Surgery Completed

Diane is out of surgery! The Dr. told us that she did extremely well. From what I remember he removed her gall bladder, right ovary, 12" of colon, 6" of small bowel, scraped her liver and removed disease from under her right diaphram. They are sending part of the tumor to a pathology lab to see if they can find an effective chemo treatment if needed. We are anxiously waiting to see her as soon as possible. I will provide an update later tonight. Continue to pray against any complications or side effects. Diane will be in ICU for an unknown duration, I will inform you when she has been moved to a regular room and ready to receive phone calls and/or visitors.

Surgery Started

I would like to give a quick update on Diane. The surgery was moved to 7:30am. We arrived at the hospital at 6:00. They had to put several lines in her in pre op. a regular IV line, a arterial line in her arm, an epidural, and a line in her main artery in her neck. All those lines where more then we expected. The surgery is scheduled for 9 hours. She will be in ICU for a minimum of 24 hrs after surgery. Thank you all for your continued prayers! We love all of you and thank God for you. We will hold on to the promise that God gives us to never leave us or forsake us. I will provide more information as I can as things progress.

God is With Us!

Hello everyone,
Just wanted to let you know we had a wonderful time of prayer last night. I would like you to know how much Diane and I appreciate all the prayer's that are being offered on our behalf. The body of Christ (the church, Gods family) is a wonderful blessing for all of us to be a part of!

I also wanted to inform you that Diane and I will be staying at the Hope Lodge. It is owned by the American Cancer Society. It is for cancer patients and caregivers to have a place like home during treatment without any financial burdens to worry about. We will be arriving at the Hope Lodge on the 29Th and I will be staying there until Diane's release from the hospital. Visitors are allowed with certain limitations. The limitation that is of greatest concern is that no one that is sick with a communicable illness; cold, flu, etc.. is allowed in the Hope Lodge. Here is a link to the Hope Lodge if you are interested in more information. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/subsite/HopeLodge/OH_cincinnati/cn_index.asp

Love Jeff & Diane

Doctor Called...

I received a call from the doctor in Cincinnati with Diane's pre surgery details, she will have a CT scan December 29Th at 2:45. The following day she will meet with the anesthesiologist at 2:00. Surgery is scheduled for 9:00 am December 31st. That should be all the details we need, just time to pray and wait.

Time of Prayer

Diane and Kyle are part of a home schooling group that meets at St. Luke's Lutheran Church. Their is a time of prayer for Diane at 8:00 PM on Monday December 15Th. All are invited to attend this time to lift up Diane's health, recovery, the doctors wisdom, and all aspects associated with her victory over cancer! The address is 4205 Washtenaw Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48108.

Insurance Approved!

Praise the Lord! If you don't know my personality by now, it is very hard for me to wait for information. Today I called the office that processes all the insurance information for Dr. Sussman. I asked her if she has heard anything from the insurance company? She said yes but it was weired, she said when I called the person gave her the approval without requesting any further information. She said she called back and talked to a second individual and was told the same thing. She was expecting the insurance company to ask for details and to submit information regarding the procedure and why it is a necessity. I told her that there has been a lot of people praying that the insurance would be processed without any delays! This hurdle is now behind us and we prepare for the next hurdle. Sure glad God is a gold medal hurdler! God has never stumled over a hurdle yet! Thank you for your prayers. I now asked that you pray specifically for all the details that need to take place between now and the surgery; operating room, instruments, the doctors and nurses health, and so forth. Also pray that Diane will stay healthy, no colds, flu, etc.. Diane and I love you all!

Snap Shot

I will try to summarize what has happened from the beginning. In July 2008 Diane went to to the ER because she was having some chest pain. She did not think she was having a heart problem, but as soon as you tell your doctor chest pain off you go. They ran tests and could not find any problems with her heart. During there testing they found some abnormal fluid around her liver and a spot in her abdominal area that they where not sure what it was. They recommended that we follow up with full CT scans with her regular doctor. In September 2008 Diane had ultra sounds, CT scans & a colonoscopy. They abnormal fluid and spot remained unchanged the colonoscopy was normal. We saw a surgeon that recommended that he perform a exploratory surgery to see if there was anything to worry about. The surgery was scheduled for November 12th. After the surgery the doctor showed me pictures of her appendix that had mucus coming out of it. The appendix was removed and sent of to pathology. We where scheduled to see the doctor the following Thursday for follow up and removal of a drain tube. Sunday Diane received a phone call from the surgeon, he said the pathology report came back and that he will need to do another surgery. The doctor made room to see us the next day. At the office we where told that she has mucinous adenocarcinoma. A well differentiated low grade slow growing cancer. The problem is that the mucus that was spilled into her abdomen carries cancer cells that will eventually grow tumors. The doctor recommended that he removes the right portion of Diane's colon and start chemo. I had started doing research that same night of her original surgery and found a lot of information about this type of cancer and the different treatment options. The doctor here did tell us about some of the treatment options that he researched but still recommended his original course of treatment. I asked him how many patients with this cancer her treated and he said the last time I saw it was when he was an intern many years ago. We decided to make an appointment with a specialist in Cincinnati. The specialist that has treated this rare cancer over 200 times recommends removal of the right portion of the colon and any other nonessential organs that could result in tumor growth. Then perform a chemo wash of the abdominal area for 1 1/2 hours during the surgery. The chemo wash is intended to kill any cancer cells that spread throughout her abdomen that could grow tumors. The surgeon and oncologist that we meet with in Cincinnati is Dr. Sussman. He answered all our questions and discussed all options available. We have decided to have Dr. Sussman perform surgery to remove Diane's right colon and any other part in her abdominal area that might be contaminated by the mucus/cancer cells and then do the chemo wash. The surgery is scheduled for Dec 31st and will take 6-10 hours, depending on what he finds. The only thing that could postpone the surgery is if we have insurance problems. So if you could all pray that there will be no insurance issues and that Diane will feel Gods peace and comfort as we wait for her surgery. I hope this blog will keep everyone informed. This was a very condensed version of the past 3 weeks, I hope it makes sense. There is still a lot we don't understand, do to the fact that it is such a rare cancer.

The Beginning

Hello Everyone,
This is the first post on our blog. Our good friend Lynn suggested this to us. I think it will be a wonderful tool for us to inform all of our concerned friends and family of the victory quest Diane and I are on. Thank the Lord that we are not on this quest without him and all of you! Since this is the first post I will end it for know so I can see how it works!

Love ya,

Diane & Jeff