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doulos
Joined: Feb 25, 2006
Posts: 141
Location: Springfield, MA
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 Posted:
Thu Feb 21, 2008 12:40 am |
 
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Countdown to surgery…
11:04 a.m. -- We’re usually at church right now, this third Sunday of Advent. But a Nor’easter with sleet has cancelled services and the parking lot here at our condo hasn’t been plowed since early this morning. But a day off, shut-in, is God’s blessing to us before a busy week.
Wednesday, December 19, is our daughter Monica’s bilateral mastectomy with the preparation for reconstruction. The pre-op visit to Faulkner Hospital (affiliated with Dana-Farber and Brigham & Women’s) was on Friday, a sloppy trip on the Mass Pike in to West Roxbury followed by a long day of visits to multiple departments and finally to her local doctor for a prescription for antibiotics. She is fighting a cold and cough that will postpone surgery if she isn’t better by Wednesday morning. By starting the antibiotics on Friday night, she has the five days needed to go through the course of treatment.
Over $160,000! That’s how much the insurance company has paid out for Monica to date! She discovered the figures and added them up while navigating the website to find out more information on her policy’s coverage. A single dose of the chemo drugs can cost $7,000 - $13,000! On her sixth weekly dose of chemo, Monica was switched off of Taxol to a related (and much more expensive) drug which gave her less severe side affects. It was with relief and an anti-climactic feeling that we left Dana-Farber after the last treatment on November 29, but that is another milestone achieved! As I realize that it’s been two months since my last update, I can see how draining and time-consuming it was to go into Boston every week for 12 weeks.
After talking with the two surgeons, it seems Monica will have 8 – 12 weeks of recovery from surgery before 6½ weeks of radiation. Since we want to be here through her recovery from radiation, we have set an estimated goal to leave for Africa between late April and late May. The date should become clearer after the mid-January meeting with the radiation doctor; daily radiation will be done locally. The Theological Education by Extension office (called PEDEBE in Ivory Coast) is anxiously awaiting the workbooks that we plan to re-enter on the computer and print, covering the cost from our work funds. We found out about this need in May 2005 and the church association has patiently waited for us; there are now no workbooks left for some of the basic courses. Any pastors who want this training must wait until we can get the first book or two printed! It looks like our leave of absence will continue for at least three or four more months (January – March or April). We hope to visit a few of our churches in March and April as we gear up to return to living on support. We have appreciated your prayers and encouragement over these last months as we learn to trust God more fully. I’m glad we didn’t know at the beginning that our leave of absence would last nine or ten months – six months looked scary enough to live with no regular income or benefits!
Please pray with us for patience and wisdom, for strength and trust as we make plans for this coming week. Monica will have a private room (this hospital gives them to breast cancer patients) so I can stay with her. Pray especially for Wayne and Wesley (Monica’s 13-year-old son) as they stay home so Wes won’t miss any school. Pray that Monica will be able to get everything done that she needs to do before Christmas by the 18th (but still get the rest she needs)! She plans to stay in the hospital two nights and then go home with her sister-in-law; we will pick her up on Christmas Eve. The surgery itself is supposed to start about 9:00 a.m. and last six hours. We need to arrive at registration at 7:15 a.m., so it will be a long day.
We are thankful to be with family this year as we celebrate the wonderful news of our Savior’s coming to earth to give us new life. May each of you find special joy in Him. Thank you so much for your prayers and gifts during this challenging time. Merry Christmas!
Melody Nelson |
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