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.

God is constantly preparing us to better understand Him and His plans for our life. Constantly showing us how good He is.  Constantly walking along side us through life as we live in a way that glorifies Him.    I know this to be true.   For years I have been a leader in ministry and I have stood in front of people and proclaimed both the goodness of God and the sovereignty of His plans.   For years I have been witness to the amazing things God has done.  I see His love for me everyday.  Even on days where we might not fully understand or have all the answers to the questions…God does.

For months I have been going to the doctors trying to figure out what was wrong with my lip.  After several doctors visits and tests they have found out what was wrong with it.  Last week I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of skin cancer.  It is not melanoma, and we praise God for that.  However, the nature of this aggressive cancer is going to require an aggressive treatment , removal and repair process.   The first week of August I am going in to have the cancer removed where I will have a good portion of my bottom lip and surrounding tissue removed.  This will be followed by an extensive plastic surgery that will repair the wound and allow the skin to heal.  The Doctors main goal is to remove cancer.  We are praying (and you can pray along with us) that the cancer has not spread any further than the lip.  We are praying that it actually shrinks before the procedure.  And we pray that the doctors would be able to confidently locate and remove all of the cancer and at the end of the procedure will be able to give us a report that the cancer was all removed.  Once they remove the tissue that has cancer they will test the tissue to see what type of further treatments might be necessary to ensure the body is rid of the cancer.

As a part of the recovery process I will not be able to speak for several weeks. ( I know… ironic).    I will not be able to communicate with you by my normal means.  The best ways for you to hear about the progress of the surgery and recovery process AND to encourage me is through my blog ( www.dougstoryblog.com ).  I will communicate regularly through this and you will be able to know what is happening and how you can be praying for us.

You can also find updates on our Facebook page.  Just search for SUNRISE CHURCH EAST VALLEY.

Our family and me included have been through a rollercoaster of emotions and experiences this last week.  We are still processing a lot of the things that are going on.  As a family we are discussing and planning how to prepare and how to allow for the best recovery.  Please respect our family at this time.  We are not perfect people, just people a perfect God is using right now to proclaim His goodness.  Please do not talk to Nicholas about what is going on.  We know that you want to let him know you are praying for his daddy, but we want to protect him from any undue pain and misunderstanding about what is going on.  We want Nicholas to have a normal 3 year old life.  He enjoys his friends his age and coming to church, and we don’t want him to need to grow up faster than he needs to by being involved in some adult conversations.  Pray for our family and for this situation to bring us closer to each other and closer to God.  We have always appreciated your love and support and will continue to rely on it from this day forward.

As for Sunrise Church East Valley Campus we will still have church services every Sunday morning.  Sunrise Church has been extremely supportive in this situation and we are working on getting several people to fill in for me.  This church was not built around me.  From the beginning we have learned and now know that the church is not a building.  It is the people who meet inside whatever building you meet in.  (School or church).  The church is also not a single person or personality.  It is a collection of people and personalities.  Community groups will still meet. Classes will continue.  Worship will happen.  Just the guy communicating a message will be different for the time being.  ( and in all honesty he will most likely have shorter messages than I did )  We are blessed to be a part of a church that has a lot of human resources, both on staff and volunteer, and those human resources are going have to step up right now.

Next week I will be here at church.  Pastor Jay will preaching for me and we will have a final plan of what is going to happen while I recover until I can ( and I will ) return.

This is not taking God by surprise.  He is not in heaven right now biting his fingernails hoping that Sunrise Church and Doug Story can handle this situation.  He HAS A PLAN.  The worst thing that can happen out of this for our church is that we cease to do what we have been doing all along.

That is Be ONE,      BRING ONE,     and      BUILD ONE.

We ask that you Pray Diligently for this process:

Pray for healing.

Pray that cancer shrinks between now and the procedures.

Pray that the doctors can remove ALL of the cancer.

Pray that the cancer has not spread to other parts of the body.

Pray for healing after the surgeries

Pray for strength for me and my family

God has chosen for our family and church to go through this at this time.  We know God does not give us anything that we cannot handle.  At this time God graciously chosen for all us to endure some changes.  He will provide.  He will succeed.  He will be faithful.  That is what He does.