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
Friday, January 20, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
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
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, January 13, 2012
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,
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
Sunday, January 8, 2012
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