It's been a little while since I posted something. My dear grandfather had a heart attack in mid- March and spent five rocky weeks in the hospital. I spent as much time with him as I could and we had some great moments. We also had our fair share of heart-wrenching moments. The family was called into the hospital three times while he was there and we were told to get there as fast as we could because things didn't look good. The third time we got the news we had been dreading.
Grandpa was in CICU for all but one of the weeks he was in the hospital. His doctors and nurses took extraordinary care of him. They told us he was the favorite patient and everyone wanted to have him as their patient. He was in and out of coma and had open heart surgery, as well as several other intense procedures. Therefore, he was sedated quite a bit and was on dialysis and a ventilator most of the time, making him very tired. It wasn't easy seeing him like that. He fought hard and long getting his strength back up, but each procedure set him back in his recovery. April 22 God called him home.
A HUGE thank-you to all who prayed for him, my grandmother and my family. He was the most wonderful grandfather to my brothers and me. We all miss him very much. We are so blessed to have had him in our lives for so long and will cherish the many memories we have of him. He is gone, but never forgotten. And though we feel a huge loss, we are comforted to know that he is rejoicing in Heaven now and forever.
As you know, Nick and I have wanted to start a family for quite some time. We had a plan that involved me getting pregnant the month that all of my testing began and we were forced to put it off. Then my disease metastasized in my pelvis and diseased my ovaries, requiring me to undergo chemotherapy. I was told that the amount of two of my chemo drugs in particular would most likely leave me unable to get pregnant. Then when the surgeon went into my pelvis to remove what was left of the tumors after chemo, he found the tumors to be growing off of my ovaries. He was able to salvage parts of both ovaries, but was sure that they were dried up and dead. He told me that I wouldn't be able to get pregnant. He told me I could carry a child if I had an egg donor, most likely. When I told him I was still going to try and was hanging on to hope, he smirked and assured me it wasn't going to happen. That was last March and April.
We started praying hard, specifically and asked you all to pray too. Well, it just so happens that I am currently 11 weeks along. Yesterday Nick and I met our doctor, whom I like very much, and had our first OB appointment. Apparently I was three weeks along when I had my PET Scan Dec. 31. I took a pregnancy test the night before, just to be sure, but it didn't register. I've been anxious to make sure everything is alright, since the PET came when the major organs are being developed in the fetus. Our first ultrasound a few weeks ago showed very little, but what it did show looked good. Yesterday we heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time and it was wiggling around in my belly. It was a very encouraging appointment and my anxiety level has gone way down.
Thank-you again, Prayer Warriors, for your faithful prayer and support. We are still in awe every day at the support of those around us and the love that God is showing us through all of you. May He bless you all.
Sorry it's been so long again between posts. My port came out just fine, though it was another interesting experience. It was a procedure done in the surgeon's office. He numbed me up by inserting a needle with local anesthetic under my skin on my chest. He then rooted around under the skin and injected me about eight times in the general area, but only pierced the skin twice. It was painful at first, then he cut me open with the scalpel and I felt a substantial pulling feeling on my skin. He dug around, pulled out the port (which was larger than I realized) and sewed me up. I felt lots of tugging as he closed the incision. It was a very strange experience for me, but Nick was sitting next to me holding my hand and he saw most of it. I chose not to look at it, but Dr Wood held the port in front of my face and told me to say goodbye to it.
As you know I was overly anxious about the port removal and asked people to be praying for me and my anxiety. My friend's elementary students prayed for me that morning and my anxiety melted away and it all went much better than I could have expected. Thank-you to all of you who kept us in your prayers. We appreciate it.
I have two bits of great news to share. The first is that I had my most recent PET scan December 31 and it was clear. That's two in a row and it's very encouraging! Second, I get my Power Port removed from my chest tomorrow. I'm quite nervous about this, but I'm excited that Dr B is confident that I won't need it anymore and I should "just get that thing taken out." The good news is I don't need to go back to the operating room and the procedure should only take about 45 minutes. I just go to the surgeon's office, he'll give me a local anesthesia, make an incision and pull the port out of my blood stream where its been living for the past 13 months. Nick is taking the afternoon off work to take me and I have anxiety medication on the ready in case I feel that it's necessary. Apparently it's routine and no big deal. (Obviously I feel the need to reassure myself.)
