On Friday, March 1, Jas had a stent put in the section of his esophagus that continues to close up and he has been doing fantastic so far. Praise, praise, praise the Lord! We can't tell you what an incredible blessing this is to know that we didn't have to go back to the hospital for another stretching at what has become a routine two week stretching. So So SOOOOOOO wonderful to have a breather! Even better, there have been very few side effects so far. For those of you who remember our unsuccessful go around with a stent about a year ago, Jas was in a LOT of pain to the point where he was on continuous meds and then had an infection occur as well which led to an additional hospital stay shortly after. Not this time! At most, he has been uncomfortable (the first few days.) He hasn't had to take any meds and after the first few days he hasn't even been uncomfortable. SOOOOOOOOOOO WONDERFUL!!! Thank you Jesus for this incredible break of hospital trips, anesthesia and stretchings! We can't tell you how wonderful this break has been for our family!
So, the plan will be to leave the stent in until May 28. At that point we again will pray about what our next course of action and also partner with our medical team on their opinion as well. With a stent in this area, if it is left in any longer than this timeframe your risk of infection increases, so that is the reason behind having to go back in on May 28. Still, 3 months away from the hospital??? Yes!!! That is our longest break from Baltimore in 2 years :)
I did want to share how God continues to keep things into perspective for us! While I was in the waiting room at the last procedure I was talking with some other women and come to find out another man was there for a stretching as well. Here the poor guy, from the age of 3 years old, had to come in monthly to have his esophagus stretched. He is now in his 30s. So for 30 years he has had to come to the hospital monthly and go through the stretching process. Holy Cow! Made these last 2 years seem like such a blink of the eye - cancer or not - compared to 30 years! For some reason a stent wouldn't work for this man so this was his only option. Like I said, God continues to lovingly show us that there are others out there who have harder struggles than the ones we are coping with ourselves.
Another exciting part of the day was getting to partner with a nurse on our team to help support our Believe Big initiative at Univ of MD! Hooray!!! So the Believe Big mugs we continue to hand out to other cancer patients battling cancer, will now be handed out in the GI lab also where cancer patients are scoped, diagnosed and followed up with on a routine basis for multiple types of cancer. We are so grateful and excited to have this partnership with them and to further the outreach of Believe Big's mission in Helping Families Navigate the Cancer Journey in Believing that "Nothing is Impossible with God!"
We celebrated Jason's birthday earlier this month which was HUGE! I feel I have a different perspective on birthdays after what we have gone through. To celebrate him making it to the next year was such an AWESOME gift the Lord gave us! We had a great weekend together, especially after him traveling for work that week. He kicked off his weekend at a Men's Retreat at our church which he really took a lot from. Then we surprised him with some creative artwork, balloons and a hat all hand picked and designed by Taylor :) We enjoyed going out to dinner and a nature hike at the C&O Canal that weekend. Perfect for my outdoorsy man! And Taylor also loved it, which was a plus ;) We also made his favorite - healthy crepes for a treat! Here are a few pics from our special weekend!
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| We had such a pretty, sunny day for a nature hike! |
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| Taylor ate just as many crepes as Jason did! |
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| Loves to pick up sticks and throw them in the river |
Thought I'd include some other pics as some highlights these last couple months.
We were able to get out and do some rain puddle jumping with the yucky weather we've had lately. Reminded me of what our dear friend Kat used to do with her kiddos and it sure was a way to brighten our day!
I loved having an awesome evening with some incredible ladies painting Believe Big mugs together! We are looking forward to impacting 12 more lives, to help bring them hope as they battle cancer. Can't wait to see the finished products :)
Well that's it for now! If you could please continue praying for ultimate healing of Jason's esophagus so that in the future a stent isn't even needed, we would greatly appreciate your support!
With Much Love in Him,
Meg
