A Severe Mercy

Hello to all of you who have been "companions on the journey" as we encounter one of the most recent personal challenges that currently face me.

(I borrowed the above title from a book I read years ago.)

I have not "advertised" this widely until now, but immediate developments and questions from folks asking "what is going on?" behoove me to clarify the medical condition that confronts me.

I have been diagnosed by my dermatologist and accompanying pathology reports as having squamous cell carcinoma on my nose.  The bad news is that it has spread laterally under the skin.  I will need two procedures: one to remove all the cancer (called Mohs microsurgery), and the other reconstructive surgery (as someone wryly said)  “to make me beautiful again.” 

This will probably involve taking skin from my forehead to fill in the nose. The existing skin in my nose is scarred from previous bouts of cancer called “basal cell carcinoma”  making it unusable in reconstructive surgery.

(And all this for a guy whose face hangs out on TV. Back to radio?)

In our personal research, we have received recommendations from numerous medical sources locally and around this country who specialize in one or both of these procedures.

Today, my wife Nedra and I will be in consultation with a local dermatologist and tomorrow I undergo a second biopsy to determine just how aggressive this cancer is that is invading my face.

We ask for prayer first of all for healing,  and secondarily for wisdom as to what doctors I entrust myself to. We also need God’s peace as we face up to this situation.

For those of you who put stock in God’s Word, and who believe that He still speaks today, I received this assurance from a spiritual mentor:

"I have borne with you all this time, because I love you. Anything could have happened to you, (including previous bouts with cancer, a heart event and Menier’s disease/vertigo) but I have not let it, I have shown you infinite longsuffering and patience, and earnest care for your eternal well-being: because I love you, I have kept you alive, and have brought you to this time and to this place; I have not let you go.

"Strangely enough, many have come to find the love of God through the dark way of suffering... to discover that God was not their enemy but their friend."

I love you with an everlasting love... (Jeremiah 31:3).

Thanks all,

Scott (with Nedra) Ross