Greetings from Mr. and Mrs. “Joy”…from our resting place in Florida. A few days of calm and prayer before the next chapter begins.
We have now received results from testing, and after discussion with doctors…. the advice is clearly to go to surgery and get this “invader” out of me. We have scheduled this for March 16, and so we certainly now will ask for your fervent prayers for this to proceed successfully. As many of you will realize, the plan from the beginning was to prepare for surgery as the final “piece” of the treatment. It is indeed a quite complex and long surgery so we will be in the hospital for 7-10 days likely. Then some weeks to recover at home and regain normal functions.
I feel strong and optimistic… and very “prayed up”…and for that, I thank you all! Nancy is again gearing up as she does for her role in this somewhat lengthy recovery process, and I am sure she will be calling out “instructions” to the nurses (and me) along the way. I will likely not bore you all with a lot of details as I mainly want you to keep praying for our family, and doing what you already do so well…live your lives (for God), and love people.
We visited the hospital unit where I would be going next week and we were quite impressed with the level of professionalism and care offered there. They even have a whole section for people like me (well, I am sure there has never been anyone “exactly” like me), headed by a nurse who has been there 29 years, and they refer to us as a “FTE”…for “Fast Track Esophagectomy”….because they specialize in the post surgical care of these specific surgeries daily. That sounds like a blessing. They assured me I would get great care, but as it is a long surgery…they will be “pressing” me to get moving soon after I get to them so that recovery is best. With Nancy doing her normal supervising…and me determined to be their “best patient ever”…we ask the Lord to bless this next part of the journey mightily, and allow us to be a testimony for Him throughout.
That’s enough for now…..thanks again for your wonderful prayers and love. We love you lots!
Jim
