Hi Everyone - It's Meg again. I wanted to send out another update to celebrate with you all that we are HOME this evening! Praise the Lord!
While they were running a couple hours behind schedule, the procedure was relatively quick and we were back on the road headed home by mid afternoon. The procedure was complication free - Hallelujah, Thank you God!!! The Dr. said Jas' esophagus was probably about 7 mm in diameter before he stretched it to put the stent in. So, now Jas has a 12 mm stent in to force the opening to stretch out for a couple of months. After about 2 months, if the stent remains in place, we will head back in to have the stent removed and possibly upgrade to a larger one. Time will tell on that end. We are praying that we don't see this Dr. for another 2 months : )
I have to say that the entire day, we were supernaturally blanketed in God's peace yet again. We knew that today was out of our hands and that whatever happened, God would take care of Jason. Thanks for your prayers, as we were completely blanketed in them and are so appreciative of your encouragement you sent throughout today. From starting my day off with a wonderful devotional, to seeing the registration woman with her God Bless You lanyard on, to Dr. Greenwald commenting on liking my Believe Big Sweatshirt, to running into Jas' surgeon during Jason's procedure to bring him up to speed quickly - everything just fell into place today! It's been awesome to recap the day!
I did want to share the devotional I read this AM from my Jesus Calling devotional by Sarah Young (which I love) as it sure did hit home for me first thing this morning before the day shifted into full gear.
Devotion from God: Stop trying to work things out before their times have come. Accept limitations of living one day at a time. When something comes to your attention, ask Me whether or not it is part of today's agenda. If it isn't, release it into My care and go on about today's duties. When you follow this practice, there will be a beautiful simplicity about your life: a time for everything, and everything in its time. A life lived closed to Me is not complicated or cluttered. When your focus is on My Presence, many things that once troubled you lose their power over you. Though the world around you is messy and confusing remember that I have overcome the world. I have told you these things so that in Me you may have Peace.
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33
This was probably the first time over the past year that Jas didn't have a rough car ride home after some type of procedure. And, this time he wasn't sick from the anesthesia. It was unbelievable, after seeing how awful he was last time around! While they gave him the normal anti-nausea meds, this time they added the patch behind the ear that you usually would get on a cruise to help with motion sickness. Well, that must have done the trick bc I walked back into the recovery area after the procedure and was shocked to see him looking great! His coloring looked good, didn't get dizzy when he got out of bed and wasn't miserable on the hour drive home. Thank you God! He was all over it for us : )
So after taking a couple good naps this afternoon/evening, Jas is doing pretty well tonight! He's achy and has a sore throat from the actual scope, but that's nothing compared to the prior visit. His wallet now includes a card that explains that there is a bit of metal in his stent which will set off metal detectors - interesting as we thought it would be all plastic.
Below are a few specific prayer requests we have if you could please continue to keep us in your prayers:
1. For Jas to not have a fever tonight/tomorrow.
2. For Jas to not have pain or feel achy tomorrow.
3. For Jas to be able to eat healthy, high calorie foods tomorrow and beyond to continue to gain his energy back and some weight.
4. For God to make it clear whether or not I (Meg) should go to my Women's Bible Study Retreat this weekend, as I want to ensure I do what's best for our family and Jason specifically. It would be absolutely amazing to be able to go so we'll see what Friday holds for us. And we sure do appreciate all of those willing to help with Taylor and Jason to make it happen if I do go. So grateful!
Well, that's it for now. We hope you have a wonderful Friday!
With Much Love in His Healing Name,
Meg
3/29/12 - Back to the Hospital
Good morning! We are sending out an incredibly brief post to ask for your prayers this morning please.
Over the past 2 weeks Jason has had a very difficult time even getting soft foods down and has for the most part been resorting to a liquid diet. Praise the Lord they are able to get him back in at the hospital today (Thursday 3/29) to have a stent put in his esophagus to force it to remain open for some time.
We are praying and ask for your prayers as well that this procedure will be complication free, so that we will be home by this afternoon. We'll keep you posted on how it goes!
Many thanks for your prayers!
With Much Love in Him!
Meg
Over the past 2 weeks Jason has had a very difficult time even getting soft foods down and has for the most part been resorting to a liquid diet. Praise the Lord they are able to get him back in at the hospital today (Thursday 3/29) to have a stent put in his esophagus to force it to remain open for some time.
We are praying and ask for your prayers as well that this procedure will be complication free, so that we will be home by this afternoon. We'll keep you posted on how it goes!
Many thanks for your prayers!
With Much Love in Him!
Meg
3/16/12 - God Knocks Our Socks Off Yet Again!
Hi Everyone - It's Meg again. Well, these last 2 weeks have been quite an unexpected whirlwind to say the least. But we are Praising God that we received good news today!
To quickly recap the past 2 weeks... Jas was in the hospital for 5 days, and has had nothing to eat or drink orally since Wednesday, February 29th. Since coming home, they increased the number of "liquid food" cans that he pumps through his feeding tube at night, however he still continued to lose an additional 10 lbs. On Friday, March 9th he headed back to the hospital to take the "leak test" to see if the tear had healed in his esophagus and we were very discouraged when we were told that it hadn't healed yet. So, that meant another week of "waiting" for it to heal before he could retake the "leak test" and another week of not eating/drinking anything. Wheeew! So, that leads us up to today. Jas went in for the "retake" and Praise the Lord he passed this time! YAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! We can't even begin to tell you how awesome it was to hear that he passed! So, he'll be on clear liquids today and tomorrow, moving to smoothie status on Saturday and hoping to move to food on Monday. Time to get some pounds back on the poor guy! We thought you would enjoy the video of Jas and Taylor celebrating daddy's first drink of apple juice together : ) Again, you'll have to go to wilestrials.blogspot.com to view the video.
