Medical Whirlwind

Woke up today with the lyrics "My God is Faithful" running through my head.  They stayed there all day long...

I have an appointment to get my hair done today and I wonder, will I have hair when it's time to go back to see Patricia in a couple of months?  And how do I tell her?  How do I tell anyone?  

The tears come again...Oh God, please help me to trust you.  I can see I need to invest in waterproof mascara!  

Well, the past three days have been a whirlwind of tests, medical information, advice, and opinions!  I'm not sure the reality of what is happening has even really hit us yet. 

After the colonoscopy, biopsy, and CT scan on Wednesday, I had an endoscopic ultrasound done on Thursday.  The ultrasound showed that although the tumor has grown into the wall of the rectum it has not gone all the way through which is good news.  There appeared to be one lymph node located within the rectal wall that is inflamed.  The biopsy report did not show any cancer cells on the surface of the tumor, however we don't know yet if there are any cancer cells deeper within the tumor.

We have talked to friends who are doctors, family members who are doctors, friends of family members who are doctors, and family members of friends who are doctors!!  LOL!  We have received all kinds of opinions, some of it conflicting.  So, as it stands now, I have a mystery colorectal tumor.  We are still in the diagnostic phase of this adventure, and hope to find out more next week.

I have an appointment Monday morning at 8:30 with a colorectal surgeon who is supposed to be the "best in the city".  He is planning to do a deeper biopsy (doesn't that sound fun?!), probably another ultrasound, and a Pet Scan to check the whole body for cancer cells.  We will continue to take this one day at a time, one test at a time.

I love you all and appreciate so much your prayers, your emails, and your expressions of love toward us.  We are depending on you!!  Please pray for us this weekend as Mark shares with COF what is going on.  I expect it to be a pretty emotional and difficult weekend.

We'll keep you posted!