Almost four years to the day….

If you are friends with me on Facebook, you already know this, but I wanted to share it with Thankful Thursday this week because a lot of things happened for which I am forever thankful.

A thing happened last week.

Entrepreneur was having headaches for the past few weeks so we called to move up his regular 6-month brain MRI to last Monday, February 1st. Since we weren’t comfortable with him driving himself, I took him to the hospital in the morning for the MRI and appointment with the neurosurgeon.

Thankful the MRI could be moved up more than a month.

Cue the choreography of many moving parts.

After finishing teaching my Zoom class, I met him at the neurosurgeon’s office to review the scans. The MRI indicated there was a significant change in the area of the previous tumor. The options were to not do anything, go home and manage any complications…..or have the neurosurgeon go back in and see what was causing the headaches and what was showing up on the scan. We opted for surgery and then the surgeon said his surgery schedule was full for the next two weeks……except for one slot on Tuesday morning, February 2nd. He would need to be admitted tonight (Monday). We went home and met with his parents and our daughter/grand girls to tell them the news. We called our daughter in Florida. He packed a bag, we grabbed a bite to eat and returned to hospital admissions.

Thankful the surgeon’s schedule miraculously had an opening just when we needed it.

Because Entrepreneur is a hemophiliac, he always needs to be given a blood coagulant before/after surgery that has to be specially mixed beforehand and administered during pre-op and post-op. His oncologist was able to begin coordinating that process on short notice after our meeting with the neurosurgeon.

Thankful the coagulant was able to be ordered in time for morning surgery.

Having worked in the medical industry for a number of years, Entrepreneur knows the people who are exceptional in their field. He requested a specific anesthesiologist for the surgery but realized it may be too short of notice.

Thankful his preferred anesthesiologist was available and willing to come in for the surgery.

We didn’t know what to expect so we braced for the worst case scenario that the cancer had returned. After two and half hours, the surgeon appeared in the waiting room and said the surgery went well. What was there was very superficial and what he took out was sent to pathology. He believes a small vessel busted, which caused dried blood to show up on the MRI. He drained a cyst and was not concerned about it, and there were no bleeding issues during the surgery.

Thankful it was not an invasive as the last surgery.

Based on what he saw once he got inside, the surgeon believes the immunotherapy is doing a good job of keeping the cancer at bay. Because the surgery wasn’t as invasive, he was allowed to come home just two days after surgery (one week ago today) and there doesn’t seem to be any additional deficit.

Thankful the pathology report indicated there were NO renal cell cancer cells in what was taken out.
Thankful there isn’t any additional deficit and no physical or occupational therapy is needed.

Because of COVID restrictions, the stress level was very high. Only one person per patient was allowed in the surgery waiting room so I sat in there by myself with a book, laptop and ear buds for four hours until he was out of surgery and coming out of the anesthesia. After that, there was nothing else I could do there, so I came home. And, since no one was allowed to visit him until he was released to come home, I could only rely on status reports from medical professionals until he was strong enough to call me from his phone.

Although he missed Twix’s 7th birthday on February 3rd, it appears he will still be around to help her celebrate more in the future.

Looking back, I clearly see a divine hand orchestrating all the events last week because all the many moving parts that needed to happen quickly, happened seamlessly. And I’m thankful for the people who, once again, supported us through prayer and petition for a successful surgery and outcome. It’s been four years since his last brain surgery and, so far, recovery for this one has been a cake walk. Thankful doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Linking up with Brian’s Home for Thankful Thursday.