I also wanted to share with you all how God revealed ever so clearly his answer to all of our prayer requests on whether or not to do mop up chemo. As a reminder, we've been asking for your prayers and been praying daily for clarity on whether or not to do it. Well, I know we continue to be amazed with how clearly God has answered our prayers this past year and I'm sure you all have been in awe with what we've shared with you also! So, here is yet another awesome story to share with you on how God answered our prayer in a way that we never anticipated! Now I have to explain that our "clear answer" was revealed to us on Monday, March 5 - the day Jas was released from the hospital. I made sure that as soon as it happened that I typed it up - while it was still so vivid in my mind. I'll warn you it's a long one, but I know you will understand why after reading through it. I keep crying as I think about how AMAZING God is and his compassion for us through this trial! Probably not what you expected to hear from us after being in the hospital another 5 days right and through the ringer with Jas not being able to eat/drink for 2 weeks right? Well, God continues to keep us on our toes!
On the morning of Monday, March 5th the story gets really AWESOME and makes these past couple weeks of suffering, much more bearable now that we're seeing them in a whole new light. In the morning I headed down to the cafeteria at the hospital to grab breakfast. Since we've been to the hospital so much, I know the back ways to get places that typically the public doesn't use as often but the Dr's do. So of course I'm taking the back way : ) As I head down the hallway I recognize that I'm about to pass our oncologist. Hooray, as I was wanting to bring her in the loop about the chain of events that took place and was really curious to hear what she would say about mop up chemo now...
After realizing that she hadn't heard of any of the events this past week, I quickly brought her up to speed. She looked at me and said, "I've NEVER heard of that happening." You know, our Dr. who performed the procedure had also said that to us numerous times/numerous ways, but after hearing it yet again but from her, I realized it was God smacking me over the head (ever so lovingly lol) for me to hear multiple Dr's say, this has never happened to them before - referring to the tear taking place during a "stretching procedure." Hmmmmm.... interesting don't you think? She was shocked - really! So, I proceeded to talk to her about how we continued to go back and forth about whether to do mop up chemo, understanding that if we got to May, it wouldn't be worth it, as we would have passed that "critical window of effectiveness." I shared with her that with Jas not being able to eat food for another couple weeks, I just didn't even know if chemo would be an option.
Now, it really gets good - don't miss this! I proceeded to tell her that we've really been praying hard for God to make it clear to us whether or not to do mop up chemo since January and that by this "event that the Dr's have never heard of happening" taking place, I believe that this was God's way of making it clear not to do the mop up chemo. (As a reminder, this decision has been so incredibly heavy on our hearts about what to do since the surgery in January.) She didn't flinch when she looked at me with her reply, and typically the minute I mention God she almost runs in the other direction, changing the topic of conversation, fidgeting uncomfortably, not being willing to think about miracles, etc. She replied with, "You may be right. This may be His way of making it clear to you guys. Jas's first priority is to focus on his wound healing and if he were to throw chemo at him next month, that would regress the healing that needs to take place. We can talk more when things settle down and Jas gets back up to par with eating/stints/etc. however that is going to be awhile. And yes, once we hit May it wouldn't be worthwhile to go through chemo." It may not seem that eye opening to you all, but to those who have met our oncologist understand that for her to say the above without flinching, looking uncomfortable, etc. and to not continue to "push chemo" was a miracle in itself lol!
Wow! So random (well not random, God was all over this) that I ran into her in the back hallway this morning. And, while I had been starting to see God through this mess over the past week about this possibly being why this was happening, it was MUCH clearer now. I walked back up to Jas' room and shared with him what had just happened. Holy cow! God allowed this craziness to happen, that we didn't view as being a positive thing on March 1, in order to answer our urgent prayer requests that we've been lifting up to him daily these past couple months. All the Dr's are telling us that what happens to Jason doesn't happen coupled with our oncologist is thinking chemo probably isn't the best at this point - WOW. This may not seem big to you all, but it's HUGE to us! We were in tears as we digested the past 4 days together in our hospital room and so THANKFUL that once again, God didn't just answer our prayer request, he went over and beyond and took the decision out of our hands! PRAISE GOD! Can we just tell you what a huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders? It made the past 2 weeks seem so minimal compared to having to go through another 3 months of chemo. Holy Smokes! While we understand this doesn't guarantee anything about the future in terms of cancer, all we wanted to do was follow God's lead on what to do at this point. And He blew us away again, our compassionate Father, by making it very easy to see that it's not what is best for Jas at this time based on how far he has regressed due to this last snafu! We are so incredibly grateful that He more or less made the decision for us, taking the pressure off our shoulders and knowing that based on where Jas is at today, neither of us will ever have a regret about our decision not to do chemo at this time.
After that I went to go visit our Scope Dr's Assistant, Jackie. Now I don't recall if I ever shared much with you about Jackie, however from day 1 she's been amazing to us! I had called her when Jas was first diagnosed with esophageal cancer and begged her to help get us in quickly to move forward in the process for treatment, as it's common that you have to wait a handful of weeks after diagnosis before anyone will see you to get the ball moving. She had such a sweet heart for us and helped squeeze us in before we headed off on our vacation in October. So, each time we came back for a scope, etc. we've always made a point to see her and give her a great big hug to say thanks!
