Update on Pat

Pat's surgery is scheduled for Aug 5th at Harris Hospital downtown Fort Worth. He will be in the hospital for a week and a half. It is an extensive sugery which will last approximately three hours. They will go through the neck and the stomach and remove a section, about four to five inches, of his esophagus and reattach the stomach. His stomach will be like that of a gastric bypass patient from now on. While in the hospital he will be on a feeding tube. We met with Dr. Linn today, a cardio-thoraic surgeon here in Fort Worth. The first thing Dr. Linn said today when he met us is that he has never seen a patient this early in the first stages of esophageal cancer…thank you God! Also, he is the only surgeon in this area that does this particular surgery that goes through the neck instead of the side of the chest…another God thing! Pat has adencarcinoma esophageal cancer which is the most common kind of esphageal cancer. After the surgery, they will let us know what stage the cancer is and check any lymph nodes in that area as well. Recovery will be very slow and he will not have much of an appetite for quite a while. He is a little worried about the eating habits he has to change after all of this is done. Just today God showed us how Big He Is. Of course the two God things I mentioned above and the fact that we were able to rearrange our vacation. We had planned on going to Perdido Key, Florida on August 9th, but obviously we had to change that. So, we thought we would try to move the vacation up and the biggest hurdle would be Sis (She has a real name, but I don't use my children's real names in my blog.) getting off of work. I called her and she said that would probably not happen and my reply is "already prayed about it". She called me right back and they said "yes". The second challenge was seeing if our friends, the Rosses, could change their schedule at the last minute and go with us early as they were going on the 9th also. They said yes! So, the condos were available, and we are on our way this month. We will meet with the oncologist tomorrow. It will be a consult to meet him and get him into the loop as we do not know exactly what will be done as far as chemo/radiation until after the surgery. The kids are doing good and I think they are optimistic because Pat and I are. I can't say enough of how loved we five feel. Your cards, hugs, texts, food, emails and phone calls have really carried and encouraged us. So thank you again for your prayers and concern...we are so humbled. We feel each and every prayer.

In His Grip,

Paige
xoxo