Has your life been blessed by someone God placed in your path? Perhaps by a stranger, or by someone you barely know who was simply doing their job? I am indebted to an eye doctor God placed in my mother’s life at just the right moment. Here is the story:
“I’ll clean up, and you get ready,” I said to my mom after enjoying a bowl of her homemade vegetable soup. She had invited me over for lunch before I took her to a follow-up eye appointment. A few weeks before, she had seen her eye doctor because she was experiencing slight vision loss in one of her eyes. The doctor did several tests, but the results were negative, so she ordered an MRI.
While I was wiping down the countertop, my mother walked out of her office and set a piece of paper in front of me. “Do you want to see the results of my MRI?” she asked.
I looked at the report and saw the first clue that our whole world would be changing. “Evidence of meningeal carcinomatosis,” the report stated. I didn’t know what that was, but I knew enough to know that it meant her cancer was back. I took a deep breath and tried to hide my shock.
“Do you know what that is?” I asked.
She glanced at me sideways and said, “I guess we’ll have to ask the doctor.” Does she know more than she is letting on?
I headed for her office to do a Google search, but Mom grabbed her purse and tote bag and said, “We need to leave now.”
We arrived at her doctor’s office and entered a full waiting room. A woman switched seats so we could sit together. We sat next to each other, but we were each lost in our own thoughts. I leafed mindlessly through some magazines, and Mom stared at the same page on her Kindle reader.
After a long wait, we were escorted into an examining room, and the nurse ushered my mother into a large black leather exam chair. I plopped down opposite her in a small chair against the wall.
After a few minutes, we heard heels clicking down the hall, and soon a young doctor walked in, a petite young woman with flawless dark skin and long black corkscrew curls that contrasted with her long white tailored lab coat. “Elizabeth, I see you brought your daughter,” she said, then she extended her hand to me. “I’m Dr. Sharma.*”
“Nice to meet you. My mother has been bragging about you,” I said, shaking her hand.
She smiled and said, “Elizabeth, has there been any change?”
“No,” she said, “no better, no worse.”
“I am perplexed by this. All your tests came back negative. Let’s see what the MRI shows,” Dr. Sharma said as she flipped through some papers on her clipboard. “The results aren’t here,” she said and turned to leave the room.
“I brought a copy,” my mother said as she pulled a paper out of her tote bag and handed it to the doctor. She studied it carefully, then turned away for a moment, as if trying to keep her composure.
“What are you asking me?” she said when she turned back around.
“Can you tell me what this means?” my mother asked.
Her eyes grew wide, “I am so sorry. I have never seen anything like this. This was not what I was expecting at all!” She then checked the pressure in Mom’s eye, which was normal, and looked more closely at the report.
“I can’t see behind the optic bone, so you need another MRI, specifically of the orbital bone. And I am going to refer you to a neuro-ophthalmologist. This is beyond my expertise.” She looked at her clipboard again. “And I see you have a previous breast cancer diagnosis.”
“Yes,” my mother said, “I was treated thirteen years ago, and my tumor markers have indicated metastasized cancer for several years.”
“You must contact your oncologist right away,” she said, looking directly at Mom. “I need to see you back in two weeks, and please contact me if you need anything before then.” The sound of clicking heels echoed down the hallway.
Back at Mom’s apartment, I called the oncologist’s office. I spoke to the nurse and read her the diagnosis on the MRI report. She said the doctor would pull up the results and call to schedule an appointment. I resisted the urge to Google her diagnosis. Better to hear it from her oncologist. Then I emailed my sisters and brother to give them a heads-up.
I drove away from my mother’s apartment filled with fear and foreboding. Mom seemed as healthy as ever, but what was lurking beneath the surface? After years of meticulously following her anti-inflammatory diet, did her metastasized breast cancer finally catch up with her? I dreaded what the next steps might be.
But then I thought of the young eye doctor, just out of med school, who wasn’t willing to leave any question unanswered. Whose persistence and tenacity accidentally uncovered a surprising diagnosis. It gave me hope to realize that God placed Dr. Sharma in our path for a reason. I didn’t know what lay ahead, but I could rest in peace knowing God would be with us through whatever the journey would be.
Take a moment today to reflect on who God has placed in your path to bless you and your family.
*Name has been changed.
**Background image by YangGuangWu from Pixabay