Surgery Part Two

This afternoon Val and I met with her Doctor about scheduling the next surgery she needs along with answering a variety of questions for us.  Her surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, March 17th.  The surgery is going to be the “full zipper” treatment where he opens her way back up.  The goal is to remove about 2cm of the lower tube area (there was a medical name for this but “tube area” will suffice).  It sounds like the hospital stay will be a few days rather than a week this time and as a bonus, the goal is to have her stay back on the same floor since we already have the nursing staff broken in there.

The doctor was very surprised to find cancer cells that low and, as in years past, we heard someone in the medical community tell Valerie, “you are an unusual case”.  There is one longer term challenge with finding cancer cells in this area.  With her stomach removed, this lower area is now isolated and not really being used or accessible.  That is going to make monitoring any sort of future cancer growth in this area challenging.  She will have regular follow-ups and be monitored, but still no real way of telling if something decides to grow there again.  With all that said, we are going to seek a second opinion from an oncology doctor about any sort of preventative steps we may want to consider.  I shared with Val that the Lord has always seen fit to find ways to let us know about a health challenge she may be having and He will be faithful to let us know again in the future.

She has been doing wonderful adjusting to a new life style.  It hasn’t been without its ups and downs, but in general she has exceeded expectations for recovery.  We look forward to putting all this surgery and hospital stays behind us in the near future!

Please pray for wisdom as we contemplate any additional treatment along with an easy recovery for this next surgery.  We so appreciate the prayers and encouragement that we have received and are beyond thankful that you all have been Jesus’ hands and feet to us!  As new updates occur, we will keep you posted!

Marc