We have some FANTASTIC news to share with you all and we pray it brings each of you an extra special Christmas gift as you read our update in the same way it has us! After meeting with the Univ of MD Team this past Friday, we learned that Jason's tumor in his esophagus is GONE! Let us say that again bc it sounds so WONDERFUL - GONE!!! PRAISES TO GOD! Also, the cancer has not spread to any other areas of Jas's body - yet another HALLELUJAH - PRAISE GOD! Are you all grinning from ear to ear with us right now?
Additionally, we received information on the lymph nodes that had shown cancer activity when treatment initially began. Unfortunately, the biopsy from the scope and the PET were not able to distinguish whether the activity that was showing in the lymph nodes is a result of the radiation effects or if it's cancer activity. So, we were told that this would remain an unknown unless Jas opted to have surgery and at the point of removing the lymph nodes, they would be tested to have a more definitive answer.
Now that we have the BIG news out there, we thought many of you would be interested to hear the details of our amazing week from the beginning : ) So... we asked for you to pray the No Fear Prayer for us and wow were the effects of your prayers on our behalf AMAZING! We truly were blanketed with peace and God spoke to us and protected us in so many ways to not allow the devil 1 second to sneak in. We know that God is so much bigger than cancer and the only "C" that we want to have rule our lives is Christ and not cancer!
So we spent the entire day on Tuesday at the hospital while Jason started the day off with his PET and then ended the day with a scope. Very interesting what we learned from Dr. Greenwald (gastroenterologist) who performed Jas' scope, which is the same Dr. we met with a few months ago to confirm Jas' diagnosis. After completing the scope, we asked Dr. Greenwald to share with us what he would do in Jas' situation. As a reminder, we've been praying for clarity on whether or not Jas should proceed with surgery if it's an option and it's been a tough tough decision. Keep in mind at that point of the week we had just found out that the tumor was gone (told as soon as the scope was complete) but that they more than likely wouldn't be able to tell us about the lymph nodes and whether or not they were showing signs of cancer activity. What Dr. Greenwald shared with us was quite eye opener. To boil it down - the 2 best tools they have to monitor esophageal cancer are the scope and PET. The scope is 30% accurate which really surprised us! He shared that if they detect cancer with the scope then it's 100% accurate. However, if they say there's no sign of cancer - it's actually only 30% accurate. WOW! That stat sure make us cautious as we prepared for Friday! Also, he shared that the PET scan only shows sign of cancer activity larger than 1 cm. Holy Cow! Again, not something we had heard of before. Another piece of information is that this type of cancer has a 50% recurrent rate in the esophagus in individuals who do not have the surgery. So... needless to say, he strongly recommended having the surgery done next to put Jas' best foot forward to try to eliminate the cancer completely if it were still there and just not showing up on these 2 tools. Also, the other factor is that we don't and won't know whether or not there's still cancer in the lymph nodes. So, we continued to pray for clarity and for God to prepare our hearts for whatever the news would be on Friday. Still not knowing if the cancer had spread elsewhere at that point.
So fast forward to Thursday night. From 4pm to bedtime, God was so full of surprises to prepare us for our big day on Friday. We started by opening our mail on Thursday, which was full of such generous gifts from so many generous and gracious hearts out there! God continues to love on us in amazing ways by softening so many hearts around us! THANK YOU to so many - you know who you are : ) Then we skyped with our dear friends in Morocco, ending the call with a prayer together. Then a family in our church whom Jas had never even met before, and I had only met the wife once before, swung by and brought a Christmas gift for Taylor and a knock your socks off gift for Jas & I. You see, we had continued to be in constant prayer over whether or not Jas should have the surgery and for God's clarity. And when we opened the family's card to us, HOLY COW did God make it clear. Reminder, we would not know until the next morning whether or not surgery was an option for sure. However, God softened the hearts of this family and because they were obedient to Him, they allowed God to clearly answer our prayer request through them. You see, not only was the gift an incredibly generous financial gift, it was also a unique amount that no one else had ever gifted to us (and we've had a lot of generous givers out there - THANKS to each an every one of you!). So unique in fact that the amount of money that they decided upon ended up being the amount needed to cover what we will have to co-pay for Jason's surgery. When I saw the number I instantly knew - this was straight from God answering so clearly! Talk about knocking your socks off! I had done research about a month ago, knowing that the surgery that Jas may have the opportunity to go through would require him to be in the hospital a minimum of 2 weeks. So that number of what we would need to pay out of pocket was still fresh in my mind. God once again BLEW US AWAY with how he answered us so clearly and in such a tenderhearted way - completely providing for our financial needs also. WOW WOW WOW! So cool to get to experience his blessings in this way!
