Chemotherapy

Hello again!! I cannot begin to tell you all how much the prayers and encouragement have carried my family through this difficult time! I am sooo pleased to say that mom is doing sooo great right now. In fact, Dr. King said she is the best Whipple (which is the name of the surgery) he has seen in 10 years!! When we were at the doctor on Friday, her first question was when could she start lifting weights and working out with her trainer again...LOL! Afterall, it was her good condition that helped her heal so quickly. Though she is still in the midst of a long recovery, she is able to get out and do things she would normally do...not TOO much though! We have already started back with all the wedding planning, and she has been adamant about helping me with everything. She loves stuff like this, so I figured as long as it doesn't get too stressful she could do her MOB(mother of bride) thing! =) I believe I stated in an earlier blog that she would be starting chemo in a few months...well, I was wrong. She goes in this Tuesday(3/30) to get her portacath put in and starts chemo the next Tuesday(4/6). She will have 2 weeks on and 1 week off over a period of 3 months. This just means that she will have the chemo 2 weeks straight, then take a week off. This is good in case it makes her sick or fatigued. It is supposed to be a milder chemo that doesn't cause as many of the "typical" chemotherapy effects. I will try and keep the chemo news updated, but im sure she will be able to type out her own thoughts and updates about it all. Thanks again for all the prayers, letters, FOOD...everything!! Everyone has been so great to my family and we appreciate it all so much!!

"Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice" Philippians 4:4

Homeward bound

So we got news today that mom gets to go home tomorrow!!!! We are soo excited she gets to go home, but she will still be on the feeding tube =( I think her mood will brighten up once she's here...the hospital was just getting too gloomy. Some of her friends have been coming over to the house and making it all clean and lovely! She still has a long way to go with recovery and other treatments, but I do believe the worst is behind us. She still needs our prayers as she will be making some major life changes. Overall, she is doing so much better than anyone ever expected....except God. He knew all along ;) Since she will be home tomorrow, she will probably be able to write her own notes on this whole journey. I try to relay as much information as I can, but it's different when it comes from her personally. She is so amazing and im so glad she get's to be here to tell her story! Thanks for your prayers for her and our family! You will never know how much it has meant to us!

The Gray family

1 week post-op

Well, it has officially been 1 week since mom's surgery(well, it was actually yesterday ;) She is still having the same problems as the past few days, not keeping anything down. She had an x ray today to determine if her stomach was functioning properly, and it was! That is a good thing, but we still don't have a solution. They just said it would take time for it to start catching back up, but it will never be back to normal. This is one of the possible long-term effects of the surgery...hence the word LONG TERM! ;) We'll happily take it if it's long term! As this road to reality starts to set in, please keep her in your prayers. Pray her body adjusts quickly to the changes, and that she can resume as much normalcy as possible.

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

At a standstill

Well, things have been progressing so nicely until now. She is finally starting to show signs of having a Whipple. It's nothing that can't be fixed, just a little longer until she'll be able to eat properly. She has been on a liquid diet the past few days, but can't seem to keep anything down. She is getting an x ray tomorrow to see if the stomach is functioning properly in order to determine the next steps. Apparently this is one of the life-long effects of the surgery. Because of the resected pathway for food to follow, it will take a longer more complicated route to digestion. With all this being said, she is still moving forward. It was very unlikely that she would have absolutely no post-op complications, so we have sort of been expecting something. Other than this, she really is doing fine. I think the tiresome days and sleepless nights are starting to wear on her. Even with all this going on, she is still determined to make her rounds around the floor. Her strength is getting better because she is is walking several times a day....such a trooper! We just need to pray that she is able to keep fluids down and that she is not so nauseated. God is still getting the glory, and He's nowhere near done with this yet!!

A walking miracle

It's amazing how much more sleep patient's get on the regular floor as opposed to the ICU. The rooms get really quiet and dark and all you can hear is the sound of the IV pumps (which is actually kind of soothing until they start beeping). We use the same pumps at Methodist, so it was hard for me not to fix the problem and silence them myself (which I do admit I did a few times). Since mom slept better last night, she was up at the crack of dawn wanting to get up and walk. Yesterday she was able to walk around the nurses station 1 time, and this morning she walked around it 3 times! It's funny because it's like she has neighbors and she is just taking a stroll around the neighborhood, and everyone is so friendly and glad to see her out and about. She still has her J tube but is now on a liquid diet, so hopefully they will take the tube out soon. With all this progress, we are hoping to be out in a few days...probably Wednesday. Thanks for all the prayers, cards, flowers, and encouragement for her!! It means so much and has helped her recovery process! =)

recovering nicely

Sorry I have not been updated this as much lately. =( I went back to work today then stayed at the hospital for a while. Mom is still doing great! She got her NG tube taken out so that made all the difference in the world! They took out her epidural =( but gave her a PCA pump instead, so that should take care of most of the pain. She's getting well enough to where I think she likes when all the family goes to work so she can have some alone time. I can imagine that dad and I are annoying her b/c we are constantly asking her if she's ok or if she needs anything, haha. We did find out that she had some cancer cells in 3 of the 10 lymph nodes they took out....this only means she will definitely need chemo. We figured she probbaly would, so we were pretty prepared. Dr. King didn't seem to be too worried as long as she undergo's chemo, which she will be starting in about 2 months. Apparently this particular chemo drug doesn't have as many side effects as most of them. This is good so she can dance all night at the wedding ;) We are just praying that she continues to heal quickly so she can get back to her normal self. Many of you have asked about Memaw (mom's mother)...she doesn't really know whats going on, but we think it's better that way. That would be the one thing she remembers forever ;) Thank you again for the prayers...please keep them coming! Everyone has been so faithful to pray for her, and God is truly listening. We are all praying that HIS will be done...and it's amazing that this IS his will! He is the Master Healer!

