Been a long time

Hi All,

I hope this message finds you all healthy and well. Sorry it's been such a long time since my last update. Last friday, 9/21 I had another surgery, hopefully this will be my last one. I had a hysterectomy, removed my ovaries and combined it with some continued reconstruction surgery.

Going into this surgery I was really expecting that I would be down for a few days and back and going right after. Wrong! Apparently a hysterectomy and oophorectomy (removal of ovaries) is much more of a major surgery than I gave it credit for. Although I'm doing pretty well, I need to rest and heal properly and that means I need help. I'm sure by now you've seen the requests made by Natasha to help and I really appreciate any help we receive. The rides for Luke have already been filled! It is so awesome to see the needs being taken care of so quickly.

We have been so blessed by so many though out this journey. Thank you all, for your love and prayers.

God Bless you,
Melanie

Surgery update

Hi all, Surgery went well today... Praise God! Thank you for your prayers and well wishes. It lasted around 3 hours with both of my plastic surgeons working (thankfully I have a pair of brothers who do all their surgeries together :) . I got home around 5:00 and have been resting since. Please, continue to pray for a speedy recovery and healing and for the kids to be sensitive to my healing and for strength for Mike as he will be on double duty. Thank you. Blessings and Love, Melanie

Small update and Surgery tomorrow 6/21/12

Hello family and friends,

I hope you are all doing wonderful and enjoying summer. Things have been really well over here we have been so blessed by the Lord. The kids all enjoyed playing softball and baseball this past spring. School ended 2 weeks ago and we went on a fun camping trip the next weekend.

My recovery and healing from my first surgery took quite awhile, but I'm now ready to continue the reconstruction process. So tomorrow morning I'll have a small surgery that will last around 2.5 hours (much easier than the big 12 hour one before ;) and after I'll be able to go home. Recovery for this surgery should be around 3 weeks.

Please pray for a successful surgery and quick recovery and healing.

Thank you everyone. Love you all. May God bless you.

Melanie

Slow recovery filled with LOVE

Hello loved ones,

To start, I want to say, Thank You, to all who have prayed, served, blessed, visited, sent cards, cookies, flowers, emails, texts, movies to watch, gift bags and baskets filled with all sorts of goodies, and sent their love to us! I have been so blessed by so many. People coming over to sit with me and care for me after I came home from the hospital. People coming over to clean my house, do our laundry, pick up groceries, and bring us wonderful home cooked meals, or have awesome meals delivered from restaurants! Let me tell you I can feel the love!

There are so many references to love in the bible, here are a few:
John 13:34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."
Romans 12:10 "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves."
1 John 4:19 "We love because He (God) first loved us."
1 John 3:11 "This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another."
1 John 3:16 "This is how we know what love is: Jesus laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."

Okay, so more than a few, but more kept coming. :) Jesus showed us the ultimate gift of love when he laid his life down for us on the cross and I'm so thankful to receive that love and I hope and pray that you too will receive that love. It's because of that love that I can go through this terrible process of ridding my body of cancer. I know my ultimate home is in heaven with Jesus, my Lord and savior.

My recovery has been slow, I'm still dealing with a lot of pain, nerve pain to be exact, which is difficult to get a handle on. I'm on a anti-seizure medication, neurontin, which is slowly helping with this pain. You have to work up to the right dose that works for you. Along with that med, I was also taking a strong pain medication, percocet, which was only dulling the pain. With taking percocet I was unable to drive, but it seems that I've found the right dosage of neurontin so I don't have to take the percocet anymore. Praise the Lord for that!! Taking percocet and neurontin left me in a bit of a fog. Not how I like to be. So I 'm thrilled to not be taking the percocet anymore. I can get back to more of a normal life. Except for how I need to take it easy with all my surgery sites.

I'm working on getting my full range of motion back in my arms and shoulders after the mastectomy. It's amazing how much we do and take for granted that we can actually do those things. Just reaching up to get a glass out of the cupboard was a difficult task. Throwing on a sweatshirt or my towel over my back is rough. I'm thankful to say, I can now do most of those difficult tasks. It's not easy to do some, but I do it anyways. :)

Please continue to pray for complete healing from my surgery. For the nerve pain to subside. Also, please pray for my dear friend and sister in Christ, Amy, who is battling breast cancer, that the Lord would rid her body of all cancer cells! That she would have a long life and get to see her grandchildren many, many years from now. :)

Praise God that He has healed me and has removed all cancer cells in my body! I'm so thankful to be able to say that. God is so good. Thank you, Jesus!

Sorry for such a long update, I guess I had more to say that I thought. :) Again, thank you all for your love and prayers.

Love and blessings,
Melanie

1/19/12 Update - FREE!!!

Hi all. Melanie's oncology surgeon, Dr Chi, informed us yesterday that Melanie is cancer-FREE!!! He got the pathology report back and confirmed what we've all been praying for! Such great news. Praise God!

