post surgery

So, her current story is "it was a broken bottle in a bar fight!"

surgery

We got a call this morning from the surgery center asking if we could come an hour early, so we hit the ground running. Not having to wait as long is always a good thing! The little boy...I mean surgeon....thought things went well. (I swear, he looked like a child heading off to kindergarten with his scrubs and backpack on!) He said the lymph gland was about 4-5 cm, but he's seen larger for sure. Amy is on pain meds and seems to be doing really well so far. She was hungry, so my parents brought her some pasta fresca from Noodles & Co, which she devoured. And her boyfriend, Phil, just arrived from Denver to spend some time with her this evening. He always makes her smile! And now we wait till Friday. I'll try to update the blog as soon as we know something. Keep the prayers coming....Satan hates that, but we love it!

...the rest of the story

By now some of you have heard our latest news, but for those who haven't, I apologize. I didn't feel free to post this information until Brian's parents were back from their cruise and heard it firsthand. Last August, just before she left for college, Amy had a swollen gland in her neck and was treated with antibiotics for a sinus infection. While she was in school she was really tired, but we just chalked it up to the life of a college freshman who wasn't getting a ton of sleep. Yes, she power napped, but it was never enough to get caught up. And then she started having random, unexplained fevers. They wouldn't last long, but in a school with 9-day labs, she just couldn't afford to miss school. If a lab was missed more than once, it would have to be dropped and picked up again at a later date. Thankfully, she was able to keep up with her classes. But when she was home for the holidays and still had a knot in her neck, we decided to have it checked again. Once more she was put on (strong) antibiotics...this time for 2 weeks. Unfortunately, the knot persisted. Amy was sent to a hematologist last week who shocked us by saying he suspects Hodgkins lymphoma. (The knot is now 25mm.) No diagnosis yet, but we couldn't put this off. We saw a surgeon the next day who scheduled surgery for tomorrow at 12:45. They'll biopsy it, and on Friday we'll see the hematologist again for the results. Ideally, it will be an easily treatable infection and she'll head back to school in time to finish the trimester (including the class she's missing this week which had to be deferred.) Worst case scenario is that we'll have to move her home from school and start chemo and/or radiation. Now, before you feel sorry for Amy you have to understand just how strong and upbeat she truly is. Some of her first comments...."well, if I lose all of my hair I won't have to worry about it coming out of my chef's hat in labs!" and "I'm sure glad this is happening to me and not my sisters since they don't like needles too much and they don't bother me." And when the surgeon talked about wanting to minimize the scar on her neck, I thought she was going to take off her shoes and show him the scars on her feet! She's not naive. She knows this just might be life changing. But she also knows God has a plan that is perfect for her. She trusts Him completely. Of course we're asking for the miracle that will allow her to go back to school next week. But we know that He knows better than we do what is best in this situation. I'm sure we'll shed a few tears...of relief or shock. But then we'll press on...one day at a time...with whatever is ahead for Amy and for us. There's a reason I call Amy my "happy magnet!" She's one truly inspirational and amazing young lady, and I'm so very proud of her.

Neuro-stimulator trial

What a week it's been! Amy decided to give the neuro-stimulator a trial run, so it was implanted on Monday...2 leads inserted into her spine...yikes! It gave her the ability to tweak the different programs that would send impulses in her legs that would hopefully mask the pain in her feet. The first 36 hours were a bit painful and she pretty much slept thru them. But once she was up and moving and able to tweak the programs she realized pretty quickly it wasn't something she was happy with. She'd already proven she could survive culinary school with the pain in her feet by taking medication and icing her feet after labs, so she wasn't thrilled about the idea of having to get used to new sensations in her legs, feet, & ankles. And the idea of going thru another invasive surgery wasn't too appealing, either. So today we had it removed, and she's been practically dancing with joy ever since! She's been amazing...positive and upbeat and an inspiration to all of us. And now we're ready to deal with the days ahead. Part 2 of this update will be posted next week...stay tuned!