So, I hadn't yet seen Jackie this past trip for the esophagus stretching. So I went up to see her and give her my routine hug of thanks. Low and behold, she ended up taking me to lunch at PotBelly's! Bless her heart! As we sat down together to start eating, I had no idea whether she had a relationship with Christ or where she stood, so there was a bit of funny awkwardness about whether to pray silently to myself or to pray out loud with her (just being honest). But as I saw her start to fold her hands before eating I realized that she was going to pray to herself, so I asked if I could pray with her. It was wonderful to be able to Thank God for her and her help to our family with her there next to me!
I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch with her and it was so neat to see even more clarity through this all. She had shared that our scope Dr. really had been upset about what had happened to Jason on 3/1, and we ourselves knew that he was also taking it hard. I explained to her the story of what happened on Monday 3/5 to us and how what took place on Thursday was God's perfect plan to answer our urgent prayer request for clarity on next steps. It was so neat to be able to share that with her and all of the other ways God has been loving on us through this trial also. She was amazed! Now mind you, I have hugged her a few times in person, had a couple phone calls to schedule appts and a few emails with her, but that was it before today. And those of you who knew me even a year ago understand that I never had the boldness or willingness to talk about God the way that he is giving me the ability to do so now. We've been praying for boldness and wisdom to use these cancer trials to glorify Him and share with others how loving God is. Look how far God has brought me this past year. It's been such an honor to bear fruit in this way to further His kingdom and get others excited about what He is doing in our lives
Through all this we know that you've continued to pray for Jason and our family and we again want to Thank You for your commitment to us through this trial! There's a verse in Revelation (5:8) that I studied this past fall that has been so comforting to me through all this. Revelation 5:8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. To sum it up, all of our prayers have been and will continue to be held by the 24 elders before Jesus in heaven in golden bowls in the form of incense. Isn't that cool to be able to visualize Jesus being surrounded in heaven by our prayer requests in this way? And so comforting! THANK YOU!!!
We sure are praying this next week is less eventful other than the numbers on the scale to move up for Jas! Boring is good right lol? Looking back on these past couple weeks, while it was one of the toughest couple of weeks we've had in a long time, it's very cool to see how it was all part of our Heavenly Father's perfect plan to bring to us clarity that we were so desperately praying for. What a perfect gift he gave us at the end of these crazy 2 weeks! Now with that being said, we continue to pray for our hearts to be open and softened to God if he reveals something new or different over the next month regarding mop up chemo. We believe he's been very clear, however we want to make sure we continue to give it over to Him and make it about what he wants us to do vs. what sounds best to us. Well, that's it for now!
With Much Love in His Healing Name,
Meg
To quickly recap the past 2 weeks... Jas was in the hospital for 5 days, and has had nothing to eat or drink orally since Wednesday, February 29th. Since coming home, they increased the number of "liquid food" cans that he pumps through his feeding tube at night, however he still continued to lose an additional 10 lbs. On Friday, March 9th he headed back to the hospital to take the "leak test" to see if the tear had healed in his esophagus and we were very discouraged when we were told that it hadn't healed yet. So, that meant another week of "waiting" for it to heal before he could retake the "leak test" and another week of not eating/drinking anything. Wheeew! So, that leads us up to today. Jas went in for the "retake" and Praise the Lord he passed this time! YAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! We can't even begin to tell you how awesome it was to hear that he passed! So, he'll be on clear liquids today and tomorrow, moving to smoothie status on Saturday and hoping to move to food on Monday. Time to get some pounds back on the poor guy! We thought you would enjoy the video of Jas and Taylor celebrating daddy's first drink of apple juice together : ) Again, you'll have to go to wilestrials.blogspot.com to view the video.
I also wanted to share with you all how God revealed ever so clearly his answer to all of our prayer requests on whether or not to do mop up chemo. As a reminder, we've been asking for your prayers and been praying daily for clarity on whether or not to do it. Well, I know we continue to be amazed with how clearly God has answered our prayers this past year and I'm sure you all have been in awe with what we've shared with you also! So, here is yet another awesome story to share with you on how God answered our prayer in a way that we never anticipated! Now I have to explain that our "clear answer" was revealed to us on Monday, March 5 - the day Jas was released from the hospital. I made sure that as soon as it happened that I typed it up - while it was still so vivid in my mind. I'll warn you it's a long one, but I know you will understand why after reading through it. I keep crying as I think about how AMAZING God is and his compassion for us through this trial! Probably not what you expected to hear from us after being in the hospital another 5 days right and through the ringer with Jas not being able to eat/drink for 2 weeks right? Well, God continues to keep us on our toes!
On the morning of Monday, March 5th the story gets really AWESOME and makes these past couple weeks of suffering, much more bearable now that we're seeing them in a whole new light. In the morning I headed down to the cafeteria at the hospital to grab breakfast. Since we've been to the hospital so much, I know the back ways to get places that typically the public doesn't use as often but the Dr's do. So of course I'm taking the back way : ) As I head down the hallway I recognize that I'm about to pass our oncologist. Hooray, as I was wanting to bring her in the loop about the chain of events that took place and was really curious to hear what she would say about mop up chemo now...
