the story so far

dan & i were talking yesterday about how surreal these last 6 weeks have been.  while i realize i’ve blogged bits & pieces along the way ( and instagrammed almost everthing) i need to journal it all together in a safe place. so here’s the skinny of what all has unfolded since late august.

about 6 weeks ago on a sunday afternoon i was working in my studio. dan was going through some files & made multiple trips up and down the stairs. i even joked with him about walking by so many times. late that afternoon he came in & sat down then proceeded to tell me he felt weird. he was feeling short of breath & breaking out into intermittent cold sweats. he had felt that way a few times that day but not said anything, until he then began to have a pain in his chest. followed by, “i guess i could be imagining this, but my left arm feels sorta weird too”.

i called my neighbor to come check his blood pressure which was slightly high for him. due to stress no doubt. i could tell he was pretty stressed about these newly onset symptoms, as was i, so i asked if he felt we needed to go to the hospital. dan’s dad had a heart attack when he was close to dan’s age so that was the big fear dan was feeling.

so off we went to the ER. walking in short of breath with chest pain & a family history of heart disease, they had him hooked up to machines within less than 3 minutes. i kid you not. several cardiac tests were run that evening and into the next morning. all coming back clear. we were ready to be released later that next day when an ER doctor came in to sign off on dan’s discharge. he casually says, “oh by the way, you’re anemic. probably should get checked and make sure that’s not colon cancer”.

what?

well after clenching ridiculous bedside manner award he headed out. i looked at dan sorta dumbfounded. because cancer scares me to death and what was that all about?

we went to see his internist the next day & had a GI appointment scheduled the following day. colonoscopy set up for the next week. oh by the way, dan’s mom had colon cancer but beat it. so family history was totally not in our favor for diagnosis but totally in our favor as far as kicking it’s tail.

the morning of the colonoscopy the GI doctor, who we really liked, came in and told me he felt fairly confident he did indeed find a mass that was cancerous during the scope.

i’ll be honest…. my first thought was ARE YOU KIDDING ME? AGAIN? but i said nothing. i just looked at him and nodded and said thank you. dan was still groggy so he didn’t absorb any of that dreadful announcement.

after the biopsy came back positive, we were then referred to a surgeon who we LOVE. love that guy. no really. and to fast forward to this past week, monday morning dan went in to surgery and had two feet of his colon removed. also known as a resection. no colostomy bag needed. the surgeon, who i love, came out & said ” i felt good about his prognosis during our consult, but i feel even better after surgery and seeing what we’re working with. you still need to wait a couple days on the final pathology to verify that no spread has occurred”

on the post op floor, dan was told he was the star recovery patient. accomplishing things quicker than most. wednesday afternoon the surgeon, who i love, called and told us that there was NO sign of cancer spreading to lymph nodes or surrounding tissue!! while we had a CT a couple weeks prior, this was checking at a microscopic level. he told me “remember how i told you after surgery i was even more pleased than in our consult? well, i’m even more pleased after seeing the pathology report”.

thank you jesus!!

so many were surrounding us in prayer that i don’t know when i’ve ever felt so cared for and so carried. one precious friend texted me the following: “i imagine that jesus, the one the wind and the waves obey WITH YOU this morning. he is powerful enough to literally rise above and walk on violent storms, but gentle enough to bring peace with a word. this is the jesus walking toward you this morning”.

i remember when gregg was sick. you know the saying “just take one day at a time”? well there was many a day when the entire day was way to big. so i literally took one hour at a time. truly, i need HIM every hour.  so daily i’m making a conscious effort to breathe in his grace and his peace…and breathe out praise to him. all HIM! no matter the outcome, praise to HIM.

when i married dan i remember wondering if people would still believe my testimony of praising HIM in the storm. at this point, marrying such an amazing man, it would be easy to say, oh of course she loves jesus. look at this happy chapter in her life. i remember thinking i so wanted people that watched us walk through the pain and heartbreak of losing gregg to know that the same God that was with me on that beautiful wedding day in the garden spring was the same God who saw every tear as we watched gregg slip away from us in the fall a few years prior. and HE IS the same God that hears our prayers and is carrying us through dan’s cancer situation.  HE is the same good loving God. always.

so back to the story. we need to be seen & followed up by an oncologist. hopefully we get a referral from the surgeon tomorrow. he doubted that dan would need chemo. big league praise!

let me tell you another gigantic praise. so turns out the anemia was causing dan to be short of breath 6 weeks ago. he was also diagnosed as having “silent” symptom reflux . that was what caused the pain in his chest radiating down his arm. ya’ll. he has NEVER had any of those symptoms before and NONE since. had he not had them both simultaneously i doubt we would have gone to the ER. the doctors told us that the location of dan’s tumor ( albeit small) would have not caused symptoms until it had been there for quite sometime. we heard over & over again how “early” this was caught and how “lucky” we were. well. you may call it lucky, i’ll call it a mircacle and gift from the lord. amen.

 

here’s madi offering ice chips to dan first day post op. huge helper madi-girl.

wearing dan’s wedding ring while he was in surgery & recovering.

up walking the halls & needing little to no pain medicine.

we were discharged just past 48 hours post op! that’s huge! we came home to decorations & celebration goodies compliments of the girls! even a “cancer sux” sign by caroline ;). madi & i were in target several weeks ago & saw the Oh Joy little party hats. i told her we needed to grab those for when we get the “we got it all out” report. sweet girl remembered and ran up there while i was driving dan home!

dan & brinkley on one of their 2-3 times a day walks through our neighborhood.

i also want to take a moment and thank you from the bottom of my heart. we have been flooded with notes, texts, emails, comments, cards, prayers, meals and support that has truly sustained us. i can’t even explain what it did for our hearts knowing so many were covering us in prayer. so i want to thank you immensely my friends!

 

{a precious friend sent this angel painting with psalm 91 on the back. that scripture has been such promise of His faithfulness. our pastor prayed it over dan the night prior to surgery.—-For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways. psalm 91.11}