Thursday, January 31, 2013

January 31st, 2013: Alyssa's Birthday and Her Mom's Surgery

First.... Make sure you read the next post to hear from Kristi late last night.

Here we are again!  Walking down this long hall and saying goodbye.  Entrusting Kristi to our Heavenly Father and the knowledge and skills of the numerous Dr.'s and surgeons who are one by one coming into her pre-op surgery room to sign their name by their incision markings.  They have said it will probably be 9:00 before they are actually getting started on the surgery following all the set-up procedures.  We should expect 10-12 hours of anxiously waiting!  We all joked last night that we would like to ask the Dr.'s if we could just be put under too until the surgery is over!!

Yesterday was rough because the Dr.'s were initially not unified on her treatment over the past three days,  but at 6:00 last night they agreed that they must move forward adding the Orthopaedic Surgeon.  They all are deeply concerned the cancer is in the pelvic wall even though the scans are unable to show it.  In order to feel they have a clear margin, the orthopaedic surgeon (Dr Valerae Lewis) will work to carefully remove the muscle and tissue off and around the pelvic bone without affecting the main nerve that goes to her legs. They will do this portion of the surgery first, followed by the other Dr.'s removing the other organs.  This part of the surgery also complicates the plastic surgeon's reconstruction portion of the surgery.  Please specifically be in prayer about this because it will be the first time this group at MD Anderson have performed this along with the full pelvic exenteration surgery.  On one hand, this is a praise, because in June we were told that it would be incurable if it was in the pelvic wall.

We prayed together over Kristi last night and felt the heaviness of the situation, but also had light humorous moments as Amy was offering to donate her inner thigh muscle on her one leg that is bigger than the other, and Worley was offering his extra belly muscle and tissues !  : )   Billy was also telling Worley he might need to pretend to be Kristi's husband after the surgery because the thought of seeing Kristi with all of the tubes and post-surgery state makes him feel like he might faint!!

Today's Jesus Calling Devotional was perfect for us and ended with Genesis 28:15  I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I WILL BRING YOU BACK TO THIS LAND.  I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."  Gen 28:15  When I am afraid, I will trust in you.  Psalm 56:3-4.   We held onto these truths as we said goodbye.

We feel the strength and courage from your prayers and Billy and Kristi feel overwhelmed and humbled  by so many of you who have reminded them that God sees them through your financial provisions, scheduled prayer meetings, food, gifts, and care for Isaiah and Alyssa, and the rest of us.

Dad said, "On this day 7 years ago, Kristi gave new life to Alyssa, and today we are expecting God
to sustain and give new life to my daughter." 

 All wearing our Purple! 
She entered the hospital wearing her monogrammed shirt saying 
"I'm a Stubborn Woman and My God is Big"!  This was the first thing she said to her Dr. when he told her she had cancer and we had Margo monogram this for her. 
We were told not to expect any word for probably 3 hours.   But will update here as soon as we know.

1 comment:

  1. Kristi and Family, I am a Chaplain for Simmons Foods. I began working here after you had left, but was told about your surgery today. I just wanted to let you know that your family at Simmons is getting together at 2:30 today to pray for you. We love and care about you and are thinking of you all today.
    Blessings,
    Nick Braschler

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