The C Word – Day 20 Never give up hope

Today I awoke with a Twila Paris tune in my head.  She sings, “He (God) will never give up on you, and neither will I”. 

Today we met a surgeon, Dr. J. Augusto Bastidas.  George awoke with much trepidation.  So much fear that the news would not be good.  We arrived and were greeted by his nurse, Diane.  She and I have spoken a couple of times this week and she has been very reassuring.  We handed her all the paperwork, the CD of the CT scans, and test results.  She was pleased to see how organized I was in having everything at the ready.

The doctor came in and asked a few questions to get to know who George was, his living situation, his job, etc.  He then proceeded with what cancer is and what the various modes of treatment are for all of them.  Then he told us about our particular cancer and what the best treatment would be.  As expected, the cytoreductive surgery (CRS) with the heated chemo (HIPEC) is the best course.  He is one of only two locations that perform this surgery, the other one being Kaiser.  He knows Dr. Sugarbaker and is very informed about his procedures.  The procedure is still considered clinical trials and Dr. Bastidas has presented papers on his findings during the first three years of performing these surgeries.

He looked at George and said that the fact that nutritionally he looked to be in good health that there would be no problem having the surgery done.  He showed us parts of the CT scan and explained things that we asked him.   Because the cancer is a slow growing one, once he has surgery he will need to be checked out annually in what is called “Watch and Wait” as there may be a time in the future that the surgery would need to be repeated.  It could be a few years, eight years, ten years or even a matter of months. 

Today George cried happy tears.  Tears of relief.  Tears that there is an end, of sorts, to this nightmare.  We have surgery scheduled for September 30, 2014.  Surgery will be approximately 10 hours, hospital stay is 10-12 days unless there are any complications.  Back to work in 2-3 months.  They may need to remove partial other parts but they won’t know that until they are in surgery.  That’s a road to cross later.

For now we are seeing evidence of the faith that all of us have been showering on him these past 3 weeks.  Faith that things will work out.  We are blessed to have so many people with so many prayers around the world.  While we are not totally out of the woods just yet, there is much to hope for.  George is smiling today for the first time in weeks.  We even went out to movie.  That is the closest thing to normal I have experienced in a while.    We will have more of that before the next phase of dealing with this “C” word. 

Neither will I (only partial of the song here)

I heard your name today
I heard it from a wiser voice inside
And it broke my heart

I got down on my knees
Reminded that the Father of your soul
Has been the One to care the most

And He is there to lift you up and hold you close
His love is strong, so strong

And He will never give up on you
And neither will I, neither will I
Know that we still believe in you
And if you will try, if you will try again

He will never give up on you
And neither will I, neither will I, my friend

Keep walking on
And keep on looking straight ahead
And when you feel like turning back
Turn to Him instead

He will never give up on you
And neither will I, neither will I
Know that we still believe in you
And if you will try, if you will try again

He will never give up on you
And neither will I, neither will I, my friend

Songwriter
Twila Paris