My sweet family had thrown together a little pre-surgery party the evening before. (I assumed it wasn't a Going-Away Party! Because God and I had other plans...)

I treasure this photo of me with my 7 (at the time) grandchildren the night before THE BIG DAY. I sure had (and have!) a lot to live for!!!

Kim drove me to Community North Hospital in Indianapolis, arriving there at 5 am for the 7:30 surgery. My sister Barb (who took these next few photos) met us there with Mama, along with Kristoffer and Dana, Emily, Kyler and Kara (7 months pregnant with Lucy). 

Wasn't Kim just having a good old jovial time while I was under the knife?!

How blessed I was (and am!) to have my very own army of Prayer Warriors, both at the hospital as well as at home, praying for me! Never, ever will I take that for granted!

They kept tabs on me via the monitor.  Case #274445.

Thanks to God guiding my awesome surgeon Dr. Narayanan's hands, as well as his trusty robotic sidekick the DaVinci machine, my surgery was a complete success! After a 4-hour surgery, I eventually woke up to 5 small incisions (from the DaVinci machine), a 3" incision in my abdomen (to remove that nasty old tumor and several inches of surrounding colon), as well as a temporary ileostomy which I used for 10 weeks before its reversal in March 2016.

Kim was wonderful taking good care of me, and my sister Maria flew up from Florida to stay with me for a few days. This photo was taken 2 weeks post-surgery, and I was definitely on the mend.

As I think back to that day and the weeks following, it seems much longer than a year. I think I was in a fog much of the time, but now I've come back with a vengeance and a mission to embrace life like never before!

That 3" inch abdominal scar can barely be seen today. The human body's healing capacity (as designed by our Creator God!) is truly amazing.

(Ignore the old-lady white wrinkly skin surrounding it...)

On second thought, don't ignore it.

As I read this reminder, I realize that my aging skin is another "badge" of life! Along with all the scars I've "achieved" in my almost-60 years here on earth.

God has RICHLY BLESSED me!!! I still have a lot of LIVING yet to do!

What a difference a year makes!