Month: March 2020

Thursday afternoon I received a text message from my wife letting me know I could come bust her out of the hospital.  The doctors had pulled her drain, IV and were happy with her overall recovery, it was time to send her home.

Due to the COVID-19 situation, it was kinda of interesting and surreal at the same time to coordinate her pick-up.  At the appointed time, I arrived at the hospital’s main entrance with a circular drive and then called to await further instruction.  She answered right away and let me know to pull forward.  We got her all loaded into the car and whisked her away, it was probably 3 minutes tops.  The only thing that could of been more interesting would have been provided a drive-up speaker to place my order!  “I’ll have a number 1 please, with extra packets of love”….

She arrived safely at home and has been nicely sequestered to keep her away from the nasty bugs.  The main side effect other than being tired is a little soreness.  Which is pretty amazing given she had major surgery on Tuesday.  She even managed to drive a little yesterday.  When I put up a little fuss about her doing that, her answer was as long as she was off her opioid pain killers, she was good to go.

Yesterday the surgeon called to let us know pathology came back with no signs of cancer cells in the portion they trimmed off, which is a major blessing!  Out an abundance of caution, we are having Val’s regular oncologist set us up for an appointment with an oncologist specializing in gastric cancer.  The goal being to get a second opinion regarding any follow-up treatment that may be prudent.  Our prayer is that visit goes well and the recommendation is for no further treatment other than monitoring.

Overall this whole process has been interesting and I need to sit and ponder the life lessons gained from this latest health situation.  That will probably need to take place over the span of some time as things calm down from our present world wide health situation.  Right now with so much in flux it is hard to sit and ponder.

Both Val and I continue to live solidly in the present, enjoying the littler things in life and time spent with each other.  We also have continued to grow in our faith that the Lord is not surprised and He has all things under His control.  Believe me, I know that doesn’t mean life always smells like roses.  There has been plenty of loss in our family for me to know otherwise.  There is a resolve though, knowing that ultimately He is working to make us all more like His Son.  That is definitely a process each one of us on our own journey can attest to and appreciate.

We will continue to keep you posted as this journey continues and please, please know how appreciative we are for all the love and prayers!

Marc & Valerie

 

We are living in some very interesting times!  I am sure all of you are dealing with the current COVID-19 situation in your own way each with a unique set of circumstances.

As you may remember, Val’s second surgery was scheduled for today.  We waited yesterday for word from the hospital to see if the plans might be altered.  We waited and then waited some more and finally received a call letting us know that only essential surgeries are being performed and that we should have her at the hospital at 6am.  So we guessed she made the “essential list”.

So 6am arrives pretty soon in the morning….  We arrived at the hospital to a “Disney World” style roped off line that wound a little through the main lobby.  It kind of was like going through airport security actually, even had an armed guard standing by as we all got checked in.  The check in went well and then we headed up to the family waiting area to get called back for surgery prep.  It was pretty quiet as there were only a handful of appointments for them today.

Val got called back and I was actually able to go back with her as they prepped her for surgery, which we were unsure they would allow.  She got all the same stuff as last time, including the nerve block in the tummy.  That little procedure comes with the added benefit of some good drugs to help make you not care they are sticking needles in your belly.  We just had to show them our Platinum Elite membership card to the hospital and they knew to do the rest.  Side note: one of the nurses prepping Val looks through her past history and mentions “you have been through an awful lot”.  That was the understatement of the day……

When the time came for surgery I moved back to the family waiting room to await a message from the Dr. about her progress.  I got all settled in nicely; those of you who have seen me spread out to work know what “settled in” looks like.  It didn’t seem like much time went by when I got a message that they were all done and Val was in recovery.

In meeting with the surgeon he was happy with how the procedure went.  He trimmed off the amount he was planning on and was happy with how things went back together.  Now they send this little trimmed piece to pathology and we await to see how things look from a cancer cell perspective.

The hospital currently has in place a “no visitors” policy, so off premises I had to go once meeting with the surgeon.  The hospital took my number down and said they would call once she was settled into her room.  That call just came in and my guess is she is going to sleep the rest of the afternoon.  I am definitely looking forward to a little FaceTime with her later this evening!

It was great to get all the well wishes and prayers over the past several days.  We continue to be immensely grateful for the support team around us and the love shown to us!  Our continued prayer is that through all these experiences, Jesus would be praised and made much of as He works in our lives and those around us.

Currently, we are expecting her to be in the hospital for a couple of days.  We will keep you posted on test results and recovery.    

Marc