6.04.2012

Surgery Scheduled and Prayer Request Updates

Cheryl/Sheryl (sp?) called me back from Dr. Hilgers.  It is nice to talk to a familiar voice after all the turnover there.  She used to do my cycle reviews and now she does surgery scheduling. I have surgery scheduled with PPVI on June 27th, a Wed.  This means my family and I will drive down Monday night, stay the night, enjoy Omaha with the kids and do preop appts on Tuesday, surgery Wed, post op Thurs at 10am and leave at the end of the day Thursday. 

The surgery will be an exact repeat of 2006-lap, biopsy, hsg, etc.  I am so grateful to get in much earlier than I had anticipated (we thought August).  Because of this, we are going to avoid this month.  It it were an August surgery, I would really have mixed feelings about that.  My whole plan that we did after Charlie that worked so we repeated for AJ has gone a little off course in terms of timing.  I am at peace with it though.  The important things are the meds that were in place are still in place, with the exception of the estrogen (recall I can't be on estrogen anymore due to my factor V).  Amazingly, my estrogen levels have been fine on hcg without it, which is such a blessing.

Even though the surgery is an "exact repeat", of course it really isn't at all like my surgery in 2006 and I am keenly aware of the difference. I have two beautiful babies I am forever grateful for.  Going into surgery in 2006, I had no idea whether I would ever have children.  There was uncertainty in the future.  Going to my surgery this summer is like the reunion and thank you to Pope Paul VI I have always hoped for.  It didn't work out for us to go to the celebration last year, but I so wish it had.  I can't wait to go in there with my children and thank them all, each and every one, for all their hard work, and show them all my two little angels: Charles Raphael, after the archangel who's name means "God has Healed."  And Anthony James, whose name Anthony means "flourishing." (The other names each have are for dh and my fathers). 

On a completely different note, my friend did miscarry and she is in quite a state of despair.  Please pray for peace and healing for her on all levels, as well as proper diagnosis and treatment, so that she may conceive and carry to term a healthy baby (many!) 

My friend who has cancer is doing fantastically well, meaning the tumor has shrunk to the point it is not manually detectable by a trained professional.  Her goal is stump the ultrasound tech at her last scan.  She will hopefully be going into her surgery (June 20th) at stage zero!  The surgery is quite invasive-double masectomy and ovaries removed as well.  She will have a huge recovery and two more surgerys for reconstruction and general tweaking.  She is going to need all the help she can get caring for her two children, 3 1/2 and 2 1/2.  She was having pretty minimal effects from chemo until lately-she had to have surgery to remove a fingernail from her index finger (infected, dominant hand of course!), a huge rash all over, and coughing to the point of throwing up.  All of this and I am most frustrated with her dissertation advisor who has put her through the ringer and continues to push her date back causing her to defend in the worst condition she has been since chemo started.  Please pray she actually gets to defend this Friday and comes through it alright! 

My dad is doing alright.  No change.  He can't have back surgery until October, so its quite frustrating.  He has good days where he overdoes it, followed by three days of constant sleeping.

My sister is learning all she can about my niece's Celiac's and they are doing great.  Your suggestions were amazing and I am so grateful for you all! The trick is to diagnose whatever is going on with her five year old.  She has been battling excema since birth and tested negative for Celiac's. They are looking at sister diseases and also retesting her with another method in six months.

Lastly, my good friend Laura's brother (only sibling) has been diagnosed with a horrible and rare form of cancer.  His prognosis is literally one or two months (he was dx 3 weeks ago).  He is married with three young children, only in his thirties.  They are trying to get a second opinion from an expert in this specific cancer. They are devastated, of course, but have a beautiful faith that is carrying them.

Finally, I am collecting phrases, bible verses, and general inspiration for my sister who suffers from anxiety.  I have a holy spirit necklace to give her and am also giving her a page of bible versus etc that will help her in times of discouragement.  Your suggestions are welcome.  I am including Jeremiah, the one about the sparrows and counting every hair on her head, etc :) 

6 comments:

Thankful said...

Praying for your surgery!

JellyBelly said...

What a relief to have a surgery date!

Chasing said...

I didn't realize you were having another lap. Where have I been? Glad you got an earlier date. Hope all goes well!

Hebrews 11:1 said...

Praying for your surgery and recovery!

All in His Perfect Timing said...

I'm glad you have an expedited date for surgery! Wonderful! I will be praying it all goes well. Keep us updated!
I'm so sorry for your friends' babies' loss. I'd been praying and hoping that all would work out. I'll keep her in prayer ... and your other family & friends as well. My paternal aunt had the Stage 0 Breast Cancer surgery/re-constructive surgeries that you talk about your friend having about a year ago. It's a lot to go through, but she is doing very well now and has stayed cancer-free.

prayerfuljourney said...

I guess you one of the lucky ones to be able to do your surgery in Omaha..when I called there..they told me that it would be a few weeks to schedule after they received my paperwork and then probably 3-4 months before anything would be scheduled. I couldn't do that so I'm trying to get something scheduled with a dr. Hilger's trained surgeon closer to home. Which dr is doing your surgery? I wonder if you got bumped up since you had a surgery there before? Just speculating.