After realizing that she hadn't heard of any of the events this past week, I quickly brought her up to speed. She looked at me and said, "I've NEVER heard of that happening." You know, our Dr. who performed the procedure had also said that to us numerous times/numerous ways, but after hearing it yet again but from her, I realized it was God smacking me over the head (ever so lovingly lol) for me to hear multiple Dr's say, this has never happened to them before - referring to the tear taking place during a "stretching procedure." Hmmmmm.... interesting don't you think? She was shocked - really! So, I proceeded to talk to her about how we continued to go back and forth about whether to do mop up chemo, understanding that if we got to May, it wouldn't be worth it, as we would have passed that "critical window of effectiveness." I shared with her that with Jas not being able to eat food for another couple weeks, I just didn't even know if chemo would be an option.
Now, it really gets good - don't miss this! I proceeded to tell her that we've really been praying hard for God to make it clear to us whether or not to do mop up chemo since January and that by this "event that the Dr's have never heard of happening" taking place, I believe that this was God's way of making it clear not to do the mop up chemo. (As a reminder, this decision has been so incredibly heavy on our hearts about what to do since the surgery in January.) She didn't flinch when she looked at me with her reply, and typically the minute I mention God she almost runs in the other direction, changing the topic of conversation, fidgeting uncomfortably, not being willing to think about miracles, etc. She replied with, "You may be right. This may be His way of making it clear to you guys. Jas's first priority is to focus on his wound healing and if he were to throw chemo at him next month, that would regress the healing that needs to take place. We can talk more when things settle down and Jas gets back up to par with eating/stints/etc. however that is going to be awhile. And yes, once we hit May it wouldn't be worthwhile to go through chemo." It may not seem that eye opening to you all, but to those who have met our oncologist understand that for her to say the above without flinching, looking uncomfortable, etc. and to not continue to "push chemo" was a miracle in itself lol!
Wow! So random (well not random, God was all over this) that I ran into her in the back hallway this morning. And, while I had been starting to see God through this mess over the past week about this possibly being why this was happening, it was MUCH clearer now. I walked back up to Jas' room and shared with him what had just happened. Holy cow! God allowed this craziness to happen, that we didn't view as being a positive thing on March 1, in order to answer our urgent prayer requests that we've been lifting up to him daily these past couple months. All the Dr's are telling us that what happens to Jason doesn't happen coupled with our oncologist is thinking chemo probably isn't the best at this point - WOW. This may not seem big to you all, but it's HUGE to us! We were in tears as we digested the past 4 days together in our hospital room and so THANKFUL that once again, God didn't just answer our prayer request, he went over and beyond and took the decision out of our hands! PRAISE GOD! Can we just tell you what a huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders? It made the past 2 weeks seem so minimal compared to having to go through another 3 months of chemo. Holy Smokes! While we understand this doesn't guarantee anything about the future in terms of cancer, all we wanted to do was follow God's lead on what to do at this point. And He blew us away again, our compassionate Father, by making it very easy to see that it's not what is best for Jas at this time based on how far he has regressed due to this last snafu! We are so incredibly grateful that He more or less made the decision for us, taking the pressure off our shoulders and knowing that based on where Jas is at today, neither of us will ever have a regret about our decision not to do chemo at this time.
After that I went to go visit our Scope Dr's Assistant, Jackie. Now I don't recall if I ever shared much with you about Jackie, however from day 1 she's been amazing to us! I had called her when Jas was first diagnosed with esophageal cancer and begged her to help get us in quickly to move forward in the process for treatment, as it's common that you have to wait a handful of weeks after diagnosis before anyone will see you to get the ball moving. She had such a sweet heart for us and helped squeeze us in before we headed off on our vacation in October. So, each time we came back for a scope, etc. we've always made a point to see her and give her a great big hug to say thanks!
So, I hadn't yet seen Jackie this past trip for the esophagus stretching. So I went up to see her and give her my routine hug of thanks. Low and behold, she ended up taking me to lunch at PotBelly's! Bless her heart! As we sat down together to start eating, I had no idea whether she had a relationship with Christ or where she stood, so there was a bit of funny awkwardness about whether to pray silently to myself or to pray out loud with her (just being honest). But as I saw her start to fold her hands before eating I realized that she was going to pray to herself, so I asked if I could pray with her. It was wonderful to be able to Thank God for her and her help to our family with her there next to me!
I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch with her and it was so neat to see even more clarity through this all. She had shared that our scope Dr. really had been upset about what had happened to Jason on 3/1, and we ourselves knew that he was also taking it hard. I explained to her the story of what happened on Monday 3/5 to us and how what took place on Thursday was God's perfect plan to answer our urgent prayer request for clarity on next steps. It was so neat to be able to share that with her and all of the other ways God has been loving on us through this trial also. She was amazed! Now mind you, I have hugged her a few times in person, had a couple phone calls to schedule appts and a few emails with her, but that was it before today. And those of you who knew me even a year ago understand that I never had the boldness or willingness to talk about God the way that he is giving me the ability to do so now. We've been praying for boldness and wisdom to use these cancer trials to glorify Him and share with others how loving God is. Look how far God has brought me this past year. It's been such an honor to bear fruit in this way to further His kingdom and get others excited about what He is doing in our lives
Through all this we know that you've continued to pray for Jason and our family and we again want to Thank You for your commitment to us through this trial! There's a verse in Revelation (5:8) that I studied this past fall that has been so comforting to me through all this. Revelation 5:8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. To sum it up, all of our prayers have been and will continue to be held by the 24 elders before Jesus in heaven in golden bowls in the form of incense. Isn't that cool to be able to visualize Jesus being surrounded in heaven by our prayer requests in this way? And so comforting! THANK YOU!!!
