Good Day

The title, "Good Day" is a greeting, though I believe it was a good day despite the fact that we spent most of it waiting to move forward with the medical professionals on the business of annihilating this lymphoma!  We met many challenges, but took them well, for the most part. And just when the frustration was getting a bit thick, we received a call from John Biedler who made us laugh and the intensity of prolonged waiting dissipated.

We arrived at UCI (University of California Irvine) this morning just after 8 a.m. We picked up our CD of Geoff's recent endoscopic ultrasound and headed for the office of Dr. Nguyen, gastric surgeon. There was a bit of a wait while he finished up his hospital rounds. When he arrived in a great rush we asked how the hospital was this morning, "CRAZY! It's always crazy" he replied and then he quickly turned his attention to our visit. He viewed the gastric ulcer via CD images and decided it must definitely be surgically removed before any chemotherapy should begin. He scheduled us for this Friday afternoon and then ordered some presurgical tests we must complete before Friday. Then he left in a rush and said that his nurse would finish up with us. She came in and asked when we would be having surgery and was quite surprised to hear that the Dr. had fit us in on Friday afternoon--so soon. We enjoyed talking with her--she was very friendly. We left their office, but before we could go about our business of the presurgical tests we had to get a quote for the treatment from the billing department. We would have to wait for the phone call from billing before we did anything else toward gastric  surgery.

So, we pounded the pavement a few buildings over to the office of Dr. Verma, ENT surgeon. There was also a question there about how finances might be handled, but the confusion did not postpone the office visit.  Once we met with Dr. Verma we realized our mistake of not carrying the CD of the PET scan with us to his office. So, we said "goodbye" and headed back to Long Beach to pick up the CD. With the CD in hand we returned to Dr. Verma an hour later and he immediately decided to do a biopsy of the growths in his throat. Geoff's very active gag reflex provided some "fun," but we hope he was able to obtain what he needed. Geoff liked Dr. Verma very much as his "bedside manner" was quite comfortable. Especially when he said that there was a risk of bleeding with the procedure, but that if the biopsy area bled too much there in the office, we'd just make an emergent move to an OR and stop the bleeding there. He said it all like it was no big deal and Geoff appreciated his forthright, yet non-concerned, easy-going attitude. There was no problem with the bleeding, thankfully, but there was a problem with the billing department again. We waited another hour before being cleared to pay and leave.

We finally left UCI at 4 p.m. having never received a call from the billing department for our presurgical tests. Maybe tomorrow.

We got a call once we were back home, however, with some very good news!  Our application for a rental house was accepted and we'll meet in the morning to sign the lease!  We are so thankful for God arranging this particular house for us. The owners did not want to lease to anyone for less than a year, but we believe that God gave us favor with them. They have agreed to give us a 6-month lease and have been very gracious to us as we have waited for a final answer.

Tomorrow may find us moving in the morning, back at UCI in the afternoon and completing the move in the evening!  OR, maybe we won't make it to UCI until Thursday or even Friday morning. God has never failed us and He won't now. I know that all will be in place in time.

Thank you for your prayers for Geoff and me and the kids. The gastric surgery will require an overnight stay on Friday night and we'll return home on Saturday. The ENT will not be performing any surgery on the cancerous area in the throat, but if the biopsy he took today did not yield a satisfactory amount of tissue, he will perform a second biopsy on Friday afternoon while the gastric surgeon already has Geoff under general anesthesia for the gastrectomy. During all of this the kids will be with my sister, Laura.

Blessings to you. Thank you for standing with us in prayer!!!