I want to tell you what happened to my mother.

In the autumn she found a lump in her breast. She had a mammogram and sonogram in late November that revealed a 9mm mass. Two weeks later, on December 14th, a biopsy was performed. A week later on the 23rd, she was given the news that she had metaplastic carcinoma, a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer. Her surgery was scheduled for January 6th.

Every Advent, my children and I pray St. Andrew's Christmas Novena. I'm sure you can guess what our intention was this time. We all prayed that my mom's breast cancer would go away. Pretty childish, huh? Foolish and medieval.

My mother's surgery took longer than expected. Apparently something happened during the operation that held things up, and they had to wait for a pathologist to come to the surgical suite. But, the surgery went well, and my mother did fine. In fact, she has not had any pain during recovery.

Last Wednesday, she had her follow-up appointment with the surgeon and received the pathology report. The surgeon began the appointment by saying, "Something happened during your surgery that I have never seen in my entire career." When the doctor made the incision to remove my mother's tumor, fluid came gushing out of the area, but no tumor could be found. The doctor finished the rest of the surgery as planned, removing a margin of tissue around the area where the tumor should have been, as well as the sentinel lymph node. The pathology report stated that no malignancy was found in any of the analyzed tissues.

My mother's cancer disappeared. The doctor has no explanation. 

The eyes of the LORD are upon those who love him; / he is their mighty shield and strong support, / A shelter from the heat, a shade from the noonday sun / a guard against stumbling, a help against falling. ~Sirach 34:16

Lisa, if you're reading this, my Christmas cactus--which started blooming before Thanksgiving--is still setting new buds and going strong!