We sure are praying this next week is less eventful other than the numbers on the scale to move up for Jas! Boring is good right lol? Looking back on these past couple weeks, while it was one of the toughest couple of weeks we've had in a long time, it's very cool to see how it was all part of our Heavenly Father's perfect plan to bring to us clarity that we were so desperately praying for. What a perfect gift he gave us at the end of these crazy 2 weeks! Now with that being said, we continue to pray for our hearts to be open and softened to God if he reveals something new or different over the next month regarding mop up chemo. We believe he's been very clear, however we want to make sure we continue to give it over to Him and make it about what he wants us to do vs. what sounds best to us. Well, that's it for now!
With Much Love in His Healing Name,
Meg
3/9/12 - Hospital breakout and now taking it day by day!
Well I just wanted to give you a quick update since Megs had to pass on the news of the unfortunate events of a week ago...So I busted my way of the the hospital on Monday (3/4)...No literally. So it was pretty much an uneventful weekend in the hospital, lots of pain killers and nausea medication. For some reason this time, not sure if it was the trauma of the procedure or my post-surgery body that didn't like the anesthesia, but as Megan had reported in the last blog, the nausea didn't subside till early Monday. Once again, I have a lot more sympathy now for my wife and all the other women who have been through pregnancy. I don't wish that upon anyone.
So that calm weekend, took a turn Sunday night at midnight. I was sleeping all peacefully on my side and then I went to turn on to my back and once I re-situated myself, I laid my hands on my tummy and that was when I felt it... My feeding tube had came out and all I could remember to do was what the Dr. had told me to do push it back in. Yuppers, so in half a stooper I shove it back in, though I don't think it ever fully came out. Luckily no pain, but I immediately woke up Megs and called the nurse in. I guess what happened was my suture came out and gravity took over. So they called down a Dr on night shift and they covered it with a bandage and scheduled an x-ray. Well, in perfect hospital fashion, then around 4am they come get me to take me down to the Gun & Knife Club (that's speak for a Baltimore emergency room) as that is the only radiology open during the night. So they inject some contrast to make sure the feeding tube is placed where it is supposed to be. What a blessing it was, nothing major needed to do other than suture it back in so it doesn't pop out.
So this is where the story of the breakout get interesting. The Dr came by and put two shiny new sutures in to make sure the feeding tube was connected. She left and said they could start using it and she would be back early afternoon to make sure everything was going well and get me released. So all weekend, when the Drs made their rounds, we talked about being released on Monday and then coming back that following Monday (3/12) for the swallow test to make sure the hole was healed/sealed. That was the premise we were working off of. So after the better part of the day Monday of the nurse paging the Drs and only hearing crickets, at around 4pm we decided to get things moving. We had the nurse page the Dr again and I called the office on the phone to see if we could get some response. Well the Dr called the nurse right back and to paraphrase what he told her; "he's not being released today, I am in a meeting and will be down in a couple hours." Lets just say, I am glad the tech wasn't taking my vitals at the time because my blood pressure might have broke the machine. To make a long story short, within a half hour my surgeon, gastroenterologist and a bunch of other Drs and nurses walk into the room. This the first time I had ever seen the surgeon and gastro Drs together. So it's apparent the surgeon was irritated and after a raised voice discussion amongst all....the surgeon says I will release you, but you need to let me know if you notice any changes with your body. All I had to hear was release and I said DONE, I am breaking out! In the end, I don't think the resident Drs communicated to the attending Dr and nothing was passed back to us, but the expectation was to keep me another day and make sure nothing additionally happened as a result of the feeding tube being dislodged. Praise God, cause at that point I felt 100 times better than I had felt all weekend and I was getting stir crazy. So by 7:30pm we were home and Taylor was excited to have daddy reading bedtime and Bible stories and saying prayers.
Needless to say, the next day I am again back off my narcotics, though feeling drained, it was great to be home sleeping in my bed sitting on my own couch. So these last few days have been a progression, similar to coming home from the hospital the first time. Getting readjusted to sleep patterns and pushing but not overdoing it each day. What has been much harder is being at home and not being able to drink anything, as I have been on a "nothing per oral" restriction since last Thursday when the dilation went wrong. The few ice chips I have had just aren't cutting the colossal case of cotton mouth that I have going right now. Definitely a mental battle to overcome the physical annoyance of not being able to drink. So I got to thinking...if after the surgery they waited 10 days to before giving me a swallow test for a complete new esophageal junction, then 8 days to test a little hole should be time enough for that to heal right? That's my thinking, so I called the Drs office on Thursday (3/8) to see if they would toss me a bone for my birthday on Saturday, and move up the test from Monday (3/12) to Friday (3/9) (as I can't imagine the highlight of my bday being able to eat a few ice chips, but I have also said there are others that are far worse off than I, so I guess that wouldn't be a bad thing.) At least if I pass the swallow test, my highlight will be some fruit juice which is really sounding yummy. Yeah, not my "steak dinner" but hey I am not asking for much here.
