Lisa - A Lesion Found

On January 13 I received the following email from Lisa. It will give you a glimpse of her life as well as more about her health issue.

In the flurry of all the preparation for my recent health scare here in China, I almost forgot to send the new train station pictures....this is going to be so awesome!! It ties Wuhan to Guangzhou and also to Senzhen in 3-4 hours! Shanghai will also be pulled into that equation, which means if I fly into Shanghai in the future from America, it won't take me eight hours (due to the typical layover madness at that airport) between Shanghai and Wuhan, but I can jump on a train & be here in Wuhan in 3 hours or so. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will include Chengdu very soon. Speaking of Chengdu, I'm heading that way again -- -this time for about 2-3 weeks ... may pick up on Lishan (the biggest Buddha -- at least in China, I think the world) and Kunming.

Let me break into Lisa's email and insert two pictures from my collection. The first is the new train station. Actually it is the second new train station in Wuhan. The first was for regular passenger trains and now the second, located on the other side of town, is for high speed trains, which travel at over 200 mph on a separate elevated rail system, which is being built in China.

The second picture is of the biggest Buddha.

I hope to meet with a few of my students over the holiday as well!! :) The new semester begins on February 28 through the end of June!! What a race!! So, pray as I prepare for my American History classes -- and for continued health....on that note, I have a bit of a scare, that warrants earnest prayer -- in today's test, they found a lesion inside my colon & it's being tested now for cancer. Truthfully, I'm a bit shocked and I'm rather upset as one would expect. Without medical insurance that would be about all she wrote for me, right? I don't really feel that sick -- the nausea left me many weeks ago, but at C DeMena's [the western medical doctor I recommended] urging I decided to schedule this exam, which I had this morning, which --- folks -- was ROUGH. Alice came through and was faithfully at my side again --- I was so glad to have her there as the post-procedure left me in terrible pain for a couple of hours, not to mention dealing with some really serious cross cultural issues this time; before, during, and after the procedure.

I think this is all I can write for now. I feel a bit upset and scared and I can't seem to think of anything else to write about at the moment.

We will pick this up tomorrow when the doctor gives the report.