It's Story Time

Hey Everybody,

Wanted to check in with you today.  It has been a looooong week since the procedure and surgery, but we are very pleased with the outcome and the prognosis from the doctors.  There are still a few more steps to be taken, but as for this first step we are very pleased with how it went.

Everything with the procedures, as far as we know, went very well.   Wednesday when they removed the cancer from the face and lip was a loooooong day.  I ended up being in the clinic for just under 12 hours and had a total of 6 removal procedures done.   There were some long and difficult moments that day.  It was disheartening to have them keep coming back in the room and tell us they had to go deeper and take more tissue.  It really was the most difficult day I have ever been through.  I was physically, emotionally and spiritually drained.  I knew God had a plan and was going to bring glory to His name through this, but it was a challenge for me to keep my hope in Him in the midst of doctors peeling away at my face layer by layer.  It was just a long journey, but through the procedures I can truly say that all the prayers helped.  Knowing there were so many people praying along with me and my family was very much appreciated.  Every time they came back into the room to start another procedure, I would put my headphones on and start listening to my music and pray.  The prayers definitely worked. Finally, the Doctor came in and was able to say that as far as all the tissue he removed from the lip and face, that there was NO more cancer in it.  He had the margins he was looking for.  The cancer had been cleared away.  (insert loud cheers here).     Wednesday night after the procedure I ended up getting admitted to the hospital until my plastic surgery appointment on Friday.   The clinic was not really prepared for my procedure to take that long and remove that much tissue so they decided to have me go to the ER and get admitted through there.  It was a long process but I finally got into a room about 11 pm that night.

The next two days I just waited for my plastic surgery appointment.  I was on a lot of morphine for pain but Thursday morning finally came and that was when I met my plastic surgeon for the first time after my removal procedure from the day before. My plastic surgeon came in and let me know that I did loose a lot of tissue, but because of what muscles and tissue he could spare I was going to be able to have a completely different procedure.  This was the first time that he said I was going to be able to have a skin graft.  Prior to the procedure last week we thought the procedure was going to impair my ability to speak and eat permanently, but with this new procedure my speech and eating function would not be affected so drastically.  This was a relief.  The surgeon said the procedure would be long and difficult, but the outcome was going to be a lot better than he originally thought.

( insert loud cheer again )

Friday and the plastic surgery came and went.  When I came out of the surgery I was very tired and I had a large bandage sutured to my face and over my mouth in order for the tissue to heal.  I had to be on a liquid diet for a week.  The week was filled with lots of great movies at home ( thanks to all the guys who let me borrow DVDs ), lots of meds, lots of ice packs and lots of sleep.

After seven days I returned to the plastic surgeon and he cut out the sutures and took the bandage off.  He asked me to say a bunch of words and everyone in the room was very pleased with what they saw and heard.

As far as step ONE is concerned we are very excited for how well things went.

We know there are still some things that need to be confirmed and tested.  We have some follow up appointments with a few doctors to discuss some options for making sure there is no more cancer in the body.  The type of surgery that was done ensures that there was no more cancer in the specific area that was removed.  And since the beginning we have known that the pathology report for my particular cancer came back “uncontained” which means there are a few more things we need to do to ensure that all cancer is gone everywhere in the body if on the off-chance some remains.  We will be having those appointments in the next couple of weeks.

God is continuing to show that HE is in charge and is taking care of things. In this whole process we have seen God continue to provide, continue to control, and continue to comfort in all situations.  We are grateful that we are part of His plan and that through this He has shown himself to be so faithful.

As we continue on to the next couple of steps to ensure this thing is completely behind us we know that God is going to continue to be faithful.  He is going to continue to be in control and to orchestrate His will in my life.  Continue to pray.  God gave us victory over step one, now as we continue on lets continue to pray for more victories in His name.

A sincere THANK YOU from me and my family as many of you have expressed your support and prayers through this whole thing.  Knowing that there were so many people praying for me, the doctors, and for healing has brought such a sense of peace.  I am humbled by the response and the outpouring of love and care I have received.  Keep the notes coming,  keep the encouragement coming, keep the prayers coming

Thanks and much love

Doug

Here are some new things that you can be praying for:

For the skin graft to take.

For all the tissue to heal.

Patience in waiting for the tissue to heal.

Grace as we work through the slight adjustments to speech and eating.

Wisdom for the doctors as they consider options for the next steps.

That NO cancer cells had left the lip and mouth area and it is in fact gone.