So pray that the quick 5 minute swallow test results come back with no leakage and I am able to be released to drink fluids to start then gradually increase to add more solids to my diet and get back to where I was before this all began over a week ago. Additionally, pray that the esophagus doesn't need stretching for a few weeks so I can get some good nutrients back in me. Looking ahead, I think when the esophagus starts to close again (yes, when and not if) they are going to put in a stent to keep things open for a couple months and increase stent sizes over the next year to ensure the opening stretches and stays open. So some more scope procedures to look forward to. Hopefully no more freak mishaps with stretching.
Speaking of the strange events that have surrounded this last week plus, I will let Megs write the next blog about the results of swallow test and some of the crazy God moments that have happened over these past few days. So back to Baltimore, set the car on autopilot and off we go.
Trust in Him
God Bless!
Jason
So that calm weekend, took a turn Sunday night at midnight. I was sleeping all peacefully on my side and then I went to turn on to my back and once I re-situated myself, I laid my hands on my tummy and that was when I felt it... My feeding tube had came out and all I could remember to do was what the Dr. had told me to do push it back in. Yuppers, so in half a stooper I shove it back in, though I don't think it ever fully came out. Luckily no pain, but I immediately woke up Megs and called the nurse in. I guess what happened was my suture came out and gravity took over. So they called down a Dr on night shift and they covered it with a bandage and scheduled an x-ray. Well, in perfect hospital fashion, then around 4am they come get me to take me down to the Gun & Knife Club (that's speak for a Baltimore emergency room) as that is the only radiology open during the night. So they inject some contrast to make sure the feeding tube is placed where it is supposed to be. What a blessing it was, nothing major needed to do other than suture it back in so it doesn't pop out.
So this is where the story of the breakout get interesting. The Dr came by and put two shiny new sutures in to make sure the feeding tube was connected. She left and said they could start using it and she would be back early afternoon to make sure everything was going well and get me released. So all weekend, when the Drs made their rounds, we talked about being released on Monday and then coming back that following Monday (3/12) for the swallow test to make sure the hole was healed/sealed. That was the premise we were working off of. So after the better part of the day Monday of the nurse paging the Drs and only hearing crickets, at around 4pm we decided to get things moving. We had the nurse page the Dr again and I called the office on the phone to see if we could get some response. Well the Dr called the nurse right back and to paraphrase what he told her; "he's not being released today, I am in a meeting and will be down in a couple hours." Lets just say, I am glad the tech wasn't taking my vitals at the time because my blood pressure might have broke the machine. To make a long story short, within a half hour my surgeon, gastroenterologist and a bunch of other Drs and nurses walk into the room. This the first time I had ever seen the surgeon and gastro Drs together. So it's apparent the surgeon was irritated and after a raised voice discussion amongst all....the surgeon says I will release you, but you need to let me know if you notice any changes with your body. All I had to hear was release and I said DONE, I am breaking out! In the end, I don't think the resident Drs communicated to the attending Dr and nothing was passed back to us, but the expectation was to keep me another day and make sure nothing additionally happened as a result of the feeding tube being dislodged. Praise God, cause at that point I felt 100 times better than I had felt all weekend and I was getting stir crazy. So by 7:30pm we were home and Taylor was excited to have daddy reading bedtime and Bible stories and saying prayers.
Needless to say, the next day I am again back off my narcotics, though feeling drained, it was great to be home sleeping in my bed sitting on my own couch. So these last few days have been a progression, similar to coming home from the hospital the first time. Getting readjusted to sleep patterns and pushing but not overdoing it each day. What has been much harder is being at home and not being able to drink anything, as I have been on a "nothing per oral" restriction since last Thursday when the dilation went wrong. The few ice chips I have had just aren't cutting the colossal case of cotton mouth that I have going right now. Definitely a mental battle to overcome the physical annoyance of not being able to drink. So I got to thinking...if after the surgery they waited 10 days to before giving me a swallow test for a complete new esophageal junction, then 8 days to test a little hole should be time enough for that to heal right? That's my thinking, so I called the Drs office on Thursday (3/8) to see if they would toss me a bone for my birthday on Saturday, and move up the test from Monday (3/12) to Friday (3/9) (as I can't imagine the highlight of my bday being able to eat a few ice chips, but I have also said there are others that are far worse off than I, so I guess that wouldn't be a bad thing.) At least if I pass the swallow test, my highlight will be some fruit juice which is really sounding yummy. Yeah, not my "steak dinner" but hey I am not asking for much here.
So pray that the quick 5 minute swallow test results come back with no leakage and I am able to be released to drink fluids to start then gradually increase to add more solids to my diet and get back to where I was before this all began over a week ago. Additionally, pray that the esophagus doesn't need stretching for a few weeks so I can get some good nutrients back in me. Looking ahead, I think when the esophagus starts to close again (yes, when and not if) they are going to put in a stent to keep things open for a couple months and increase stent sizes over the next year to ensure the opening stretches and stays open. So some more scope procedures to look forward to. Hopefully no more freak mishaps with stretching.
Speaking of the strange events that have surrounded this last week plus, I will let Megs write the next blog about the results of swallow test and some of the crazy God moments that have happened over these past few days. So back to Baltimore, set the car on autopilot and off we go.
Trust in Him
God Bless!
Jason
3/2/12 - Another Bump In The Road
Hi All - Well, we never expected to be typing this update from the hospital, however there was a complication during Jason's procedure yesterday that required admitting Jason back into the hospital again :( Wheew! We didn't see this one coming!
