Almost the same but different

This morning my hand momentarily touched on some lumps on my body. There are quite a few. (Most are where you can’t see them.) I’ve actually had them long enough that I very seldom notice them anymore. They started developing years ago and they became bigger and more numerous with time. I had them checked by my doctor who referred me to a plastic surgeon. He did what surgeons do; scheduled surgery. He removed the most obvious and/or bothersome ones and informed me that the lab said they were benign fatty lipomas.







During several operations over a period of time he removed as many as possible under the maximum doses of anesthesia that my system could tolerate. We continued until we realized it was a never ending battle (and my surgeon was to move to Israel). It’s OK with me because most of the obvious ones are gone. However, I occasionally still have people spot one and say, “What is that lump?” That is what started my “problem”.






I’m never much for details and the fine points of the English language. This is especially true with grammar and spelling. Thankfully, I married a proof reader with an eye for detail! I am especially vulnerable with words that sound like other words. I hate to interrupt a good thought searching for the proper word or name as long as people understand what I mean. When people spot one of my lumps that range from pea to previously almost golf-ball size, they work up the courage to ask me what they are. I would give them my best recollection of what the surgeon told me—lymphomas.


I was utterly amazed at the looks of dread and empathy that I got when I mentioned lymphoma. I thought little of it until my wife Natalie got involved. Because of her nurse’s training and desire to be medically accurate she insisted that I learn and use the correct word—lipoma, not lymphoma. It was then that I realized that I was telling people that “I’d had 60 cancerous growths removed and wasn’t worried about the rest of them.” I now know and remember that lymphoma is a cancer.






Although I don’t want to “one up” my wife, I think God sees things more like I do (at least on this issue). I believe that He considers lymphomas, lipomas, and anything else intruding into or onto my body the same way. There is no little or big or serious or not serious to God. He sees, cares about, and can handle it all. He is God.