Fantastic Update on Mrs. TheOldMan!
God is SO good! “As close to a total surgical success as possible” is how the surgeon described the procedure to the kids and me immediately afterward! Thank you Lord!We arrived at the hospital at 5:30am Thursday morning for admitting and preparation. Friends began arriving in the waiting room at 6:30am. Susan was ready for anesthesia at 7:40am. Two pastors from our church, the surgeon himself!, all our kids and I… surrounded Susan’s gurney, held hands and prayed for God’s guidance for the surgeon and blessing on Susan, and they wheeled her in at 7:45am. Over the next four hours our family received waiting room visits from 22 wonderful friends! At about 11:45am the surgeon called us into the consultation room and explained why he was so extremely pleased with how it all had transpired. He went in under her right arm, removed her fourth rib on the right side, resectioned both the upper and middle lobes of her right lung (removing the tumor and affected lymph nodes in the process), and was able to remove all the cancerous lymph nodes in the hilar region and the mediastinal areas. All of them!
I pushed back hard with many repeated questions about how thoroughly he had looked throughout her entire thoracic region for any new activity… anything…anywhere. He was firm and unwavering in his replies. He looked everywhere he could possibly look, he was as thorough as he knew how to be, he found nothing else, and there were no surprises. He looked at me and said,“I truly believe I got it all.” There were many tears of joy on all of our faces over the next several minutes as the incredible reality of a mountain of answered prayer washed over all of us. Within the knowable range of surgical possibility it went as well as the surgeon had hoped it possibly could go.
Susan was in the recovery area until about 1:00pm. Then they transported her to the Intensive Care Unit. By 9:00pm she was resting comfortably and beginning to nod off from the sheer exhaustion of major surgery and a painful afternoon of recovery. Even before the pain meds were fully kicking in, she was making jokes, eating Jell-O, asking lots of questions about the surgery and its success, and talking with her Mom on her cell phone! One amazing woman.
Words cannot even begin to express our gratitude to God, our appreciation of modern medical expertise, our wonderfully-supportive family and friends, our loving and caring pastors, and all of you amazing friends who have been so faithful and diligent in your prayers. I will ask every one of you to take a moment as you read this Update to reflect on the pure joy of asking the Lord for something in faith and seeing that prayer answered. God is so good!
Overwhelmed with gratitude… your faithful reporter,
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posted by TheOldMan @ 3:27 AM
