She Made it Through!

Wow, yesterday was a really long day.

There were tremendously amazing moments, and moments that I wouldn't want to do over again.

The day started early with my mom riding along with me as I drove carpool for school. From there I brought her to Blodgett for her nuclear injection. That went surprisingly fast which left us some time to ourselves to take a walk and breath in the fresh wonderful morning. We drove to East GR (where she works), parked the car and walked around Reed's lake for a bit, then we dropped in to see the ladies that she works with. From there we walked for another 45 minutes or so. It was a bit chilly, but the morning was beautiful, and we were able to enjoy a little exercise and some good time to chat about anything and everything.

We arrived back at the hospital around 10:30a and the nurses got her all prepped to go to the holding area. She was in her initial room from about 10:40 to noon. During that time, Mike, all of my mom's siblings, Grandma and Grandpa Veenstra and Pastor Scott showed up to support her and keep her busy with conversation. We had two wonderful times of prayer together as a group, which was so meaningful. Pastor Scott read Q & A #1 of the Catechism:

Lord's Day 1
Q & A 1
Q. What is your only comfort
in life and in death?

A. That I am not my own,
but belong—
body and soul,
in life and in death—
to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven:
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him.

My mom was very peaceful and didn't seem at all nervous. I think she was really ready to get on with this part of the journey.

At noon, she was moved to a holding area where they continued to prep her for surgery. Both her surgeons, her anesthesiologist and a nurse came to chat with her ahead of time. Her surgery was scheduled at 1:00, but Dr. Zadvinskis' first surgery of the day went a little longer than expected, so she didn't actually get taken back to surgery until 2:00. By then she had her "happy medicine" and was quite peaceful as she got carted back.

Dr. Zad came out halfway through the surgery to give us an update. He told us that they almost didn't go ahead with the reconstruction because the tumor was more "invasive" than they originally thought via the MRI pics. It, in fact, had grown a bit into her chest cavity and had begun to invade the muscle tissue. They ended up having to remove a good piece of her pectoral muscle to get all the cancer out. Because the muscle was infected, there's a high probability that she will need radiation. Depending on what the pathology reports show, there is even a slight possibility that she'll need chemo. We'll cross that bridge when we get there, but for now we'll pray that the pathology results don't warrant that.

Due to the fact that Dr. Zad had to remove muscle, Dr. Ford, the plastic surgeon, had to adjust his tactics a bit. There wasn't enough muscle left to create a pocket for her temporary implant, so he had to pull muscle up from her left side/back in order to have a pocket of muscle big enough for the implant.

Both the initial mastectomy and the reconstruction surgeries were a bit more involved than they anticipated, so she's pretty sore. That said, we prayed that the Lord would open the eyes of the surgeons to see everything they needed to see, and that they would get all the cancer out. It appears that they've been able to do just that, and that is reason to give thanks and praise! Also, we prayed that her lymph nodes would be free and clear of cancer. They ended up removing 7 lymph nodes and they all came back negative for cancer - which is a HUGE praise! Thank you, Lord!

Obviously we've entered yet another time of waiting . . . waiting for pathology reports, waiting to figure out "next steps", waiting for God to begin healing her body . . . but we have the promise that: " . . . those who wait upon the LORD will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

As we wait, we TRUST. We know Whose hands my mom is in. We know that God is her Creator, Healer, Redeemer, Friend, Rock, Fortress and her Abba. He loves and cares for her more than I do (which is A LOT!!!), and He will be faithful to carry her through this by his grace and peace.

Please continue to pray for her. Pray for good pain management. Pray for peace - she still doesn't know (as of last night anyway) how extensive her surgeries were, and she doesn't know about the possibility of radiation etc. That's going to be discouraging to her. Pray against discouragement. Praise God for the good news we DID get regarding getting all the cancer out and now cancer in the lymph nodes. Praise God that my mom, and her whole crew of supporters were truly able to be light and salt. There's no way that people sitting and standing around us couldn't have heard the "good news" and peace that comes from complete trust in God. Pray for healing. Pray that wise decisions can be made on the parts of the docs and nurses (and us) regarding what the next steps are. Pray that my mom will be encouraged, edified and lifted up.

Thanks for your love, thoughts and prayers . . . they are carrying us through!

Much love to all of you!