Melanie is also FREE of the hospital too! She came home today (Thursday afternoon). This is a good thing as well. She turned a proverbial corner Wednesday evening, realizing the pain meds are indeed working, and that even as bad as the pain is and can/will be, it would be far worse without the pain medications, which was oddly comforting and greatly helped her to give her the strength to move forward in recovery. Again, praise the Lord.

We will be posting new needs either tomorrow (Friday) or Saturday to help us through the next couple of weeks, as we will be needing help with having someone here in our home to be with Melanie while I'm back at work. And we will also be looking for help with child care (away from home) for Matthew & Luke primarily during the week on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

We will also be letting Natasha and De know of these same needs, as they have let us know that there are many people at our wonderful church, The Bridge, who want to help. It's just so amazing, and humbling, and beautiful, and encouraging to me to see the body of Christ in action, and ALL of our friends and family and loved ones of all beliefs loving and supporting us in so many ways. Bless you all.

Ok...this was supposed to be a quick update, and I'm running long again. Need sleep, signing off for now.

Love you all,
Mike

1/17/12 Update - recovery...

Hi all. Mike here. Well, let's start with the good. Melanie's surgeons are still happy with the surgery and results and progress. The reconstructed tissue is still getting healthy blood flow and oxygen supply, which is GREAT. The incision sites are all still looking good. There are no apparent complications with anything "surgical" - praise God!

Melanie has had 2 blood transfusions due to a low hemoglobin count. While I don't think anyone jumps for joy at the prospect of needing a transfusion, her surgeons were not "alarmed" that they were needed because of the fact that Melanie was a chemo patient and there are usually blood count issues with chemo. We have not had any more blood count issues over today or yesterday thankfully.

Now to the difficult parts. Melanie's pain level has been severe most of the time and unbearable many times since coming out of surgery, even with all the pain meds. She came off the "every 10 minute button" on Sunday I believe, moving to a combination of oral medications and IV medications. Several of the physical therapy sessions have been either impossible to complete or impossible to even start on at least 2 occasions. BUT, there have also been some good, strong (as can be expected) sessions, which are encouraging. One complication she had yesterday was that her lower back started hurting even more than the surgery sites because she is hunched over whenever she gets up to walk - the abdominal surgery makes it impossible for her to stand up straight right now. But the back pain has lessened today, again - thank you Lord.

At this point, it looks like they may keep her at the hospital until Thursday or Friday now. Both Melanie and I would love for her to be able to stay in the hospital as long as possible at this point. Neither of us feel that she could manage outside of the hospital right now, even with me or someone else at home all the time to help out. Her need for professional medical help just appears so great right now...

Battling this pain in recovery has taken its toll on her spirit, as she shared with me 2 times today that she is questioning why she chose this surgery to begin with. Hopefully the Lord gave me the right words to encourage her this evening, and helped remind her that we will get her through this, more importantly that the Lord will get her through. It has been such a gift that our great resource, The Bible, provides such practical and helpful scriptures, encouragements and teachings for getting through all challenges.

I know I'm probably leaving some things out, but I'm pretty wiped out also. It's hard watching her go through this. And my normal thick skin is also a little worn thin with the kids back in school (thank GOD we had a 3 day weekend) and my needing to get back to work. I may be good at running businesses, but coordinating these family needs has me...out of my element, for lack of a better description? And please, only take this as an unloading of burden through confession of struggle, which is helpful/healthy for me to do. It definitely helps me to voice my struggles, which in turn lightens the burden and helps me get a handle on it all again. Now that that's off my chest - I can get back to having a good attitude and turning lemons into lemonade again! "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me" - Philippians 4:13.

"The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." Psalm 18:2

Please pray for Melanie that the Lord does miraculous healing in her body, and that she be blessed with strength and that her pain be wondrously and quickly reduced, that her body would be whole and healthy again. Please give her the inner strength to be a conqueror in this healing process. I love her with all my heart and would eagerly bear her pain in her place if possible. Please also pray that she would be allowed to stay in the hospital until such a time as that she would be able to survive and thrive recovering at home.

And I also KNOW that You, God, will get me through as well, as You always have. Thank you for the faith you have grown in me, that I can turn to and rely on.

Thank you all again for your love and support and prayers. Melanie and I both love you all soooo much! We could not make it through this journey without our Lord and Savior, nor without our loving friends and family. And thank you for listening. :-)

Love,
Mike

Friday 1/13/12 Update - post surgery

Hi Everyone.  Mel's surgery was a success!  Praise the Lord!  Here is our most recent update:

Friday afternoon update: Mel is doing ok. Lots of pain, but lots of meds too (which work pretty well thankfully). She had a fever overnight and another one today which they gave her Tylenol for (fevers are not good), but it's gone back down. Her hemoglobin count is low, also not good, but they want to wait to see how it is tomorrow before considering a transfusion. So far, blood is still flowing good to the repaired areas, which is great and very important. She also had a physical therapist come in and work with her to sit on the edge of the bed and then stand up, which was very tough on her. Now we're seeing if it's ok for her to have real food for dinner. I think that covers it to now. She's expected to be here in the hospital recovering for 4-5 days.

