Garden Variety Pineal Cyst--a What???? MRI Results

Something about me seems to inspire doctors to use surprising phrases. Like the doctor that told me he was surprised I hadn't "kicked off" already. Or the one who blatantly told me I was the most complicated patient he'd ever had (or was that several doctors who've told me that?!)

Today I got another fun phrase. After a long, closed, full-body-stuck-in-a-tube MRI, plus several hours of waiting for my turn to see the neurologist and find out whether that cyst on my brain was really just a cyst or an actual tumor that needing dealing with, the famous, world-renown brains surgeon comes in, leans on the desk and tells me the good news: I have a plain old garden variety pineal gland cyst.

I wanted to laugh. I'm supposing he meant it's a typical, non-problematic kind of thing, which is good news indeed. But the garden variety part just had me smiling. I've never thought of having a brain cyst as a typical, garden variety sort of thing.

As I prepared for today, thanks to a beautiful Easter reminder that the resurrection is not just about eternity, but it's about living in freedom and life today, and reading the book Heaven is For Real (I highly, highly recommend that book), I had decided that I was going to praise God no matter the results of this test were, because God is good and His plans are good, and He is worthy of praise whether I "get it" or not.

If it was a tumor, God would have a purpose for that, and I would praise Him. If it proved to just be a cyst, meaning even if it is causing some of my health problems, they would remain because it isn't worth the risk to have brain surgery on that chance, I would praise God.

And God gifted me with a renewed perspective on how good I have it. Sitting there waiting for hours to meet with the neurosurgeon, I saw patients coming in in wheelchairs, one with uncontrollable head twitches, and one woman who had already had brain surgery, but her cancer was the type that would keep coming back. After looking around, I praised God for my garden variety brain cyst! I really am so blessed, and have so much to be thankful for.

Yes, I do have lifelong, at present incurable health conditions. Yes, they interfere with my life and limit what I can do. Yes, sometimes I miss the person I want to be.  However, God has purpose even in my limitations, and I have it so much better than so many people (right now I'm thinking of the millions in third world countries who, if they had my conditions, would have died already because they couldn't afford the health care I often take for granted).

We have so much to praise God for! Even in an MRI tube. Even in a neurosurgeon waiting room. Even as we wait for answers, or get answers we don't understand (or don't like!). Those of us who know Jesus Christ have reason to praise our own socks off, not because our lives are fluffy and removed from all trouble, but because our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and nothing in this life, good or bad, compares to that!

Thank you for your prayers. It looks like this whole brain cyst adventure is at an end, and I can work on accepting and trying to stabilize with the conditions given me. And yes, they are gifts, each one, because they keep me coming back in dependence on my Savior--really the only place worth being.

So, what are you facing today? Good, bad, ugly? Regardless, if you know the Lord, your name is in the Book of Life, you have a God who loves you and Who is working out a plan for your good. You have reason to praise your own socks off!

Even if you have a garden variety cyst in your head. =)