Thank you for praying for Shannon’s mom, Jerry Lee Eads. This has been a rough summer for her, but all in all we’re so thankful for God’s extreme faithfulness through it all.

Early this Spring, doctors discovered a ‘spot’ on one of her lungs – almost by “accident.” After several, several consultations, tests and inconclusive evidence on what exactly the ‘spot’ was, they scheduled a surgical biopsy to remove it in June. During the surgery, they discovered the spot to be cancerous and at that time proceeded to remove the entire bottom half of her lung as a precaution. This is quite a drastic surgery – different from what she expected – and she was in the hospital for two weeks.

Never a smoker, Jerry says it’s a mystery how the cancer developed. But, only as God can arrange, the doctors are confident they discovered it (by “accident”) at its earliest possible stage of development.

Jerry has written out the story of her ordeal with all the cancer tests, lung surgery and slow recovery below:

Truly Blessed

My story started mid March, 2005 when I, along with several of our friends were all getting sick with a viral infection much like a cold that wouldn’t go away.
I found my way to my doctor’s office hoping mine was bacterial and that an antibiotic would be the “cure” I needed. You see, I took early retirement from Glaxo Smithkline Pharmaceuticals and I had been “sold” on the fact that an antibiotic would fix whatever hurt. Dr. Matt Gangwer informed me that as I had thought, the cold was viral and prescribed a decongestant along with some cough syrup, which I don’t recall ever getting filled.

A couple weeks later, I decided that I had been ill long enough and I found my way back to see Dr. Gangwer again thinking, my temperature may mean that I did need that antibiotic now.
Dr. G. knows me and just to satisfy me, he told me I was still with all the other people trying to kick this bug but that maybe we should do a white blood cell count along with complete blood work and a chest x-ray. I left his office empty handed but pleased that he was working on helping me get rid of the “crud”.

A week passed, and one afternoon, the phone rang and Glen answered to hear that my chest x-ray showed a spot on my right lung and they had me scheduled for a C.T.Scan on April 13th. After a brief scare, I went for the scan and a couple days later, I finally got my antibiotic. The radiologist thought the spot was pneumonia. I took a 10 day regimen of antibiotic and back to Dr. G. for another x-ray. From there, he recommended another C.T. Scan to be sure the pneumonia was gone.

The second scan was on May 13th. This scan still showed a spot but no one knew exactly what. Next, Dr. G. went more aggressive and ordered a P.E.T. Scan which shows any malignancy from the top of the skull to the thighs. This procedure was done in a Mobile that goes to the different local hospitals. They put lots of radio-active stuff in your body and let you set and rest while it goes through you. The scan then should show up the malignancy in a special color so the radiologist can easily recognize the problem areas. I was sure that was my “yes or no” turning point. “Yes”, I need to go further or “no”, it is not anything to worry about…probably just inflammation or scar tissue that has been there forever. My answer did not come back clear. It seems, the scan did not show the right color for cancer but it still shows something there in question.

Dr. G. then referred me to a pulmonary specialist, Dr. Lisa McKinney. My first visit with Dr. McKinney told me for sure that she was a very caring person and would do everything within her power to get to the bottom of this. She set me up for a “Broncscopy” where they go down in your lung with a camera and brush to check the cells around the area in question. This procedure went fine except when she got through, we still didn’t have an answer. Everything around the spot was clean per pathology but she couldn’t get all the way to where she needed to be so we still didn’t have a “Yes or No” situation..

Dr. McKinney’s next suggestion was to have a needle biopsy but I am quite leary of needles and opted to skip that trip. From there, she asked me to choose a Thoratic Surgeon for a second opinion. I choose Dr. Marcus Williams from the East Tenn State University teaching group. Dr. Williams has a wonderful reputation for doing Heart By-pass Surgery and I felt that I could certainly trust him with my lungs and if I should have a heart attack during surgery, the Doc would be right there.

Dr. Williams office was extremely nice and helpful. Dr. Williams was somewhat surprised at all the tests I had done and still not sure what they were dealing with but he told me that regardless whether the spot was malignant or benign, it would need to be removed because it could grow in my lung. The next thing I heard was me saying “just do it”. I am sure those words came from a higher calling.

I was in no way prepared at home or at my job with Necessary Oil Company to be away on medical leave without making arrangements. Also, I had signed up to help at Bible School the next week and it would put them in a bind to look for someone that late. However, Dr. Williams came back with a date on the calendar for the next Thursday, June 23rd approximately 11 a.m.at Johnson City Medical Center and this other voice I mentioned came out of my mouth agreeing to the time and place.

I scurried around to get some loose ends tied up at home and work and called the church to notify them that I was going to be a little “busy” during Bible School Week.
What Have I Done???

We went to bed earlier than usual because we had to be in Johnson City at 5:00 A.M. Friday morning. I walked into the hospital ready to take on the world feeling just super not dreading my surgery but just glad to finally get some closure on this shadow that had followed me since that chance meeting in March and now in June, I felt like we would soon know the “rest of the story”.

Well, surgery became a lot more involved than anyone expected. Dr. Williams recognized that my spot was malignant and proceeded to the next step which meant he would take the lower lobe of my right lung in order to remove the spot completely.

I don’t seem to ever do things the “simple” way. First, I had to have a couple units of blood. Well, I don’t really like having someone else’s blood, but at this point, I couldn’t thank God enough for that someone who had recently donated O-Negative Blood and it seemed to be there just for me. It was from the start of surgery, Murphy’s Law was with me. The first week was a roller coaster to say the least but the worse thing was an upper G.I. problem where I couldn’t eat for a few days, so back to hooking up the ole IV’s again and starting over.
To make a long story short – my hospital stay was 13 days and I lost 15 pounds which I couldn’t afford to loose (I only weighed 105 to start with).

Thankfully, on day 13, I finally got to leave the hospital at 6:00 pm. I was so happy to be home but yet so low on energy that I felt like staying in bed except for the fact that the bed wasn’t comfortable. I could only lie on my back and I have never been a back sleeper (either side will do- but not my back). Most of the time, I sat in the recliner or on the sofa with my feet propped up. I waited for bedtime and once in bed, I waited for morning to get up and try again. Comfort was a former way of life.

One week, two weeks, three weeks and finally four before I actually began to feel like I could be a little independent again and actually felt like doing a few things for myself.
I look back at those days and think how God was taking such good care of me. When my mind wanted to go, my body knew it needed rest and it stopped to rest and to heal. Above all the things that did go wrong, the main thing is how ironic it is that we found that tiny little spot and with all the grief it has caused my physical body, removing it has saved my life from the horror of lung cancer in a more advanced stage that probably would be past the operating stage. There was more to finding that little spot than humans take credit for. Dr. G. told me on my latest visit that he was sure that there was three of us in the room that day that he ordered the chest x-ray and that it showed up just large enough for the radiologist, Dr. Harold Ross, to see that there was a problem.

We have been so truly blessed by the one and only God who has protected us and given us another chance at life to the fullest to serve Him and to share with others my story of
how we have been “truly blessed”.