Out of here!

I was just notified by the intern on call here that I am going home tonight! All of my "plumbing" is now working again, and my oxygen saturation #s are high enough after each little walk that I can go home without the oxygen as long as I take it real easy and breathe deeply. I am glad that we'll be going home before the next snowstorm flies here tomorrow mid-morning, and should end sometime early morning Sat.

Pray that I'll continue breathing better and easier each day, that the kids continue healing up from their colds (JJ came down with the same cough Jilli has had when he woke up this morning - but Jilli is getting better and JJ is only coughing), and that I'll get stronger and heal up quickly so we can get back home to Waldoboro for a few weeks ASAP before coming back here for the trasplant.

I'm packing the laptop up now, and should be back online tomorrow morning sometime in Claremont. Thanks for continuing to stay updated!

emerging from the fog

I am slowly coming forth from the fog that has enveloped me since Monday morning, and continue to have many things a-changin around here - I was taken off my pain pump this morning, I am waiting right now for a doctor to come and remove my chest tube, and they hope to remove my catheter tomorrow. If all of that happens on schedule, there is a slight possibility that I may go home late Thursday. As long as I am out of the hospital for the big game on Sunday, that'll be fine with me!

I took another walk today, and am starting some mobility exercises with the PT lady, too. I was able to talk to my transplant doctor last night, and he said the pathology report came back on the tumor and showed that it was all cancer, and there was no infection of any kind involved - fungal or otherwise. Again, the best part about that is that the entire tumor was removed! I appreciate the emails of encouragement that so many of you have sent my way.

Continue to pray with us that:
1) Lisa would continue to enjoy safety on the roads between Dartmouth & Claremont
2) Jillian would continue to get better from her cold (she has improved since Sunday) and that JJ would continue to enjoy good health
3) my pain would continue to improve, and that I would be able to be out of here sometime Friday

On other side

The good news is that the surgeon was able to get the whole tumor out...the bad news is that he had to remove the upper lobe of my left lung to do so. I will therefore have some permanently reduced lung function. The surgeon was unable to put in the epidural block to help with the pain, which would have been in for 3 days, so they are managing my pain with IV meds right now, which is leaving me in a perpetual fog. The surgery went longer then expected - when the surgeon opened me up and got in there, he said things were "sticky" from previous treatments, so it took longer to work around things then he thought. But, as I said earlier, they got it all!! I've been able to eat fairly well, although less then I usually eat, and I was especially glad when dinner came last night, since I hadn't eaten since Sunday night! I just took my first walk around the floor with Lisa, two nurses, an oxygen tank, and my IV pole, and it went fairly well. Tomorrow I hope to have my chest tube removed. I'm pretty tired right now, but I'll try to write more tomorrow.

On the road again (cue the music!)

Yes, we will be hitting the road again tomorrow to head down to Claremont for my surgery on Monday. I talked with the surgeon on Thu., and he said so long as I did not get worse than I was describing to him, we would go ahead with the surgery. I am the first surgery of the day on Monday, so I have to be at Dartmouth at 6am, meaning we have to leave Claremont at 5:15AM - I haven't been awake to see those digits on the clock in a long time!

Pray with us for:
1) safe travels - not only tomorrow but also for Lisa during the week as she travels back and forth between Dartmouth and Claremont.
2) my continued healing from this cold over the next several days
3) the surgery to go smoothly and be as minimal as possible, and that the recovery would be speedy and uneventful so that we might get to the transplant in a timely manner

I don't know when I will be able to post again, but either I or Lisa will try to post the results of the surgery ASAP, but probably not until at least Tue. Thanks for continuing to check in and pray.

Confirmation

I received word today from Dartmouth that my surgery has indeed been rescheduled to this coming Mon. Jan. 28 (time to be determined on Friday). We will plan to drive down to Claremont on Sun. afternoon to be there for the surgery on Mon. After speaking with my transplant doctor today, I have begun some oral antibiotics, just in case I am dealing with a bacterial infection instead of just the common cold virus. We don't want to see this cold hanging on at the end of the week and have to further postpone the lung surgery. Continue to pray that I am able to kick the cold and that the surgery would be able to take place on Monday.

Whiplash!!!

If there wasn't another change, it would be unusual, but surprises and constant change have become the norm rather than the exception for my life. During the night last night, I developed a cold consisting of a stuffy nose, post-nasal drip, and a "wet" cough, so I called the surgeon, as he had instructed that if ANYTHING (emphasis his) came up this weekend to call him. He said he'd rather postpone the surgery for a week than take a chance operating on my lungs with a possible respiratory issue - be it a cold or something more. Sooo...the surgery has been postponed until next Mon. Jan. 28, and so we are heading back to Maine tonight, and plan (but what does that mean anymore?!?) to return to Claremont next Sun. ahead of the surgery on Mon. the 28th. Wow! The changes continue to pile up, and we are beginning to feel the effects of it.

I will have to check in with the surgeon during the week, and keep an eye on this cold to make sure it's resolving by Wed. or Thu. so the surgery can proceed as now planned. So, you can now pray with us that:
1) the cold would resolve itself quickly
2) there would not be any issues with rescheduling the surgery for Mon. the 28th
3) Lisa and the kids would continue to remain healthy, and we would continue to experience safety on the road during all of these trips
4) that the stress level from all of these changes wouldn't continue to pile up, and that we'd experience a supernatural sense of peace

I had no idea, even this morning, that plans would change this drastically or quickly, but I'm learning the truth of James 4:13-15: "13Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." I am learning to hold all of my plans, however certain they may seem, with an open hand because I am not in control - my sovereign and loving God is! I guess we'll see what tomorrow brings - or even the trip home tonight!

Finally - a plan!

Well, after a long day of meeting with doctors and completing more tests and pre-operative procedures (we began at 10am and didn't walk out of the hospital until 5pm!), we finally have a plan in place! I will be "going under the knife" at 10am on Monday to have a segment of the upper lobe of my left lung removed. If all goes well, I will have minimal loss of lung function, but there's at least a fair chance that the surgeon may have to remove my whole upper lobe, which would reduce my lung capacity by an additional 15% past my already reduced functionality. Even if that ends up being the way things go on Monday, I will still have at least 50% of my pre-cancer lung function, which they tell me is better than many lung cancer patients. The surgeon doing my surgery does these procedures all the time, mainly for lung cancer patients, but he, my transplant doctor, and me all feel like this is the best way to eliminate the tumor and give me the best chance of having a successful stem cell transplant.

I will be an inpatient at Dartmouth from Monday until at least Friday, and will have a chest tube in until sometime Tue. or Wed. while I'm in the hospital. Once I'm discharged, I will recouperate for at least a few days in Claremont before returning to Waldoboro to complete the recovery period. The plan now is for me to begin my stem cell transplant 4 weeks after this surgery, which means it would begin on Mon. Feb. 18, and I would be admitted (yet again!) at Dartmouth for that on Fri. Feb. 22. I will then be an inpatient for about 2 or 2 and 1/2 weeks, and will need to remain in Claremont after discharge for an additional 4-6 weeks.

For right now, please pray with us that:
1) the surgeon would be "at the top of his game" on Mon. morning, and that he would be able to simply and easily remove the tumor without having to take the whole upper lobe.
2) the recovery would be quick and uneventful, and that there would be no infections or other complications.
3) we would continue to rest in the peace that comes from living in the love of Jesus and the absolute sovereignty of our awesome God.

We'll update again as and when there is news to share. Thanks for continuing to check in and keep up with our unexpected journey!