James Macdonald told me I was going to die

In mid July, A week before my wedding reception, I was washing my face to get ready for bed. I noticed a knot on the front of my neck. I was a little concerned but I had the reception coming up which I already had a ton of anxiety over. I didn't have too much time to do anything about my neck issue which I figured would go away on its own. Since I'd also had a cold around the time of the reception, i thought maybe Id just had a swollen lymph node from being sick. Plus I'm cheap, and doctor visits are expensive. We pay the first $4k every year on our health plan and I'd just dished out alot of cash on the wedding reception. I was also chewing tobacco for a few weeks, since my neighbors husband gifted me a tin of grizzly chewing tobacco for my 40th birthday, I thought it was likely that may have caused some lymph nodes to swell up.

August 10th rolled around and  the knot was still there. I could only feel it when I touched my neck. It wasn't so much that it was painful, it didn't hurt at all, its existence just caused mild concern having just turned 40 years old during the summer. I called my doctors office and they got me in right away. I met with a new PA named Monica Lyons. She ordered an ultrasound and some thyroid tests. She thought the nodule was likely a swollen thyroid. It wasn't , the thyroid tests came back normal. I put off the ultrasound thinking the knot might go away on its own, but it didn't. On our way back from Gatlinburg in early September it seemed to have grown larger and was more noticeable. It almost felt like someone had their hand against my throat and was choking me. So I scheduled the ultrasound when I got home.

The day of my ultrasound, I played pickleball to keep my wandering mind off things. I was driving home from Pickleball to change my clothes before heading to the ultrasound. I put my hand up to my neck to feel the knot on my neck once more, you know to make sure it was still there. I had the radio on and was listening to James McDonald's Walk in the Word sermon on moody radio. I had literally JUST put my hand up to my neck and was feeling this thing when James said in that moment these words:

"If you have a lump on your breast or your neck and you're headed to the doctor to find out what the prognosis is...here it is: you're going to die."

Word for word, from James MacDonalds Walk in the word series thats what he said...at exactly.that.moment. So that scared the hell out of me, I was sure my end was near.

I headed to the ultrasound place and soon enough that sucker was up on the monitor in full view , a centimeter sized "nodule" or "neckmass" on the front of my neck, almost like 2 nodules that were fused together. I left in a complete daze considering the implications of this thing being cancerous and the possibility of me dying a slow horrific cancerous death at the tender age of forty. Maybe it was the strange experience of having James Macdonald announce my prognosis at such an untimely moment, or the very fresh experience of having a technician confirm a strange mass growing on my neck only two months after my 40th birthday and wedding reception. I rolled into my forties looking and feeling great. I even took a selfie to show my facebook world how hot I still was approaching my mid life crisis. Then I got lumpy. My kids would now grow up wearing dirty underwear forever and never brushing their teeth enough and my husband would have to find a new wife on the internet She'd for sure be better looking than me, and I'd turn into a fading memory of naggery, burnt casseroles and terrible singing. I bet his new wife will sing like am angel. I hadn't even written my book yet!!

I had to stop at Home Depot on my way home...so there I was in a fog of despair walking through the Home Depot....and I'm not even kidding... this actually happened next...a life size Grim Reaper took a swipe at me with his grim reaper blade. A motion censored Halloween display Grim reaper. Yes that dark hooded and robed personified force that represents death...that Grim reaper. You could purchase him at Home depot for $159, this death symbol came at me out of nowhere because it sensed my motion, it probably sensed my cancerous neck mass!!

Now, if I wasn't already convinced when James Macdonald told me I would die, I was absolutely 100% on board at this point that God was telling me my end was near. And I'm thinking "Lord, Am I seriously about to die, or do you just have a REALLY horrific sense of humor?"

The MRI was scheduled for the following week, it came back benign...that was a great call that led to a renewed sense of gratitude for life, and a reason to drink two bass beers at the Irish festival that night to celebrate life. It took everything I had to not tell every single person I saw smoking a cigarette to quit right then and there , that life was too precious to smoke and give cancer an inch. Jeff was happy I didn't.
 I was referred to an ENT who diagnosed my neck mass as a Thyroglossal Duct cyst. He's removing it October 4; they'll send it in and look at it under a microscope to make sure sure there's no cancer there. The good news is only 1-2% of these things are cancerous, i like those odds. And I'll have a cool neck scar that will make everyone think I tired to kill myself. I'll blame it on Jeff, or the election, or Isis, there are so many rumors to make up with a nice neck slice scar.

Update: no cancer, scar healing and life goes on...thank you Jesus for keeping me here a bit longer to testify of your greatness!! xoxoxox
now on to that book I'm supposed to write! Jeffs new angelic singing wife will have to wait until theyre both old and wrinkled to marry him.