Honestly, this procedure was explained to be very simple, quick (approx 30 minutes, however pre and post obviously added to that with the anesthesia), with instant results of being able to eat soft foods again. We planned to be back home by lunch yesterday, ready to eat some Thai food to celebrate that he could eat real food again. However we encountered a MAJOR bump in the road. During the procedure one of the tools that they use to stretch the esophagus wider caused a tear right at the junction of where the new esophagus was "hooked up" on the upper end. The interesting info we learned, for those detail oriented seekers, is that Jason's opening was only 3 mm wide when the procedure began. They stretched it to 11mm during the procedure. Now it wasn't the stretching that caused the tear. It was the instrument they used as they were pulling it out, finishing the procedure. You think about 3 mm, that is SMALL! No wonder even cottage cheese was getting stuck when Jas was eating.
The Dr. shook his head and said never in the 20 years of doing this has this happened. Jas just looked at him calmly and said, "It is what it is. Let's talk about the game plan from here." Well, I'm praying that Jason's attitude of Christlike suffering will be forever embedded in the Dr's heart and that a seed of Christ has been planted. What an amazing husband God has given me! We love this Dr. and fully respect and trust him and you can see that he just feels awful about what happened!
So from there, Jas had to head down to radiation for another "swallow/leak" test to see if the tear in the esophagus was leaking liquid to determine whether or not he could eat/drink anything orally. It was very interesting as they let me come in the room and watch this time. Last time I wasn't part of the process. But man oh man, the first drink of the lovely liquid they gave him and the nurse and I saw liquid shooting out the side of the junction right away : ( Sigh. The Dr. confirmed that about 10% of what he was drinking was leaking outside of his esophagus and into his body where it shouldn't be going.
What that means for us? Well, that means back into the hospital room we go, probably until Monday at the earliest. It also means no eating or drinking anything orally until he can pass the next "leak" test. This is something that the body will be able to heal itself on, however it takes time and even more time when we're talking about operated scar tissue healing. So, Praise God they still have his feeding tube in. He's back to straight tube feedings into his intestine for the next week. Our surgeon even commented tonight when he did his rounds, "Thank God the feeding tube is still in. I thought about taking it out on your last visit to see me and I'm so glad we didn't." I smiled big and said, "God knew what he was doing!" First time I heard our surgeon mention God :)
Oh, that reminds me of another neat thing to share. When we first checked in for the procedure, the lady who has registered us multiple times in the past, registered us again. I looked at her and noticed that the lanyard that she usually wears around her neck to hold her badge on that read "I Love Jesus" wasn't on that day. So I asked her what happened to it, as it was always a comforting reminder that we were in good hands. She smiled and said, "Well I have about 5 different lanyards that I color coordinate with my outfit. But just because I don't have it on today doesn't mean that Jesus isn't always in my heart!" LOVE IT! I agreed with her and was excited to know we had another sister in Christ here at the hospital!
To summarize the remainder of the day yesterday and last night... Jas was in a LOT of pain and had more nauseousness than I've ever seen him have the poor guy! It took until about 3 to 4am this morning before they were able to get his pain to a manageable state and for him not to dry heave every 15 minutes. Uggh!!! It was a LONG DAY and LONG NIGHT for him!
I headed home last night to take care of Taylor, talk her through why daddy didn't come home and tuck her in. Now I have to say, after the day we had I never would have expected to smile at the end of it. But how could you not, when you walk home to this surprise? Cards of blessings lined the kitchen counter about what she was thankful for. And Taylor greeted me with a red nose and washable marker "makeup" all over her face. She and Grammie Bev had decided to do make overs together. So her toes and fingers were painted pretty which she loves. However, Taylor's manicure on Grammie Bev with washable marker was hysterical. I don't think she hit one fingernail :) I would attach a pic of the two ladies together with their war paint on but I think Grammie Bev would shoot me lol
So I spend a couple hours with Taylor this morning before dropping her off to our friends which was nice! It was so sweet as we were on a hunt to find her missing baby doll for her dollhouse last night and all morning. Those of you who have a dollhouse, you know how hard to find those tiny babies are! Well, when we started the search she looks at me and says, "Don't worry mommy, Jesus will help us find it." And low and behold, we were thanking Jesus this morning for him helping us find our missing treasure. I love her confidence in Jesus!
By the way, a HUGE thanks to everyone who offered to help with Taylor! We have coverage for her through end of day Tuesday, which is all we are expecting to need at this point, but man do we feel blessed to have so many willing to help if needed! THANK YOU! And a special thanks to Grammie Bev, Couches, Shanks & Conrads for loving on our baby girl this weekend :)
After arriving back to the hospital early afternoon today, Jas is looking and feeling better - Praise God! Don't get me wrong, he's still wiped and only sleeping in 30 minute increments, but his pain is back to a manageable state and he is only having sporadic nausea now. Praying that he gets a good night's sleep so he feels even better tomorrow!
At this point, our Dr's are still discussing best route to head in terms of next steps, so we'll keep you posted as we go. They are hoping that Monday he may be able to go home. However if he does, he'll still be on a straight tube feed until he can pass the "leak/swallow" test. They are debating about whether he do the test on Monday before heading home or if they give it a week and then have him come back to do it. We shall see!
Well, that's it for now. To sum it up, things happen: good, bad and ugly. While this turn of events was a major surprise to us and very disappointing, we know it wasn't a surprise to God at all and that it's all part of His perfect plan - Romans 8:28. It's comforting to be reminded that nothing surprises our God!
Time to get back to work and hang up our Romans 8:28 decor in the room with some encouraging cards to brighten his spirits and reach out to the staff here once again!
