Acro...WHAT? Oh. Never heard of it. But God had...and He was ready!

After the disappointment of realizing that we didn't have a high enough support level to go back to Ecuador, we geared up for another year in Dallas. A couple months later we found out what one of God's reasons was.  Germán had for some years been troubled by something nobody could put a finger on.  His cheeks, tongue, fingers, and other tissues were growing and thickening. (It's hard to describe!)  He already had very thick fingers, and I remember when we bought our wedding rings, he had to have his enlarged; now that ring didn't fit him, and he had it re-enlarged.  His cheeks seemed to have a pleat in them.  And he'd scare me at night with his apnea.

I asked my endocrinologist if he had any idea what kind of a specialist Germán should see, given his condition.  The doctor told me to bring my husband along so he could have a look (no charge).  Almost the moment he saw him, he said, "You have acromegaly." It's caused when the pituitary gland produces too much growth hormone.  (If he'd had it before puberty, he could have become an eight-foot giant!) The underlying reason is usually a tumor on the gland.  So the doctor referred us to a surgeon...and then asked if he could take "before and after" pictures! (It's not a very common condition.)

On the way to the neurosurgeon for the first appointment, in August of 1990, we talked about the best time for the surgery.  Germán would need something like three months off the job to recuperate, and he wouldn't be paid, although since his boss really liked him, he was keeping his job open for him.  We decided the best time would be in January ('91), several months away.  We asked the surgeon if it was alright to wait, and he said it was fine, as the tumor was not fast-growing. We heard later that some of our kith and kin in Ecuador (and who knows where else!) criticized us for waiting so long, as if we were afraid to confront the issue.  (Just get it done with, already!)  But Germán had a logical reason.  He was the foreman of his shift at work, and he knew the production pattern for the year.  He knew that in the winter there was much less demand, and production slowed way down.  That was the best time to be away from the job.

NOW...enter God! (Actually, He'd been there all along, of course, but now we started seeing Him work again through others.)  Around Thanksgiving, when I picked up our kids from school one day, the teachers handed me several bags of groceries- everything needed for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. (Debbie had asked for prayer for her dad, but hadn't mentioned that we'd be income-less come January.)  Around Christmas, we got a phone call asking if we were going to be home. They didn't say who was calling.  Then a car drove up and several people started bringing in large boxes, and more boxes...Christmas gifts, foodstuffs, and coupons for perishables, including a turkey.  I had tears in my eyes. Apparently our pastor had asked City Hall to add us to their list of Christmas donations for the needy!   At some time, maybe after the surgery, I was called to the church, given a couple of big boxes and told to fill them from the church's "pantry" of donated foodstuffs.

Next act: my parents wrote about what we were going through in one of their prayer letters, and we knew we had more people praying for us...but not only that.  We started getting checks in the mail!  I can't remember amounts (just that one was a check for $1000!), but the $5 ones were as much appreciated as the $25 or the several-hundred-dollar ones. God had people send us a little more than what Germán would have made from his salary at work for those three months!

Then we had the expenses, not only the surgery, but the specialist appointments, which were way above our affordability! We worked something out with the hospital, and then with the surgeon.  My Dad had flown up to help out (another gift from God), and he asked the doctor if it was OK for us to pay his fee little by little (like $20 a month).   Fine, said the doctor.  Not too long after, we received his bill  - over $3000. (This was 13 years ago. Who knows how much more it would cost now!) But when we looked it over, we saw that the whole thing had been CANCELLED!  We didn't owe him a cent.

 Having this surgery done in Ecuador would have been a lot riskier (possibly more because of the post-operative care than the surgery itself), and we realized what a blessing it turned out to be that we hadn't been able to go home.  In the next post, I'd like to tell you about something that happened to Germán during his surgery.  It's something you read about others going through, but never imagine you will yourself.  Please join me!

(Before I go, remember with me Who paid our enormous Debt, so that we could have spiritual health and eternal well-being!)

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