Mar 17, 2009, 5:57:24 PM
to Prayers for Anderson
Hi all,
Thank you so much for praying for us and for being our constant source of support, friendship, love and so much more. We're here in Texas now and we've finished our first day of appointments.
Recap of today
Our sleeping schedule is a bit messed up because of the central time and having to wake up so early... we took a long nap this afternoon which probably won't help the cause.
We love and miss you
Tiff & Anderson
Thank you so much for praying for us and for being our constant source of support, friendship, love and so much more. We're here in Texas now and we've finished our first day of appointments.
Recap of today
- We woke up at 6, had breakfast at the hotel (they have a pretty awesome complimentary breakfast buffet), were at the hospital by 7:30am. We went through new patient registration, met the surgeon and spent an hour or so with him answering questions. We then went to the anesthesiologist consult, went to get labwork done, and then got a CT. We are very impressed by the hospital, their efficiency, and the way they treat their patients. We know now why this is the #1 cancer center in the country.
- We are very confident in the doctor, Dr. Weinberg, and we're glad that God brought us here.
- We have an MRI scheduled for 9:30pm tonight.
- We need to be at the hospital at 6:15am for check-in and the actual surgery will be around 8am or so. They anticipate that he'll be done in 5-6 hours.
- He will go to the ICU for a day and then there's an MRI scheduled for Thursday around 4pm. Depending on how he responds to the treatment, we could stay in the hospital another day or be discharged.
- There is a possibility that the MRI has changed drastically since the last MRI (on feb 13, 2009) so things might change after we find out the results of the MRI. Anderson's symptoms haven't gotten drastically worse so we don't anticipate a drastic change but we don't know. We'll try to keep everyone posted as much as possible.
Our sleeping schedule is a bit messed up because of the central time and having to wake up so early... we took a long nap this afternoon which probably won't help the cause.
We love and miss you
Tiff & Anderson
Mar 17, 2009, 9:26:43 PM
to Prayers for Anderson
Hm. More updates.
Seems like whenever we feel like we're getting comfortable, God throws us another curve ball.
We got a call from the doctor at 10pm Texas time and went over the results of the MRI that Anderson just took. The original tumor in the cerebellum hasn't changed much, which is a good thing. The more shocking news is that the 2nd tumor that they saw on the 2/13/09 MRI which was less than 0.5 cm has now grown to 3cm and is too large for the laser therapy.
The neurosurgeon has now told us that the 2nd tumor is now the more urgent one and now he's going to do a normal brain surgery to remove that one. He's told us that he's going to try to get rid of both the tumors at once.
This means that Anderson's going to be under anesthesia for much longer than we anticipated and the recovery time will now be extended to at least 3 days.
Anderson told me that he asked God that if there's any way, that Dr. Weinberg would be able to treat both tumors at the same time that God would work it out. And He has.
Earlier today I was pondering with God... about how I truly believe that He CAN work miracles, but I had doubts that He WOULD for us. Now that this happened... I was pondering more with God and He pretty much told me that I needed to trust God with ALL MY HEART and don't lean on my own understanding. And I really feel that God was speaking to me and telling me to just WAIT and see. Wait and see.
We're also thanking God that the timing is what it is because we already have a surgery scheduled... we got the MRI today at our request and that wasn't originally scheduled... the doctor looked at it before he went to bed and he called us. We are where we are.. the number one cancer center in the country... and with a surgeon that we trust.
We're going to trust and obey.
We'll keep you guys posted.
Tiff
Seems like whenever we feel like we're getting comfortable, God throws us another curve ball.
We got a call from the doctor at 10pm Texas time and went over the results of the MRI that Anderson just took. The original tumor in the cerebellum hasn't changed much, which is a good thing. The more shocking news is that the 2nd tumor that they saw on the 2/13/09 MRI which was less than 0.5 cm has now grown to 3cm and is too large for the laser therapy.
The neurosurgeon has now told us that the 2nd tumor is now the more urgent one and now he's going to do a normal brain surgery to remove that one. He's told us that he's going to try to get rid of both the tumors at once.
