Well hello!

I wanted to let you know that Jeff had the porta cath put in on Thursday, and he is doing well-a bit sore-but good. A porta cath is literally a quarter size purple heart shaped device that is placed under his skin on his right chest.  A thin pliable tube connects to his vena cava and goes down quite a ways. This will be very beneficial for chemo administration because they won’t have to go through the veins in his arm every two weeks, and it helps distribute the medication well.

I am so very thankful to be finished with the semester and have a bit of weight, ok a lot of weight off of my shoulders for a month. One more semester to go and I graduate in May!

We are ready to celebrate the birth of our savior with family. My sister Stephanie and her family are coming out from Phoenix, and my Dad too. This will be the first Christmas in 20 years I have spent with my sissy!

I do have a prayer request for myself actually. Turns out I have a stress fracture in my back.  My low back became increasingly painful this past month, especially when I was on my feet treating patients all day. I am actually gratful there is a reason for the pain which a brace and PT should take care of. Please pray for fast healing before next semester begins.

Thank you for supporting our family and for all the prayers. They truly work because our home is full of joy and peace.

God bless you – Julie

Okay back from the doctor appointment. It went very well with lots of information from the doctors. Stitches are out and we talked about my treatment schedule in detail with my neuro oncologist. I will start my new chemo regimen early January. I will be getting one small procedure done prior to the first of the year which will  be an outpatient thing (porta cath for chemo administration). I got the okay to return to work light duty so I am going in tomorrow. When I asked if I could go back to work, the nurse practitioner looked at me and laughed. He said “when do you want to go back?” and I said “tomorrow” his reply was: “you’re crazy, no one does that.” He called my surgeon who also laughed and said okay he can go back if he wants. God has blessed my recovery and is holding me in the palm of His hand carrying me through this. 

In His love, Jeff

Hi Friends. Just wanted to leave a quick update to let everyone know my recovery is still going really well. I truly don’t feel like I had another surgery. The recovery has been so much better this time around and I’m hoping to return to work soon. My next appointment with my neuro surgeon and neuro oncologist is this coming Monday (12/7/09) to remove the stitches from the side of my head and discuss my new upcoming treatments. I will update after the appointment with any new info. Thanks so much for all the prayers, encouragement, meals and goodies, cards, and offers of help. You all are really making this too easy on me. God has blessed this journey and He has led me through this recovery with His strength and faithfulness. In His love, Jeff