Post-op day 2

Today is an even better day than yesterday! I spent last night with mom in the ICU, and she did so good all night. She slept a little better, and all her numbers looked good. She has been doing so well that they are moving her out of ICU! This is very exciting news! Dr. King said she should be walking by Friday....so soon after that I anticipate she will be going home. Again, thank you SO much for the prayers and thoughts!! We all really appreciate it and God is truly taking care of her...in the way we had prayed! This just goes to show how God answers prayers. The process if far from over, and she has a long way to go...but it's off to a good start, especially after the emergency surgery.

GOD IS SO GOOD!! =)

Post-op day 1

Today has been a really good day so far. Mom did't get much sleep last night, but it wasn't due to her status as much as it was dad's snoring. We knew we shouldn't have let him stay!! Haha ;) We should have given her something to throw at him! Needless to say, I'll probably be staying with her this time, ha. Her BP was a beautiful 118/80 and HR 98. She only received 1 unit of blood last night, so that seemed to help a lot. When we walked in to see her, she was already sitting up in the chair just hangin out. Other than being really exhausted, she said she was feeling fine. They have been draining the bilirubin from her blood (which was the cause of her jaundice and itchy skin), so she is very relieved of that! I kinda liked the "glow" that the jaundice caused...sort of looked like too much spray tan. We don't know for sure when she'll be transferred from ICU, but things are certainly progressing better today. Dr. King is very hopeful that she will continue on the same path to recovery as she was before the emergency surgery.

Things to pray for :

1) Her blood pressure continues to stay up and nothing else decides to start bleeding.

2) Her physical strength so she can progress faster.

3) Physical and emotional endurance for our family.

"In his favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Psalm 30:5

Update on surgery

Surgery Day updated:

Here is an update on the second surgery from today...sorry it has taken me so long to post this.

Around 7 PM tonight, she had to go back into surgery because her blood pressure was dropping dangerously low....in the 50's! For medical people, they put her on 20 of dopamine and nothing was happening. Her HR was in the 170's and BP was still in the 50's. Because of the low pressure, she wasn't getting ANY pain meds and they had stopped her epidural. So they took her to an emergency surgery and found a small leak in one of the vessels, which is why her BP was so low. Thankfully it was an easy fix and they were able to get in and get out in about an hour. When we went back to see her(for the second time), she was resting peacefully with minimal pain. Since visiting hours are so strict there, we were worried about leaving her all night (not because of the staff, but because she told us not to leave her by herself, haha). Her nurse for the night said she would let one of us stay, so dad is staying with her throughout the night. If they weren't going to let someone stay, Lanie Faulkner was going to hide in the cabinets until morning ;) Thanks so much for the continued prayers! I told mom how much everyone is praying and thinking about her, and she smiled! She really does draw her strength from everyone's prayers and notes of encouragement!!

Surgery Day

Because my mom is unable to update everyone on her journey right now, I (Bekah, the middle daughter) decided to start this blog for her so people could continue to pray in specific ways. I know how much everyone's prayers and encouragement meant to her the past 2 weeks, and how she drew so much strength and motivation from them. The Lord has used each and every one of yall as a vessel to show how much she is loved and cared about. Now I am not much of a blogger or an eloquent writter, so please excuse the random styles and transitions you will probably be reading ;)

Mom's surgery was scheduled for 7:30 this morning, but had to be here at 5 AM. I woke up early this morning after her and dad had already left, and felt such an unexplainable peace. I am not one to be all cliche and sappy, but God has been so good to our family through this whole process, and has completely surrounded us with more love and support then we could ever ask for. This morning right after they opened her up, one of the assistants came out and told us the tumor was in the best location it could possibly be and that it wasn't involving any of the surrounding vessels. This was one of the first times I felt completely relieved because it was now difinitive that the tumor was encapsulated and not involving any other organs. The surgery went so well and lasted under 5 hours. We haven't been able to see her yet, but apparently she is awake and talking...I can only imagine what she's saying! =) She will have an epidural for the next 3 days, so she'll be feeling pretty good. The doc said he wants her to stay in the ICU for at least 2 days then progress on out the door! Hopefully she will be out of here in 10 days, but we will be taking it one day at a time. So far everything has been on the "good" side, so we are hoping for that to be a continued theme through the recovery process.

Things to pray for:
1) a quick and speedy recovery, considering the type of surgery she had.
2) she will have minimal to no complications.
3) for our family and Memaw =)


"Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced.."
Psalm 105: 1-5