Our Inspiration

Keith Gilbert

What a great man, husband, father, son and friend. We miss you!

Keith lost his fight a year ago to esophageal cancer, but his legacy and inspiration live on. Pat asked for the endoscopy procedure because he had reflux as Keith did. So he chose to do the endoscopy at the same time he chose the colonoscopy for his 50 year old physical. The beauty of this is that Pat had not had reflux in over six months, but because of Keith and Jeanie's encouragement to have a endoscope, he did. If your father, son, or husband has not had a colonoscopy or should need an endoscopy too, please encourage them.

God's Grace is Enough

On the way to the hospital Friday, I glanced over and saw that Pat had writtensomething on his hand...Psalms 28:6-7

First, of all Pat and I cannot thank you enough for your prayers, love, words of encouragement and support through this new journey. In case you have not heard, this is an update on the procedure that was done Friday, June 27th to determine the next course for the cancer found in Pat’s esophagus last Monday. He went in for a physical and had a colonoscopy and endoscopy because he is now 50. He chose to do the endoscopy because of our good friend, Keith Gilbert, who died last year from esophageal cancer. We are so thankful for Keith and his courage and inspiration.

First, of all Pat and I cannot thank you enough for your prayers, love, words of encouragement and support through this terribly long week. If I texted you earlier with this information, please disregard as I know that some people could not open their text. Also, if this is the first time I have reached you, this is an update on the procedure that was done today to determine the next course for the cancer found in Pat’s esophagus last Monday. He went in for a physical and had a colonoscopy and endoscopy because he is now 50. He chose to do the endoscopy because of our good friend, Keith Gilbert, who died last year from esophageal cancer. We are so thankful for Keith and his courage and inspiration.

Pat went in for the procedure at 2:00 p.m. We got home about 5:30 p.m. The results are:

The nodule they found is about 1.5 cm long in his esophagus a little bigger than they originally thought. They could not remove the nodule because it was to close to the muscle. They also biopsied a lymph node that was near the nodule to make sure it was negative. Dr. George felt that it was, but wanted to have it tested as well.

The CAT scans they did on Thursday for his chest and stomach came back good. They did notice some lesions on his liver, and while Dr. George was in there today he looked at that and thought the liver looked find. He found the lesions too small to measure. He said that a PET scan will probably be ordered at a later date just to make sure. I found that Dr. George is very precautious and wants to check everything.

Our next step is to wait for the results of the lymph node biopsy, which will probably be Tuesday or Wednesday. In the meantime I will be setting up an appointment with a surgeon to have the nodule removed. We do not know if they will go through the throat again to remove the nodule or if it will require a regular surgical procedure. We also be meeting an oncologist soon also.

Pat and I feel very encouraged and relieved. We are glad that this part is over and we can now focus on what is ahead. God is good and He is good all of the time. We are in perfect peace that we are in God’s hands and he is in total control. I have already been seeing God at work and I am truly blessed to be a part of His plan. Pat and I ask that you continue to pray for us and this new journey. We pray for God’s peace, joy and complete healing. We still covet your prayers.

I plan to blog about our journey on my blog at ttp://www.paigespetals.blogspot.com/. You can save that link as one of your favorites and visit it frequently if you want to track our journey.

The picture I have attached is a photo that I took of Pat’s hand as we were driving to the hospital. He wrote the words Psalms 28: 6-8.

The Psalms reads:

Praise be to the Lord,
For he has heard my cry for mercy.
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
My heart trusts in him, and I am helped.
My heart leaps for joy
And I will give thanks to him in song.

Thank you again for your friendship as we thank God for you!

In His Grip,
Pat & Paige

Happenings

Gosh it feels so good for school to be out and two of the three kids agree! Sis started a Spanish class last week and will take Spanish I and II this summer. She came home for a couple of weeks before school started and it was great to have her in the house again! The summer calendar is filling fast. G is playing basketball this summer in three leagues. His Heat team is playing in two different leagues and he is also playing with the soon-to-be ninth graders for about a month in a local school league. There is never too much basketball for him. Bubba got a job at a local sporting goods store and he really likes it. (If only he didn't have a shoe addiction!) He and G will be attending church camp together and then the following week, Bubba will be a children's camp counselor for the fourth year with our church. Pat and I are just following and driving G around and enjoying the relaxed schedule for this summer. We are planning a vacation the first of August to Florida and we are really looking forward to that.

Hugs!

Bubba's Senior Pictures

I wanted to share with you his senior pictures!