Day of Surgery

April 26, 2012, not a day we will forget any time soon.  It was exactly one month since Jeremy's first doctor's appointment.

My parents arrived at our house around 7:30.  Our kids were so excited to see Grandma and Grandpa that they didn't even care we were leaving.  Jeremy's parents drove us to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical center.  Here's an odd fact you may not know, Jeremy was born at Johns Hopkins Hospital.  Bayview Medical center is not the same place. Jonathan and Lori (Jeremy's brother and sister-in-law) met us there as well.

Jeremy was taken to the prep area and after about 45 minutes they allowed a couple of us back to see him.  The surgery was to start at 12:45.  I waited with him for about 2 hours.  He had a lot of peace.  We talked again to Dr. Duncan.  At this point Dr. Duncan was still waiting to here the biopsy report from his pathologist so we still did not know if the tumor was cancer or benign.  I don't think either of us were dwelling much on it anyway.  We were focused on getting Jeremy through the surgery.  I think we both had peace that even if it was cancer we would walk that road when we got there.  It was another of those times when I felt I should be more of a wreck than I was.  Thank you for your prayers.

Finally at 2:30 we had to leave and Jeremy was taken to where the surgery was.  It was hard to leave him, but I was ready to see things more forward.  While Jeremy moved into what would be physically the hardest part of this journey for him the rest of us went for lunch. :(  It sounds awful, but there wasn't anything for us to do and we needed to pass the time.  Amazingly, the time went pretty quickly.  At 4:15 a lady came to where we were waiting and told us the first procedure (stints placed in the ureters to help with the surgery) was finished and they were working on the second procedure (removing the tumor).  Let me just say that it is odd to think of your husband all cut open and a team of people working on him.  Sometime later, maybe 45 minutes or so, someone from the operating room called me to say the tumor was out.  They didn't think they would need to remove anything else, but they had sent the tumor to pathology and would wait to close him up until they heard back from pathology.  More waiting.

We waited in a waiting room that was also a hall way.  The nurses call it "the airport" because one side was a huge window and the chairs were lined up like they are at an airport.  From where we were sitting I could see doctors and nurses moving back and forth from the OR and I could see people being wheeled around on beds (that was rather strange).  By this point I was so ready to hear something.  Every time a door opened I was hoping for news.

Finally I saw Dr. Duncan coming down the hall.  Wouldn't you know he got a page or a phone call before he reached us, so I had to watch him stand in the hall talking, knowing he had been interrupted from getting to us with news of Jeremy.  Waiting. When will I learn to be patient!

When Dr. Duncan reached us he showed 2 thumbs up.  He told us everything went great.  The tumor was 100% out.  He said it had veins and arteries as big around as an ink pen.  He guessed it weighed around 4 pounds.  It was attached at several different places, but they did not have to remove anything.  There had been some concern before surgery that it may be attached to the bladder so hearing that it wasn't was great news.  And the best news of all -the tumor was BENIGN.  I almost broke down right then, but somehow managed to hold it together.  My curiosity was taking over.  It was a myxoid solitary fibrous tumor.  These tumors are very rare with only 7-10 cases a year in the nation  and only a few of those in the abdominal area.  Dr. Duncan said he sees about 2 every 10 years.  This kind of tumor is a cousin to a sarcoma and can be hard to diagnose.  They don't know what caused it or how long it had been there, but the chances of it coming back are pretty slim.

Dr. Duncan left and then the news hit.  I felt like I took a deep breath for the first time in a month.  It was like a door opened up and our future was on the other side and suddenly I could hope and dream past tomorrow or a few years.  Then I cried.  It was such a blessing to have Jeremy's parents and Jonathan and Lori with me.  We stopped right then and thanked God for what He had done.  I'm said to say I don't know how the rest received the news, however I don't think there were many dry eyes.

Ps. 118: 17 says "I will not die, but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done."  This was one of the verses that has meant so much to us.  God has been so amazing to us and to so many others through this journey.  The farther we walked through this the more we realized how this wasn't about us anymore, but about God being glorified.  It was time to proclaim what the Lord had done.  I wish so badly that Jeremy could have been the one telling everyone the good news, but we knew that wasn't going to happen so we started making phone calls.  Benign!!  It was so much fun to spread the good news.  Then we started posted on facebook.  Wow.  Facebook has it's issues for sure, but in a time like this it was absolutely amazing.  Within seconds comment and "likes" were coming in.  God was getting so much glory.

Finally about 7:00 I went looking for away to see Jeremy.  I found a nurse who pointed me to a phone and told me to call a certain number.  I finally got through to his nurse and she came out and got us.  While we all had been rejoicing Jeremy was coming out of surgery in a lot of pain.  It was not fun to see my 6ft tall, 210 lb husband flat on his back all hooked up to things with a mask on his face.  I didn't know if anyone had told him the news.  I leaned over him and said "Babe, it's benign, it's not cancer!"  I didn't know how much he would understand, but he understood it all.  "There's no cancer?"  "Did they have to take anything?"  I cannot tell you how good it felt to tell him "No!".  However, I also quickly realized that while so many were rejoicing Jeremy was in so much pain that while he was excited about the news the rejoicing would have to wait until he felt a little better.

The story continues and I'll try to finish it soon...