To clarify some things that I didn't make quite clear......
Gail is still a stage 4 cancer patient at MD Anderson and will be as long as she lives. This medication doesn’t put you into remission but only hopefully keeps the cancer from spreading further. She is under watchful supervision at MD Anderson on a regular basis. Thankfully the wonderful hospital is in her city. Gail lives in Houston and not Mt. View.. That picture of her was taken last fall when we were there vacationing with her.
The message below is from my other sister who also lives in Houston:
Notes in dark letters are mine:
The surgery is at 11:00. I didn't ask, but I imagine it will be at least 2 1/2 to 3 hours. I forgot to ask what time she has to get to the hospital. She was pretty harried this afternoon making all her phone calls, etc., so I won't call her back unless I have to.
Tracy (Tracy is her daughter who lives in Austin) is coming, so she will be with Gail in the "holding room" before surgery. Only one person is allowed with the patient there. Brad (one of her two sons) will probably be in the waiting room at some point. She didn't mention Miller (her husband), and I didn't ask. I assume he will be there. I'll call you as soon as we get word. Some parts of the hospital don't allow cell phones. So I may have to go outside.
More as I hear from Houston..... Thank you so very much for your prayers.
The update on Gail is that actual surgery began at 1:15 and will be over at about 4:00 pm. She is doing fine so far. I will keep you up to date as I find out more.
Gail made it out of surgery ok. The doctor said it was the hardest surgery of that type he had done in the last year. She will have to stay in the hospital longer than planned but she is expected to be ok.
I have company now but will post details late tonight. Thank you for your prayers.
They are keeping her in the intensive care unit over night so my other sister went back home. I just talked to her and she is going back to the hospital in the morning.
We went out to eat with our friends from Ohio who arrived at 5:15. Then after we got back home, I have been on the phone all night with people telling them about Gail's successful surgery. It is late and I am worn out. I am going to bed and will post tomorrow about the difficult surgery. Our prayers were truly answered considering the fact that the doctor who performed the difficult surgery is a noted surgeon in this area and he was exhausted from it. Apparently someone without his knowledge could have met with problems that they were unprepared to deal with. The Lord provided the right man for the job and now Gail should be on the road to recovery from this problem. More tomorrow.......Right now, I just have to go to bed. It will be a restful sleep now that I can relax. Thank you for all your prayers. You will never know how much it meant to us knowing all the prayers that were being said for Gail.
The doctor said the surgery was harder than he had thought it would be and that it was the most complicated one he had done in a long time.. It took 4 hours instead of the expected 2. The tumor had twisted around the uterus, attached itself to the bladder and intestines and was pushing far over to the right making it more complicated to get to the blood vessels. It was a dangerous situation. The tumor had to be removed in sections but he got it all. It was a fibrous tumor and not malignant.
We are praising the Lord for another miracle in her life at this time. She had one of the best surgeons in the world, a caring man who did his job well. He had made her feel very much at easy about the surgery from the start. The Lord and the surgeon did truly take care of her and we are grateful and happy people at this time. Thank you once again for all of your prayers and well wishes. It has meant so much to us during this time of concern and fear for Gail’s health and well being.
John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
Yes indeedie! We have all been rejoicing today. I haven't heard from any of the family in Houston today. I told them if things went badly for her to let me know. Since I haven't gotten any messages, I assume that no news is good news. Thank the good Lord! She will probably call me on her cell phone when she is able to talk to me herself. We will really have a "praise the Lord" conversation and I can hardly wait to talk to her.
My other sister called a few minutes ago and she is doing well. They even had her up in a chair late this evening. She is still under constant watch in a ward and won't be put in a room until they are sure she is going to be ok.
Gail sent me this message in an email to pass on to you.
Dear Friends,
I want to thank everyone for praying for me since I was diagnosed with stage IV cancer. There is no doubt in my mind that God has been involved with my health every step of the way. In fact I think I could be considered a walking miracle.
When I first went to the doctor, after doing a mammogram, they told me that I had breast cancer. The doctor wanted to do a mastectomy and then the usual chemotherapy and radiation. He even sent me to a breast surgeon.
I asked my Bible Study Group to pray that I would not have to have the mastectomy, chemotherapy or radiation. My family wanted me to go to MD Anderson so I applied there. They will not accept you there unless you have already been diagnosed with cancer. After I was admitted they run a number of tests to see if the cancer had spread. It had spread to the lymph nodes and a small area in the left hip bone. If I had continued with the first doctor I went to, I would probably not be here today to tell this story, plus I would have gone through the pain of the mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation. My treatment is to take a small pill (Femara) and get an IV treatment of Zometa once a month to strength the bones.
I found out that with breast cancer that spreads, it goes to the bone or lungs. The largest percent goes to the lungs. Months before I discovered the lump in my breast, my doctor sent me for a chest x-ray because of a cough that didn't seem to go away. The doctor said there was something on my lungs, so he sent me to a lung specialist. Before going, I asked my Bible study group to pray for me. The result was that they found nothing. At MD Anderson they told me that there had been something on my lungs but it had healed itself. As you can imagine, if it spread to the lungs, that would have been a much worse problem.
With all of the tests they ran they found some other problems. (High blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar) They also found a fibroid tumor. So they spent some time treating these other conditions. They said for me it would be very dangerous to remove the tumor since I was overweight and had three C-sections. Also the high blood sugar and blood pressure were all against me. I was able to loose 35 pounds, which was a help, but they would not do the surgery unless my life were in danger. Guess what? The tumor was pressing on my kidneys and all of a sudden my kidneys were in danger. They have a measure for the kidneys that involves numbers. One is considered average. As it goes above 1 the danger of a problem increases. If you get to 2 you are in danger of loosing a kidney. Mine went from 1.1 to 1.2 to 1.5 to 1.7 over about a month. The jump from 1.5 to 1.7 was in one week’s time. After that the doctor wanted to put me in the hospital right away. I asked for a week to get my math classes in order to turn over to another teacher. I could tell the doctor didn't want to put the surgery off even that long. He said he would run some tests the next day, and if the test looked bad, he would put me in the hospital that day. I called my Bible Study teacher and asked her to pray that the number would go down. The next day the number was 1.1.
My doctor said that my surgery was one of the worse he had ever done, and he has done a lot. The tumor seemed to be stuck to everything. It moved across my body and pulled my bladder with it. The surgery scheduled for 2 hours took 4 hours. I lost blood and had to be given blood. I found out later that my doctor had serious doubts that I would even live through the surgery. As good a doctor as he is, he had two other surgeons with him, plus a lot of high tech emergency equipment. If I hadn't had such a good doctor and been at a good hospital, I might not have made it. His main concern was that I would not be strong enough to make it through the surgery. He was afraid the bleeding might get out of control.
My wonderful doctor also had me get a colonoscopy to check for colon cancer. They found that I had one precancerous lump which they removed. Well, I think my life has been saved now about 5 times. He also checked for bone density, and found a slight problem. Now, I'm taking something for that.
Since taking new tests last month, my results are no active cancer. Also, the cancer in the bones is gone, and the cancer in the breast is greatly reduced. Also, some nodules seen on my lungs are now gone. My doctor admits that it is possible for the cancer in the breast to go away. He doesn't think that is likely. I talked to a patient the other day who took the same medicine I take and it didn't help her at all. So, I know God's hand is in this, and I expect to be totally healed from cancer. God seems to be working to correct everything that is wrong with me. Anyway, I do appreciate so much everyone’s thoughts and prayers. God bless all of you
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