the time calcifications are caused by cancer cells.  I started pondering this percentage and realized something.  If cancer is part of my story... then there is a 100% chance this calcification is cancer. If cancer is not part of my story... then there's a 0% chance it is.  It all came back to trusting God with the story He has written for my life.  So often I want to get caught up in fear, what-ifs and really start worrying before I even know what the story is.  And so, as I went in for the biopsy, I was at peace, knowing that God was in control and sovereign over any result I would receive.

The doctor had warned me when she told me she wanted to do the biopsy that there was a very SMALL percentage chance that she would be able to get to it.  The mass is located way back by my rib cage and she just wasn't sure.  The day before the biopsy I sent out a prayer request asking people to pray for three things... 1) that I would trust God no matter which side of the percentages the results fell on 2) that the needle biopsy would work 3) that God would be glorified in the process!

The day of the procedure I walked into the room and the technician was anything but encouraging.  She told me that it was very unlikely that they would be able to get to the mass because of where it is located.  Everything in their demeanor told me that this was probably going to be painful, long and futile!  I even asked, "If this is so unlikely to work, why am I going to pay so much money for it.  Should we just go another route?" To which she explained, if it doesn't work, you don't pay.  And I was slightly comforted!

After the 2nd attempt (I'll save you all the crazy details) to get a picture that would tell them exactly where it was ... they told me to hold still because they had gotten everything in the right place for the procedure.  And you could hear the shock in their voices.  I was able to tell them that lots of people were praying that they would be able to get what they needed.  So thankful that once again... God was not bound by percentages.

The next day I received a call that the mass was benign.