This means that Anderson's going to be under anesthesia for much longer than we anticipated and the recovery time will now be extended to at least 3 days.
Anderson told me that he asked God that if there's any way, that Dr. Weinberg would be able to treat both tumors at the same time that God would work it out. And He has.
Earlier today I was pondering with God... about how I truly believe that He CAN work miracles, but I had doubts that He WOULD for us. Now that this happened... I was pondering more with God and He pretty much told me that I needed to trust God with ALL MY HEART and don't lean on my own understanding. And I really feel that God was speaking to me and telling me to just WAIT and see. Wait and see.
We're also thanking God that the timing is what it is because we already have a surgery scheduled... we got the MRI today at our request and that wasn't originally scheduled... the doctor looked at it before he went to bed and he called us. We are where we are.. the number one cancer center in the country... and with a surgeon that we trust.
We're going to trust and obey.
We'll keep you guys posted.
Tiff
Mar 17, 2009, 9:57:49 PM
to prayers-for-anderson@googlegroups.com
Isa 41:13 “For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you”
Mar 18, 2009, 7:01:09 AM
to Prayers for Anderson
Updates as of 8am, March 18, 2009
The doctor came to talk to us and he told us that:
Tiff
The doctor came to talk to us and he told us that:
- They are going to do the laser therapy on tumor #1 in the cerebellum. It's a small procedure and should be done fairly quickly.
- If Anderson responds well to the laser therapy and the doctor has no questions or doubts about how Anderson will respond to additional surgery, he will go in and do a craniotomy and remove tumor #2 in the right frontal lobe.
- If the doctor has any reservations whatsoever, he'll allow Anderson a day or two to recover from the laser therapy on tumor #1 and then do another surgery in a day or two.
- The doctors will give us updates every 2 hours while Anderson is in surgery.
- That we're here in Texas, at MD Anderson and we don't have to wait much longer to get everything taken care of
- We are very impressed by the doctor, the staff, and the facilities here. The Texans are very hospitable.
- The hotel where we're staying has a really awesome free breakfast buffet and they have happy hour at 5:30pm where they have snacks available. It's been nice to feel "taken care of".
- Both our parents are on flights to Texas right now. So they'll be here for us for support and to help us do whatever needs to be done.
- For peace. Not to say that we don't cry, but in general, we have peace about the situation and we have confidence that God's doing His work and we just need to wait and see.
Tiff
Mar 18, 2009, 8:55:06 AM
to prayers-for-anderson@googlegroups.com
Monet and I are praying for both of you.
Mar 18, 2009, 10:28:29 AM
to Prayers for Anderson
Updates 12pm
The nurses that come and tell us the updates say that everything's going well and his vital signs are stable. That's all they're able to tell us and that's all I can report.
Kelly went to pick up our parents at the airport.
The nurses that come and tell us the updates say that everything's going well and his vital signs are stable. That's all they're able to tell us and that's all I can report.
Kelly went to pick up our parents at the airport.
Mar 18, 2009, 2:22:43 PM
to Prayers for Anderson
Updates 4pm
- at 2pm, the nurses said that everything was going well and that Anderson was waiting for the biopsy results and was getting his MRI scan.
- at 4pm, the nurse said that everything was going well, and that the doctors were still doing the laser therapy. The nurse also said that they were having some technical difficulties with the laser, which is why it's taking longer than expected.
- because they've proceeded with the laser therapy means that the tumor (#1 in the cerebellum) is tumor and not dead tissue. The doctor told us that it was a possibility that it could be dead tissue and in that case, they would not do the laser therapy..
- We asked the nurse to ask the doctor if Anderson will be undergoing the craniotomy for the 2nd tumor (frontal lobe). If Anderson tolerates the laser therapy well, then the surgeon will go ahead and do the 2nd surgery. If not, he'll do the surgery in a few days.
- Our parents arrived safely at about 2:30pm. They had lunch in the cafeteria and talked to Nancy/Ekron's sister and brother-in-law. They stayed for the 4pm update and now they're checking in to the hotel.
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