Regarding yesterday's surgery: Dr Chi, her onlcology surgeon who perlormed the mastectomy, finished at 11am and said his procedure went great and he did not even see any tumors remaining! He also said the sentinel lymph node looked good. We'll know for sure next week when the pathology report comes back.

Dr Kryger came out around 8:30pm after they finished reconstruction and said it went very well also. Yay! Again, praise the Lord! The critical part now is recovery and making sure the microsurgery that connected the veins to the reconstructed tissue heal well.

Also amazing yesterday was the support Mel's mom and I had during the very long 12+ hours waiting period during the surgery. We had people here in the waiting room with us throughout the entire time, supporting us, praying for us, and praying with us, which really was sooo helpful and such a blessing. Thank you all so much.

Thanks for all your prayers. I know it made a huge difference and totally helped. Please keep praying today about successful healing and recovery in these next critical hours and days ahead.

Love,

Mike

Surgery 1/12/12

Hello everyone,

Happy New Year! Hope you all enjoyed the holidays. The time has finally come for me to have my surgery this Thursday. I had my last major chemo on Dec. 1st. I will remain on Herceptin, a mild chemo drug through July. This is part of the clinical trial I'm on. I'm so thankful to say that I can no longer feel the tumor. My oncologist feels there won't even be any tumor left when they operate! How awesome is that?!

I have chosen to have a double mastectomy, which by itself is a 4 hour surgery. My reconstruction surgery will be done at the same time, which is a 12 hour surgery. At this time they will also be doing a sentinel lymph node biopsy to make sure there are not any microscopic cancer cells in my lymph nodes. I will be in the hospital for about 5-7 days. Recovery is about 6 weeks. I arrive at the hospital at 6:00am this Thursday to be checked in. The surgery will begin at 8:00am. I will be at the Thousand Oaks Surgical Hospital (aka TOSH). Mike will post updates after the surgery.

Mike and I were blessed to meet with our pastor and elders at our church this morning for prayers. I'm so thankful that we have our faith in the Lord to take us through this trial. I'm also thankful that in this time we have been supported and blessed by so many people. My prayer requests are, that the surgery would be successful. That there would be no cancer cells found in my lymph nodes. That during my time in the hospital Mike and the kids would be okay. For Mike to be able to successfully manage his workload during this time. Please, also pray that the kids would be healthy.

Once again, thank you for support, love and prayers. We have also posted new needs on the calendar.

God Bless you all,

Melanie

Giving Thanks

Hi everyone,

This Thursday will be my last chemo!! I'm so thankful to be coming to this point. I'm thankful that God has seen me through this difficult time. I know that as hard as going through chemo has been, I know it could have been worse. All along people have said how good I look and how well I'm doing even though going through chemo. Well, that is only because God is holding me in His hands. Isaiah 41:10 "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." All along this God truly has been holding me and guiding me and has given me peace. It really is crazy to me to know that I have cancer, but even crazier is that I'm not afraid! Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." My hope is found in Him.

Being on the clinical trial I will continue with one mild chemo drug every 3 weeks through July. Its side effects are flu like symptoms, much easier than what I've been enduring over the past 4 months. I'll be seeing my surgeon Dec. 15th to schedule my surgery. This should be sometime in the beginning of January.

For now I need to focus on finishing this last treatment. I'm sick now and am waiting to hear if I'll need to go on another round of antibiotics. Please pray that I get over this quickly and that It doesn't spread through our home. Also, pray that this doesn't effect getting my treatment Thursday. Please continue to pray for my insurance situation, that Blue Shield would end its investigation knowing that this is not a preexisting condition.

Thank you all so much for your love and encouragement! I'm blessed by each one of you and your support. We have posted more needs on the calendar. Thank you for blessing our family in this time.

Love and Blessings,
Melanie

#5...Almost done!! :)

Hi everyone!

Well, I'm almost done with chemo and I can't say thank you enough for all your prayers and kind words of encouragement. I'm also so thankful for the all the meals and support given to our family! What an incredible blessing in such a tough time!

On Wednesday comes my 5th chemo treatment...woowhoo! I'm almost done, with this part at least. ;) With having had 4 treatments it seems as though the side effects have intensified. The effects of chemo are coming on sooner and are lasting longer. Please, pray that with the Lord's strength I'll get through these next 2 treatments without such harsh side effects.

Thankfully, I was able to get my port put in before my last chemo and that is working great! I saw my surgeon last week and we discussed surgery a little more further. He definitely suggests having a bilateral mastectomy as well as having my ovaries removed, because of my family history. I will meet with him mid December to schedule the mastectomy. During that surgery they will take a few of my lymph nodes to check and see if there are any microscopic cancer cells there. If they do find some, I will have to have radiation as well. Please, pray that there are no other cancer cells found.

I really am so thankful to be almost done with chemo, with only 2 more to go. I could have only done this with my faith in the Lord. He has brought me through this and I know He will get me through all my surgeries to come. Through this He has given me such amazing peace. "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your heart and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7

Thank you again for your prayers, love and support. We have also posted new needs on the calender.

Love and Blessings,
Melanie