Follow-up Drs. visit

We went for Steve's post-op doctor visit today. He has been in unusual pain this time so we were anxious to see the doctor. The good news is that there was no cancer found in the bone that was removed during surgery : )

The other thing we found out is that Steve's mouth has not healed at all so far. In fact, it is worse than it was immediately after surgery. Dr. Grist had left a small opening in Steve's mouth rather than sewing it up because it would tether the tongue too much causing his speech to be much worse. Because the tissue has been affected by radiation it is taking it a very long time to heal and in fact it has opened up even more.

Dr. Grist gave Steve an antibiotic and pain medicine to try to take the edge off the pain in the meantime. Rather than go back in to surgery to try to put a graft of skin on it, we will wait to see if it will heal on its own.

In the meantime there is some concern about the healing causing other problems. During the surgery, the muscle that allows Steve to open and close his mouth was affected. As the healing occurs the muscle may tighten causing Steve to have a hard time opening his mouth. Steve has already felt the stiffness. Dr. Grist said there is a metal apparatis that can be used to help him exercise his jaw muscle. Steve has chosen to work on this himself because of the pain that would be involved in placing it in his mouth in the first place.

So, to recap, we would truly appreciate your prayers for healing for Steve. He is having a tough time this go round. And to top it off, he goes tomorrow to have the Mohs procedure done on his nose to remove the skin cancer that was found there. Poor guy. At least we were able to get him some more effective pain medicine. Thanks for everything! God bless you all.

Tuesday, August 10th

Hey everybody!! Hope you are all doing well. School has started and we are all working to get used to having schedules, homework, less sleep, etc : )

Steve is taking a little longer to recover this time than he usually does. I know he is frustrated about it. His pain level has remained pretty high so Steve is still on pain medicine. He prefers not to have to use it, but right now he just can't do without. He is having lots of headaches too - probably from the medicine. Steve's pain runs along his right jaw all the way up into the ear. The doctor says that is to be expected because of the surgery. Right now he is just taking it one day at a time. He tries to push himself (you know his mantra - "If you lay down you stay down") a little each day. He's getting some rest too.

We are just glad to be on the healing end and are looking forward to being able to start the implant process soon. May God bless you all.

Home...

Steve got through his surgery okay today. They took him back at about 9:45 am. He was in the recovery room by 11:30 am. Dr. Grist had to take a piece of tissue a little larger than anticipated as well as some of the bone from Steve's mandible (jaw bone) in order to make sure he got clear margins. He is sending the bone off to be analyzed to make sure there was no cancer in it.

Steve is in a good bit of pain. The bone being cut caused major nerve pain on the outside of his jaw up to his ear. He insisted he come home and not stay a night in the hospital : ) . So, we are home. Now starts the pain control and the healing process.

Thank you for all your prayers! I'll update more this weekend.

Pre-Op

Just a quick note:

Steve had his pre-op appointment yesterday at Emory. We will have to be there on Tuesday, August 3rd (for his surgery) at 6:30 am. He is 3rd or 4th in the line-up for surgery. We are planning for an outpatient procedure. As long as we can keep the pain under control that sounds great to us. Since Steve is on a feeding tube and doesn't swallow we do not have to worry about the swelling so that is why they can send us home after the surgery.

On a good note, we found out that our insurance company has decided to pay for Steve's implants! So as soon as Steve recovers from this surgery we can start the process of implants. This is really good news. We have been waiting a long time for them to make this decision.

God is good! Enjoy your weekend.

Surgery Scheduled

Enjoy this family picture we just had taken! It's a good one if I do say so myself. Then check out the one one of just Steve and I and you will see Steve's personality coming through despite his lack of lower teeth. Ever the jokester, he is!

Steve's surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, August 3rd. This will be an outpatient procedure at Emory. I was really hoping they would do the surgery sooner than that but that is the first available spot Dr. Grist has. I will be returning to work on July 29th and school starts on August 5th. I know that there is a reason for the timing that only God is privy too... but sometimes that just adds to the stress right?

Recently our life insurance agent changed. The man we have used for years is retiring and has turned his accounts over to a young man just out of college. Such a nice looking, well-rounded man with a good head on his shoulders. (I told the girls I pray that they will find someone like him - ha!) He wrote us a letter just the other day that really touched us. He shared part of his testimony and his outlook on like. I'd like to share part of it with you here. Very wise and inspirational!

In 8th grade this young man was given the number 19 to wear for the season. He was a little disappointed because that number just wasn't "cool". Then on Sunday his pastor spoke his sermon on the bible verse Joshua 1:9. It reads, "Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." That really spoke to him and he chose to wear the number 19 throughout high school too. He is named after Joshua! He has made that his life verse!

What a blessing. To have this young man whom we barely know share his story with us to encourage us through our times of hardship. God touches us and blesses us in so many ways. I know he uses what we go through for the good of his kingdom and I just pray each and every day that we can make a difference. Cancer has been touching our lives in so many ways this summer. We have lost a lot of people around us. I pray for God's will in all I do and I beg for a cure for this life altering disease. I thank God for our many blessings of family and friends. We love you all and appreciate your prayers more than you know.

Wednesday, July 14th

Hi everybody!

It's been quite a busy time for us. Last Friday we met with the Dermatologist about the spot on Steve's nose. Turns out it is a common type of skin cancer (squamous cell) that was caught very early. Really nothing to worry about. We can treat with outpatient "Mohs" surgery or try creams. Steve opted for surgery if insurance will allow it - we are waiting to hear about that.

Steve had his CT Scan on Friday afternoon. We heard from Dr. Grist on Tuesday. He will need surgery to remove the spot on the back of his tongue. They will go in through his mouth. They expect it to be outpatient. We are waiting to hear from the scheduling person to set the date but next Tuesday was mentioned.

Yesterday we went to see the gastroenterologist that put Steve's feeding tube in. He has been having enormous internal pain and some bleeding. They sent us to the ER to get a CT Scan. Several hours later the ER doc said the bulb part of the tube that is on the inside of the stomach has worked it way up under Steve's stomach muscle - OUCH! He tried pulling the tube from the outside to make Steve more comfortable. Talk about painful!!!! It helped release some of the pressure, and 8 hours later we returned home .

Today we are waiting for the gastric office to tell us when to go back so they can replace Steve's tube or reinsert it through a new site. They want to try to do it today. Looks like another long day : ) .

I will let you know when the surgery is scheduled and any more details we learn. As always, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your love and support. Please keep those prayers coming! Bless you all.

More Info...

We received the results for Steve's biopsy last night. Dr. Grist called to tell us that the results came back positive for cancer. The next step is to have a new CT Scan done and then meet with the doctor to see what needs to be done. This spot is pretty far back on the tongue so it will be hard to get to.

Today we heard from the dermatologist that Steve saw recently. She had removed a few spots he had. It turns out that the spot she found on his nose is squamous cell carcinoma (which happens to be the same cancer Steve deals with on his tongue). We will meet with her on July 9th to see what needs to be done. Since this is new to us I looked online and found that most patients are sent to a specialist and have the cancer removed through a process called Mohs surgery.

Meantime I am working with bureaucracy to see if I can get Steve's implants approved by insurance. They consider it cosmetic and so it is an automatic "NO".

I will keep you updated when we know more. God bless.