I’m tired, drained, and emotional spent today and I’ve kept
putting off the blog update but this is something little I can give back to all
you wonderful people who have been praying for my husband. I wanted to update you and say thank you so
much for the prayers because Justin’s surgery was successful. Now define successful…..I think my definition
of successful has changed within the past year.
But in other words, he made it out of surgery alive even though they had
a few scares with his oxygen and they were able to remove the whole tumor
without his brain popping out of his head (Yes that was the doctor’s
words. Apparently his brain was trying
to come out of his head. But the doctor
said she was somewhat prepared for that to happen so they were able to work
quickly, give him some drugs, and keep it contained in his head) So that is the success.
Monday night before surgery, right before we put the kids
down for bed, Justin called me and the three kids out to the living room. He prayed with us all and for the surgery and
then we did communion together as a family of 5. It was such a special time.
Justin and I went in Tuesday morning with such peace about
everything. Neither of us were scared or
anxious and I know it’s because all of you prayer warriors had us lifted
up. We were both in great spirits. Surgery was about 3 hours long and then he
was taken to ICU were he stayed for the night.
Unfortunately I was not allowed to stay in ICU with him so I had to go
home alone. But I was back at his
bedside early the next morning as the nurses were preparing to discharge
him. Yes, He went from brain surgery on
Tuesday to ICU Tuesday night and by Wednesday mid-day they were sending us
home. I was just as shocked as you probably
are reading this that they send cranial surgery patients home within 24
hours. So after the nurse instructed me
with everything that could happen with him and how to handle it and then gave
me a list of his medications we were on our way home.
Recovery hasn’t been easy.
He’s had terrible migraine type headaches, very fatigue and his right
eye is spazzing with either loosing part of the vision or seeing flashes or
other strange things. But honestly it’s
been the easiest, as far as pain, out of his 3 melanoma surgeries he has had.
Wednesday when Justin was discharged was Fourth of
July. So he was able to be home with the
kids to be part of the 4th. My
sweet brother in law put on a firework display in our front yard while Justin
sat inside and watched through the living room.
Yes this is the second year in a row he’s done this. Last year we had just gotten home from Justin’s
very first melanoma surgery when he had the skin graft. He watched from the window as well. We are praying this isn’t a tradition and that
next year Justin can be out doing sparklers with the kids and letting off
fireworks instead of watching from the window.
What’s next? Well
today we were back at Moffit at 6:45am to have another MRI and then to be
fitted for his radiation mask. This
coming Tuesday they will be doing the one time zap of radiation to the tumor
that they were not able to operate on.
This one dose of extremely high radiation is supposed to hopefully kill
that tumor completely. In about 3-4
weeks, once he has his staples removed and the surgery sight heals they will
than do a five day radiation to the area of the tumor that they did remove
during the operation. This is to kill
any of the microscopic malignant cells that could have been on the margins of
the tumor that they removed. And then he will have another pet scan in 3
months.
God has given us both such great peace throughout the whole
thing. But I think we are allowed to
have some down days and today was definitely one of them for both of us. It gets tiring driving an hour numerous, if
not every day to Moffit, to sit in a waiting room with a bunch of sickly, bald
cancer patients. It’s hard to be stuck
with IV’s numerous times a day and keep the smile on your face. It’s rough watching your husband be in pain
and feel miserable and not be able to do anything for him. It’s discouraging sitting through appointments
on what our next form of treatment or surgery is or our next option to prolong
his life just a little bit longer. It’s hard accepting the fact that this is
reality. And reality is my husband has
cancer and we have to talk about what we need to do to prepare me and the kids
if Justin were to pass. But overall we both are doing exceptionally
well and I know it’s because all of you have been praying. We thank you for that!
Here he is right before he was taken back to surgery.
And this is right after surgery.
This is the art of brain surgery.
Here are a couple pictures from the 4th of
July.
Now you are probably wondering why Keegan is in Christmas
pajamas and Hope looks like her hair hasn’t been brushed all day. lol I had to giggle that night as I looked
down at my kids. Because those of you
who know me well know that I use to be that crazy mom that went all out for
holidays; I love holidays. I always
tried to have custom made outfits, yes even the boys, and their hair all done
perfectly. It’s amazing how much my life
has changed this past year and Christmas pajamas on the 4th of July
might just explain a little. Lol
I love my sweet kids and some days they are the only thing
to keep me going.
And here’s daddy watching from the window for the second
year in a row. God love him.
I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July. Even though we couldn’t go to the beach,
attend any 4th of July cookouts, or have the cutest custom made 4th
of July outfit; we still had a great evening together as a family.
I struggled to find a bible verse today that I wanted to leave you with, probably because of the mood I was in. But I think of the one that first came to mind the day of Justins surgery. It is Psalm 118:24 "This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." No matter what our life brings us we have to remember that this is the day that the Lord has made and we are to rejoice and be glad even in the mist of trial. Yes some days the rejoice is easier than others and honestly today I had to ask God to give me the joy so that I could rejoice today. And other days, like this past Tuesday, the day of his surgery, I woke up with Joy in my heart and I had no problem rejoicing because I knew God was with my husband through the whole surgery and that everything would be okay. And it was. So with that I leave you with Joy to rejoice because thats what we are called to do.
