Our latest adventure

We have had so many people asking for updates on our latest adventure that we figured we would join the blogging world. So here we are dragging and screaming our way into the 21st century whether we like it or not. :O)


Our latest adventure started in September with Jim experiencing abdominal pain about 3 inches below his belly button. It wasn't earth shattering just enough to get his attention. He logged it up to 'last nights pizza' and moved on. It was not a constant pain but came and went with the tide. As time went on the pain increased but still was not constant.


In November our youngest son married Kellie Moll and we are delighted that Kellie is part of our family. Here is a picture of Jim & Pam at the reception. A good time was had by all.

We continued down the adventure trail and on December 26th Pam's mother called from Fort Wayne confused and unable to move. An ambulance was sent to her home and they broke down the door to get to her. We rushed to Lutheran Hospital where she was still confused and the doctors were thinking that she may have had a small stroke. We spent the night and the hospital continued to run tests.
In the midst of dealing with Pam's mom, my sister called to tell me that my mother had passed away. My mother was buried on New Year's Eve and we continued down the adventure trail.
The pain was requiring more attention so Jim went to the doctor in January to find out what was happening. The first thing we did was take an x-ray. It showed nothing.
Then we did a traceable CT scan in February. The CT scan was interesting but it didn't show anything either.
In the mean time Pam's mother's house sold in Fort Wayne and she bought a condo in Noblesville. Pam drove the wheels off of the Honda Odyssey making this all come together.
After the CT scan a colonoscopy was ordered with the soonest available being March 12th.
On March 11th Pam's mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
Also on March 11th Jim began the prep for the colonoscopy. Let me just say right up front that the prep is the worst. The colonoscopy is a piece of cake compared to the prep. Jim barely survived the prep :O) and the colonoscopy was performed on the 12th. When the procedure was over the GI came into the room with pictures to show us that Jim had a mass in his colon so large that the colonoscopy could not be completed. He recommended quick action and referred us to a surgeon named Keenan Bergoff. An appointment was made for that afternoon. Dr. Bergoff had looked at the pictures and recommended a stent be put through the mass to create a bigger openning. A second colonoscopy was scheduled for the 14th to accomplish this task. Dr. Bergoff also said that we didn't need to be in a big hurry that the stent would buy us a little extra time. But by the time we got home from this appointment there was a message on our answering machine from Bergoff's office saying that there was an 11:00 a.m. time available on the 18th.
As a side note, Jim had started a clear liquid diet on the evening of March 10th. It was strongly suggested that he stay on the clear liquid diet after the first colonoscopy and then also after the second colonoscopy. So that by the time of the surgery Jim had been on a clear liquid diet for 8 days. He was a tad bit hungry.
Between colonoscopy #1 and colonoscopy #2 we were informed that the mass was cancer. Adenocarcinoma to be specific.
The day of the surgery several people showed up to pray with Jim before surgery. Brian White and Rick Cobb pastors from Harvest Bible Chapel North Indy http://www.harvestnorthindy.org/ our current church. Jeff Smith from Genesis our previous church. Pam and all the kids were there. And just before we started praying the surgeon walked in and we included him in all the prayer.
The surgeon wanted to do the surgery laperoscopically but because of previous surgeries he did not believe it would be possible. So he prepared for laperoscopy but was ready just to do it the old fashioned way. His comment afterward was that it was amazing. That everything fell right into place and that he was not only able to do it laperoscopically but that it went incredibly well! (Input -- God was in control!!) He removed about 10 inches of colon and all tissues surrounding the area of the mass.
All of which was sent to pathology for testing.
After this kind of surgery the question of the day in the hospital is "have you passed gas"?
The day in the hospital goes something like this........it hurts so you hit your morphine button, but to wake up the whole colon/rectum/intestine area you have to walk, but it hurts to walk so you hit your 'little friend' giving yourself more morphine but morphine puts the whole digestive tract to sleep, so you have to walk and on it goes. Jim didn't pass anything. Not Tuesday, not Wednesday, not Thursday. By Thursday Jim was getting sick and Thursday night Jim was chasing friends out of the room because he was so sick. The surgeon walked in Friday morning took one look at Jim and said he didn't know why things weren't working yet. Maybe it was because the surgery was so invasive or maybe he needed to go back in and make sure everything was right. Friday afternoon at 3:45 things finally started to move.
By Sunday afternoon Jim was good enough to go home.
We are taking one day at a time now. Jim is not back up to strength yet but he is getting there. He sees the surgeon on April 7th for followup. Then that afternoon he sees an Oncologist.

Our cry through all of this has been and continues to be:
God is good all the time!!!!
It doesn't matter the situation that you find yourself in
God is good all the time!!!!

We will update as we get more news and will try and keep them shorter than this one. :O)
But whatever we find out will not change the fact that
God is good all the time!!!!

Later,
jim & pam