Aug 28, 2008

I feel like I am living in an endless "info-mercial", because everytime I think we have found everything there is to find, there is always the "but wait, there's more....", and we had another one of those moments today. I went last week for a bone scan, and another MRI, but this time of my entire spine. Today, we went to see the nerousergeon for the results. Of course we were hoping that there would be nothing, and we could proceed with next week's lung surgery, not having to worry about any other spots, but that was not the case. It turns out that there is a recurrant tumor in my spine, at the T10 level (which technically is replaced by metal, but has a bone graft inside where the turmor is attached. The doctor seems to think that this is "very approachable" and should not be too difficult to remove, but it does mean another surgery, number five for me. We did ask if it was possible to go after the tumor in my lung, and the one in my spine at the same time, but the doctors say they are two totally different approaches, and have told me they will do the surgeries seperately. So, since my lung surgery is already scheduled, I will proceed with that next week (Sept 3 at 7:30 AM). Then on the 8th of September I go to see another nerosurgeon about removing what is in my back. It is not an emergency, but they don't want to wait too long because it is right next to my spinal cord, and they are afraid if it continues to grow, that it may put pressure on the cord, which of course has not so good side effects (we already went through that with the first tumor). When it was just the lung tumor, the doctors were considering doing a raidoactive idoine treatment, instead of surgery, but it is good that we are not going that way because I was told today that if we had done that, it could have caused this tumor(in my back) to swell before it would start to kill it, but with it being so close to my spinal cord, that would have been bad. So I really feel like God has me in the right place, and is bringing the right doctors into my life when I need them. Also, another thing that was totally God was that Josh was supposed to work today, but it was raining,he had no inside projects, he did not go, and was able to be with mom and I instead. I was glad he was able to be there. For me this is still sinking in, I am trying to remain strong, but it is hard not to get shaken sometimes, but with the Lord as my God, as well as the amazing support system he has given me, I know I can get through this. I just ask for your continued thoughts and prayers for myself, and my family during this season in our lives. I will keep everyone updated as things progress.




Take Care,



Hattie