Thanks for your continued prayers!
In Him,
Meg
Honestly, this procedure was explained to be very simple, quick (approx 30 minutes, however pre and post obviously added to that with the anesthesia), with instant results of being able to eat soft foods again. We planned to be back home by lunch yesterday, ready to eat some Thai food to celebrate that he could eat real food again. However we encountered a MAJOR bump in the road. During the procedure one of the tools that they use to stretch the esophagus wider caused a tear right at the junction of where the new esophagus was "hooked up" on the upper end. The interesting info we learned, for those detail oriented seekers, is that Jason's opening was only 3 mm wide when the procedure began. They stretched it to 11mm during the procedure. Now it wasn't the stretching that caused the tear. It was the instrument they used as they were pulling it out, finishing the procedure. You think about 3 mm, that is SMALL! No wonder even cottage cheese was getting stuck when Jas was eating.
The Dr. shook his head and said never in the 20 years of doing this has this happened. Jas just looked at him calmly and said, "It is what it is. Let's talk about the game plan from here." Well, I'm praying that Jason's attitude of Christlike suffering will be forever embedded in the Dr's heart and that a seed of Christ has been planted. What an amazing husband God has given me! We love this Dr. and fully respect and trust him and you can see that he just feels awful about what happened!
So from there, Jas had to head down to radiation for another "swallow/leak" test to see if the tear in the esophagus was leaking liquid to determine whether or not he could eat/drink anything orally. It was very interesting as they let me come in the room and watch this time. Last time I wasn't part of the process. But man oh man, the first drink of the lovely liquid they gave him and the nurse and I saw liquid shooting out the side of the junction right away : ( Sigh. The Dr. confirmed that about 10% of what he was drinking was leaking outside of his esophagus and into his body where it shouldn't be going.
What that means for us? Well, that means back into the hospital room we go, probably until Monday at the earliest. It also means no eating or drinking anything orally until he can pass the next "leak" test. This is something that the body will be able to heal itself on, however it takes time and even more time when we're talking about operated scar tissue healing. So, Praise God they still have his feeding tube in. He's back to straight tube feedings into his intestine for the next week. Our surgeon even commented tonight when he did his rounds, "Thank God the feeding tube is still in. I thought about taking it out on your last visit to see me and I'm so glad we didn't." I smiled big and said, "God knew what he was doing!" First time I heard our surgeon mention God :)
Oh, that reminds me of another neat thing to share. When we first checked in for the procedure, the lady who has registered us multiple times in the past, registered us again. I looked at her and noticed that the lanyard that she usually wears around her neck to hold her badge on that read "I Love Jesus" wasn't on that day. So I asked her what happened to it, as it was always a comforting reminder that we were in good hands. She smiled and said, "Well I have about 5 different lanyards that I color coordinate with my outfit. But just because I don't have it on today doesn't mean that Jesus isn't always in my heart!" LOVE IT! I agreed with her and was excited to know we had another sister in Christ here at the hospital!
To summarize the remainder of the day yesterday and last night... Jas was in a LOT of pain and had more nauseousness than I've ever seen him have the poor guy! It took until about 3 to 4am this morning before they were able to get his pain to a manageable state and for him not to dry heave every 15 minutes. Uggh!!! It was a LONG DAY and LONG NIGHT for him!
I headed home last night to take care of Taylor, talk her through why daddy didn't come home and tuck her in. Now I have to say, after the day we had I never would have expected to smile at the end of it. But how could you not, when you walk home to this surprise? Cards of blessings lined the kitchen counter about what she was thankful for. And Taylor greeted me with a red nose and washable marker "makeup" all over her face. She and Grammie Bev had decided to do make overs together. So her toes and fingers were painted pretty which she loves. However, Taylor's manicure on Grammie Bev with washable marker was hysterical. I don't think she hit one fingernail :) I would attach a pic of the two ladies together with their war paint on but I think Grammie Bev would shoot me lol
 |
| 10 Blessings Cards for Daddy & Mommy |
 |
| Grammie Bev's manicure given by Taylor |
By the way, a HUGE thanks to everyone who offered to help with Taylor! We have coverage for her through end of day Tuesday, which is all we are expecting to need at this point, but man do we feel blessed to have so many willing to help if needed! THANK YOU! And a special thanks to Grammie Bev, Couches, Shanks & Conrads for loving on our baby girl this weekend :)
After arriving back to the hospital early afternoon today, Jas is looking and feeling better - Praise God! Don't get me wrong, he's still wiped and only sleeping in 30 minute increments, but his pain is back to a manageable state and he is only having sporadic nausea now. Praying that he gets a good night's sleep so he feels even better tomorrow!
At this point, our Dr's are still discussing best route to head in terms of next steps, so we'll keep you posted as we go. They are hoping that Monday he may be able to go home. However if he does, he'll still be on a straight tube feed until he can pass the "leak/swallow" test. They are debating about whether he do the test on Monday before heading home or if they give it a week and then have him come back to do it. We shall see!
Well, that's it for now. To sum it up, things happen: good, bad and ugly. While this turn of events was a major surprise to us and very disappointing, we know it wasn't a surprise to God at all and that it's all part of His perfect plan - Romans 8:28. It's comforting to be reminded that nothing surprises our God!
Time to get back to work and hang up our Romans 8:28 decor in the room with some encouraging cards to brighten his spirits and reach out to the staff here once again!
Thanks for your continued prayers!
In Him,
Meg
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