God's Plan Over Our Plan

What a roller coaster this has been. It is Saturday night and we are still at Lack's Cancer Center.

So, we have been praying to keep the expander. Even though all signs have been pointing toward removing the expander, we just couldn't see them. I think God can have a funny way of tapping us on one shoulder to get us to go His direction, while we keep trying to go our own. If Jennifer keeps the expander, there is always a "chance" the infection can come back even weeks down the road. It would not be good if this happen, while undergoing chemo, which already decreases white blood cells. A couple of doctors here made such a big deal (I think for righteous reasons) about not wanting to lose the expander, we thought we should be fighting for it. After processing many conversations with different doctors, and praying about it, we have come to the conclusion that it makes the most sense to have it removed. 1) It is only cosmetic. 2) They can completely rid the area of all infection once it is out so Jen's body can heal and be strong for her chemo. 3) In 6-8 months, they can start the reconstruction process over with a clean slate with the same result. 4) Her pain will go away much quicker. The only downside we can see to removing it is that it puts her reconstruction behind 6-8 months, but the risk just isn't worth it, not to mention she has the whole 2nd half of her awesome life ahead of her! What's 6-8 months?? Thank you God for tapping our shoulder a little harder!

So, that is the decision we have made. She goes into surgery tomorrow morning.

Ok, even with that all going on, we still have a little fun:

Jen received some beautiful flowers from the Stockbridge family

McCulla giving her award speech on the 5th floor!

 

 

Ok, this was kind of funny. McCulla wanted to spend the night. The night nurse (good nurse, but very strict) asked me how old McCulla is. I told her 15. She said she can't spend the night unless I do too because she is under 16. Well, we made a new me, I threw on my coat and snuck past the nurses station. :-)

 

Jen has an over night guest, McCulla!

 

 





Here are our latest prayer requests:

1) Removing the expander is the right decision. 

2) That Jen, the doctors and nurses will have a simple, uneventful surgery with zero complications. 

3) That Jen's pain will leave her body quickly, along with the expander, and that she will heal quickly. 

4) That Jennifer is at peace with this decision and gets a good nights sleep tonight (she's zonked now!).
 

I'm sure I'm leaving some stuff out here. We're all pretty tired. Thankful to see McCulla (who is spending the night here tonight with her mom), Laura, Jamie, Mike and Sandy today. Also, as always, thankful for all of your prayers and loving support. 

Godspeed to GI Jen!!

Love Jen, Jon, McCulla and the rest of the clan. :-)