Let's Do Lunch Community

Sorry I haven't been a part of the discussions in a while.  One of life's explosions happened.  My husband, Terry, was diagnosed with rectal cancer in Feb, which later matastasized to the lung.  It's been a roller coaster ride of ups and downs that God is carrying us through.
Thankfully after chemo and radiation treatments the p.e.t. scan showed the tumor in the lung is reduced by half and the rectal cancer could not be seen by this particular scan.
Next week is an appointment with the surgeon who plans to remove the rectal tumor.  So many prayers said by family and friends have definitely been felt by us.  I thank all you here who would also include Terry & I in your prayers as well.
God bless,
mrsj (Julie)     

You and your husband are in our thoughts and prayers.  May G-d bless you and grant you peace.
                                                    Kris

Julie -

You and your husband are definitely added to my prayer list. Please give us updates whenever you can.

Keep Praying!

Sue B

Julie,
We will add you and your husband to our Bible Study Prayer List....we know God can do great things! Linda

Oh, Julie!

I'm so sorry to hear about Terry's medical problems, but glad that the treatment seems to be helping.  I will add you and your hubby to my prayers.

You've been missed, my friend!

Carolyn

Julie,

We are also adding you and Terry to our prayer list.  It looks like God is on the move in your lives and we will ask Him to continue His Work.

Love,

Jeanne

Praying right now that our Lord will bring you that faith building peace through this time and that He would be glorified through your husband's restored health.

Trusting Jesus,
Julie

Wanted to share this update on my husband.  He is scheduled July 2nd for surgery to remove the rectal tumor.  The surgeon confirmed that it has shrunk, however, the location of the tumor indicates to him that he will have to make Terry's temporary colostomy into a permanent one.  If that is to be, Terry knows he can handle it.  I know that too.  If God should allow otherwise, we can handle that too!

The expected stay in the hospital is one week.  Then after a recovery period of time, another surgery (outside of any supernatural healing from God) will be scheduled to remove the tumor from the lung. 

Thanks to all you prayer warriors!
Julie

Mrs.J,

I'm so sorry to hear of your troubles but so happy to hear that the tumors are shrinking.  I am praying for you and yours as well.  May God bless and keep you all during this time.  *Hugs*

(In Faith)  Little Princess

Mrs. J,

I've been gone a while, and still catching up to all these posts .. know my prayers are with you and Terry, and know God will give you both the strength you need to get through all this.

Wow Roger!  You are so used of God to be able to help your friend in such an amazing way.
I don't know if that would have been appropriate for Terry either.  The cancer tumor, even though it had shrunk, was located in an area involving the muscles and that was the main reason for the colostomy.  As I understand it, if the doctor left the muscles alone, there would have been a chance of not getting all the cancer.  Removing the muscle as well left no doubt about getting it all.

The colostomy is now permanent but Terry's attitude is good.  He and I are very happy that the surgery was successful in removing all the cancer in that area. He can have a nice long life with the bag.  Not so with the cancer.

Terry came home last night from the hospital.  He was in there since July 2nd and so, of course, he was very glad to be home.  He's doing good and will do even better once he can get rid of a drain he had to come home with and also once he can get the staples out.
He will get several weeks to recoup and then removing the cancer that matastisized to his lung will complete the removal of all his cancer.

I thank God for the blessing of healing he is giving us through the prayers of family and friends.  Thanks to all for your prayers.
With love and gratitude,
Julie (mrsj)

Hi MrsJ....

It's wonderful that your husband is back home for his continued recuperation.  May God continue to make him better and better.  Your husband is lucky to have a wife to help him and who loves him!  i can't imagine how i would feel if my husband had to undergo this type of situation...That's one of the things i pray most for....that God will give me the strong faith and good attitude when He decides to change my circumstance or if something that seems to be "negative" happens.

May God keep you both strong in body and in faith!

margo

Julie,

Glad to know hubby is home where you can be his SPECIAL nurse.  I know you will take LOVING and PRAYERFUL care of him!  It is good to know that you are trusting God for the answers.

Keep on keeping on...trusting Jesus...He will NEVER EVER let you down.  He is always there to strengthen and comfort us.

Stay in touch!

Love,

Jeanne
Love,

This coming Monday will make 8 weeks since Terry's surgery and I know he will feel the closest to "normal" as he has felt in a long time.
The surgery was successful in removing all the cancer in the rectal area and the good report was that no cancer was found in the lymph nodes.

The healing was quite a process.  The doctor told us the radiation treatments he had before the surgery might affect the healing and it did. A staff infection added to the complications and had him back in the hospital for 4 more days.  He was put on anti-biotics, a wound vac, which would speed up the healing time, and also hyperbaric treatments.

After he got out of the hospital he was shown how to administer anti-biotics to himself at home through his port.  That's amazing technology where the anti-biotic does not have to hang from a pole to drip into your body like it does in the hospital.
 
The worst complication was when they changed the anti-biotic to vancomycin, which was strong and gave him side effects of a bladder infection & chills.
It was during this 2 week period that it seemed like 4 weeks for us.

Then, thankfully, in one day he was rid of the anti-biotic and the wound vac and things just got better from there.  He is now finished with the hyperbaric treatments and next week will probably be the last week needed for the home health care nurses, who have been wonderful.

This past week was the start of Terry being able to do things that added to his feeling of "normalcy" like going to church, dinner with the kids, and even a baseball game, where having a pillow to sit on was a good thing.

We have definitely felt God carrying us through all this.  We have definitely felt the effects of all the prayers.  Thank you.
mrsj

that's WONDERFUL that he's doing so well...that was a horific ordeal....vancomycin is the most powerful antibiotic that exists and(as you know)has to be monitored carefully with blood levels to avoid taking a toxic amount.........thank God, he's doing so well and on the road to recovery...and thank God that they got it all and the lymph nodes look good.....in Him,niki 
     

Update:
After almost a month of being back on chemo, Terry is now scheduled for lung surgery on November 29th.

Just last Thursday we met the lung surgeon who has set all this in motion.  We were very impressed with Dr. Sommers at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.  He assessed things quickly and is moving things along quickly as well........all while including Terry's oncologist in the decision.  He does around 400 of these surgeries a year so we're confident of his ability.
He will remove a part of the lung.  The tumor had grown and he wants to be sure to get all of it.  He informs us that once Terry heals from the surgery, he will not feel the difference.

I'm so proud of Terry's attitude.  He looks on this as his Christmas present and is very excited about getting the cancer removed.  Now,......I didn't say he was looking forward to the surgery, of course.  He is looking past that to the results.  Naturally his attitude helps me as well.
Oh, one other thing, the chemo treatments must be stopped since the surgery is so close.  As I understand it, they want to allow time for the chemo drugs to get out of his system so that they don't interfere with the healing process.  So that's a perk for us right now.

There's no doubt that we could not have gotten through this without God and the prayers of our friends and family.  Thank you all!
With love and gratitude,
mrsj