Treatment Update and Prayer Requests...
After what feels like a million doctor appointments, consultations, tests, a second opinion and being flooded with information and statistics, it is finally time to start treatment. So ready or not, here we go...
Surgery comes first and is scheduled for this Thursday, August 18th. Please pray for the surgeons, for clear steady hands and wisdom during surgery. I expect a 1 to 2 night hospital stay and then home for recovery. Please pray for us as family during the recovery time, as Rob will step up into many of my usual responsibilities and for the kids as they adjust to Mommy resting more.
Chemotherapy will start a few weeks after surgery. They will look thoroughly at the cancer removed during surgery and use that pathology as well as how many lymph nodes they find affected to decide the course(s) of chemo. The oncologist sees two options for chemo that depend on the aggressiveness of the cancer they find. I may receive a less aggressive and shorter course of chemo or a more aggressive, longer duration and multiple drug course of chemo. It is also highly likely that I will have radiation once chemo is finished. That decision is also dependent on how many lymph nodes are affected. Right now we know there is cancer in one lymph node, but surgery will reveal if there are traces in other nodes.
I can't say enough how much we feel your prayers. We are seeing God taking care of needs that we didn't even know we had! I have never felt so loved by my Heavenly Father as I have since we received this diagnosis. He is using so many of you to show us His tender, loving care for us during this time.
How can you pray?
Surgery comes first and is scheduled for this Thursday, August 18th. Please pray for the surgeons, for clear steady hands and wisdom during surgery. I expect a 1 to 2 night hospital stay and then home for recovery. Please pray for us as family during the recovery time, as Rob will step up into many of my usual responsibilities and for the kids as they adjust to Mommy resting more.
Chemotherapy will start a few weeks after surgery. They will look thoroughly at the cancer removed during surgery and use that pathology as well as how many lymph nodes they find affected to decide the course(s) of chemo. The oncologist sees two options for chemo that depend on the aggressiveness of the cancer they find. I may receive a less aggressive and shorter course of chemo or a more aggressive, longer duration and multiple drug course of chemo. It is also highly likely that I will have radiation once chemo is finished. That decision is also dependent on how many lymph nodes are affected. Right now we know there is cancer in one lymph node, but surgery will reveal if there are traces in other nodes.
I can't say enough how much we feel your prayers. We are seeing God taking care of needs that we didn't even know we had! I have never felt so loved by my Heavenly Father as I have since we received this diagnosis. He is using so many of you to show us His tender, loving care for us during this time.
How can you pray?
- Praise for the providence of God through the faithfulness of His Church in our life.
- For successful surgery August 18th and good healing and recovery.
- For wisdom for the oncologist as he makes a decision on the course of chemo and wisdom when to start in relation to surgery healing and recovery.
- For our family, as we adjust and learn what life is going to be like over the next months.
- For our kids as they start school August 31st: for a good transition to a new school, new friends, and life in the US.
- For Rob, as he takes primary responsibility of caring for our family over these next months.
- For Rob, as he continues his role of Haiti Field Director from a distance and picks up some additional development roles made possible by his presence here in the States.
- For the RMI team in Haiti as they step up in responsibility and leadership over the next year. They are more than ready and more than willing, but they will be stretched in new ways as ministry continues at an aggressive pace.
Comments