So, the night continues : ) Told you he kept us busy until bedtime! As Jas and I are in tears, hugging each other after opening the gift mentioned above, our doorbell rings. On the front lawn stands my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group that I had the pleasure of being part of these past 2 years, singing a number of Christmas carols to us with their families. AMAZING! So incredibly touching that God arranged them to pull together in this way the night when we needed it the most and so good to see them all - as it's been awhile that we've been out of our "typical routine of life." And, to top that off, they had been reaching out to us in a variety of ways all week, ending on Christmas Eve with an amazingly generous gift to help out as well. GOD IS SO GOOD! Once again, we are in absolute AWE!
After hugging them and heading back into the house, we had our last visitors arrive. Bless their hearts they showed up with bags full of groceries from an organic market with an awesome variety foods on the alkaline side that they knew we were now eating, along with an extra generous gift. WOW WOW WOW! Blown away yet again! After saying our goodbyes and then getting Taylor to bed, I ended my night with a call to my dear friend Kat. She had an incredibly powerful story to share with me about how God had provided an amazing gift to her in a way that she knew only he could have done for her. It was so cool to recap our day with her to reaffirm how God had provided for both of us in ways that we had never expected him to. So very cool! Needless to say, a lot of tears were shed this week!
Then Friday morning comes. We arrive at the hospital and Jas was scheduled to have a pulmonary and vascular test first and then we were to meet with our clinic team at 11am to have the results of the PET read. So after checking in first thing in the morning, they take us back to a room and in walks our thoracic surgeon. Oh my! Not good! Jas and I didn't even look at each other at that point bc we both thought to ourselves "Uh Oh, this can't be good news!" We were both independently thinking, Dr. Burrows came in first to tell us the bad news and that surgery must not be an option now, or he would have stuck to the schedule of coming in at 11am. Thank goodness our gut reactions were wrong! Dr. Burrows shared the PET and scope results and I'll be honest, Jas and I just kept waiting for something to be said about surgery not being an option, but it never happened PRAISE GOD! So, we talked with Dr. Burrows about 2 hours discussing the surgery and all the questions that we had for him. Bless his heart he is a very patient man and thank goodness, as this is a HUGE surgery that Jas will be undergoing and you want to be as educated as you can going into it! So, we finished our day at the hospital with multiple tests that needed to be completed before surgery and set the surgery date for Monday, January 9th.
As for surgery, we truly think God was intentional with keeping the information on the lymph nodes unknown so it would be easier (although still a very big decision) to decide to do the surgery. Also, how He provided for us financially through other believers with a very specific amount that covers the surgery - pretty clear! We continue to pray for peace on this decision to move forward with surgery! The surgery will be an 8 to 10 hour procedure on January 9th and Jason will be in the hospital for 2 weeks minimum. Yes, this is a major surgery - comparable to an open heart surgery. It will be a tough first half of the year for us next year, but we continue to look at this as Short Term Pain for the Long Term Gain. And, we know without a doubt that God will be with us every step of the way and provide for every single need that we have - as he has already through these 2 cancer trials this year. We truly do feel that surgery is Jas' best chance for a esophageal cancer free future!
I'll be honest, since the news on Friday it's been a HUGE CELEBRATION! What joy we've had making phone calls, telling people in person and typing up this blog to share our wonderful wonderful news and how God has answered so many of our prayers! Many tears of joy and thanksgiving have been shed this week! To be able to be with our Church Family Saturday evening for our Christmas Eve Service - it was heavenly to be with so many that have just bathed us in God's love! And, we are so excited that we still are able to travel back to Ohio to see our friends and family there to celebrate together our news before surgery.
I'll tell you one thing, this will be a Christmas that we will NEVER EVER forget and I can't even begin to imagine God topping this Christmas in the future! What a perfect Christmas gift God has given us this year!
PS...for you readers who get updates to the blog via email, make sure you visit the actual blog (wilestrials.blogspot.com) this week to check out our new pics on the website. We took family photos during our vacation this Oct at the beach, a week before Jason's treatment started. Have we told you about how God's timing has been so perfect through all this? haha
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to each and every one of you!
We can't THANK YOU enough for your prayers, love, support, encouragement, etc!
We hope we have the opportunity to serve back to each of you in the way you have for us!
We can't THANK YOU enough for your prayers, love, support, encouragement, etc!
We hope we have the opportunity to serve back to each of you in the way you have for us!
With Much Love and In His Healing Name,
Meg
