~Out of Recovery~

Jan has made it out of recovery. She is still a bit sleepy, but otherwise is doing great. She remembers everything and is able to retain the information she is given. Mom and Gerald have been able to visit with her and as Mom put it, "she is full of it."

Thank you for all your prayers, comments and love!

Cheryl

~Recovery Time~

The surgeon just finished talking to Gerald and Mom. Jan is in recovery now. She is awake, but sleepy. She did really well during surgery and he removed all of the tumor. The tumor showed dead tissue, but also some activity, which is what the PET scan showed. It will be a few hours before she gets out of recovery. She will not be in ICU, but in a room but will have a nurse who is only caring for her. She should move to a regular room tomorrow and get to come home Friday or Saturday.

It is our understanding that there has always been some activity at this site. The surgeon said since there is activity, they will be changing her treatment. We will know more about what comes next either the end of this week or the first of next week.

Please continue to pray that she recovers well and no problems arise from this surgery. Pray also that the next treatment is one that is well tolerated.

Mom will update me again when she has news or when they get to see Jan.

Thanks for all your prayers and support.

~Update~

The surgery is to begin around 8:00 a.m. this morning. Jan had a great day yesterday. God answered prayers in a big way. She was not anxious at all. She had some additional testing, which included blood work and a MRI to map the exact location.

They also met with the surgeon again and they are very pleased with him. He explained everything what should occur; said her recovery will be easier and different than last time. She will not be in ICU, but will have a nurse who attends to just her. Tomorrow morning she should be able to go into a regular room and one person can stay with her all night tonight.

Jan was very upset when they saw him last week and he was very concerned and wanted to make sure that he didn't do anything that caused Jan being upset last week when she saw him.

Thank you for your prayers and I will continue to update as I have information.

~More Information~

The surgery will be Tuesday morning. It will take four to six hours. This is the surgeon's first surgery of the day. Please pray for God to work through this surgeon, that he will have steady hands, and be rested for this surgery. Jan is very nervous about having the surgeon. She said that being able to come home this weekend has been calming for her.

MD Anderson is very strict in the patient's vistors. They are only allowed 4 visitors per patient, which should be no problem, since Mom and Gerald will be there. The surgeon told Jan she should have an easier time this time since she will not be in a coma and she will know beforehand that she has had surgery.

Pray for Gerald and Mom as well as they will be alone during this surgery and recovery time, and the trip home.

Pray that Jan has a quick recovery and that all goes as planned.

I will post when I have information. I sent out an email last night to many asking prayer for Jan. I have had a tremendous response. Thank you seems so small, but thank you for joining us to readily in continuing to walk this journey with us.

Praise the LORD, I tell myself; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, I tell myself, and never forget the good things he does for me."Psalm 103:1-2

Love and hugs!
Cheryl

~Grace~

I Corinthians 1:3 ~ Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Tomorrow, Sunday, at Noon, Gerald, Jan & Mom leave to return to MD Anderson. Jan will have a scan Monday. The surgery is scheduled for some time Tuesday. I'll let you know the time when I find out.

Please pray especially for peace for Jan. This has been an extremely difficult decision, as we can only imagine. Secondly, please pray for dead tissue and great results all around.

The plan is for the surgery to be Tuesday and with no complications she will get out of the hospital on Friday and will be able to either fly or drive home.

I think the rest of our family will be here at home. For me, this is extremely difficult. I would rather be there.

I will update as I have news.

Thanks so much for all your prayers.

Cheryl

~Blessed~

Yesterday after getting home with Ripley from having his bandage changed I noticed that it seemed rather loose. Later in the evening it had slipped down and some of his stitches were exposed. I took some gauze and tape and put it around the top of his leg to cover the area that was exposed.

This morning when I went and checked on the fella, low and behold he had managed to get the bandage all the way off. It was somewhat frustrating as the surgeon's office is at least 30 minutes from my house and I had quite a bit of work to get done today.

So..as I also needed to run to the office this morning I packed Ripley up. We were going to run by the office and then head up to see the nurse to get his leg re-wrapped.

I was once told (I haven't checked for sure yet) that most accidents happen less than 2 miles from your home. Do you know where I'm going with this?

We were sitting at a stop light waiting to turn left. Ripley actually was laying in the front passenger seat asleep because I had given him part of a sedative because I do not want to go down this road again with him. He was being very calm and good. He normally wants to see what all is going on while we are driving.

My light turned green. I sat there for a moment before starting to initiate my turn. I had just starting making my turn.....when the next thing I know my airbags have been deployed..Ripley is in the front passenger floorboard..and I just sat there for a moment while my windshield is cracking and the airbags are going down and there is smoke from the airbags. I then panicked a bit as I tried to get Ripley out of the floor to see if he is okay.

When I pulled the airbag up, he was trying to peaking his little face out from the airbag. We were probably seeing the same look on each other's face. My first thought to myself was "WHAT NEXT?"

There were a lot of people who stopped to help and to call the necessary people. It seemed like they arrived instantly. Ripley sat in my lap shaking for a very long time. This poor dog has been through so much in the last couple of months.

This all still seems so unreal! An elderly lady who I guess never realized her light was RED came through the light. That is very apparent by the impact. There were numerous witnesses to the accident who stopped, provided help where it was needed and also provided their statements.

Other than being really shaken up, I think Ripley is okay. He is being checked Thursday. As for me, the only thing that is evident at this time is some cuts and burns on my right arm, I guess from the air bag.

My car most likely is totaled. There wasn't much left to the front of it. I could be wrong. Doesn't it always happen just about the time you have it paid off? It was towed to a place just right by my house. I couldn't really think today, so there are things I need to get out of it.

For the biggest part of the day I kept thinking "what else can happen." I wasn't planning on getting a new car when I paid mine off. It is still in good condition so I thought it would be good to keep it for a while.

My sweet niece, Jenny called me this evening after Donna my sister told her about the accident. Jenny has recently bought a new car and is selling her old car herself. She offered to let me drive her car if I needed it. She was asking about the accident and I told her "at first I kept thinking, what else can happen. Okay, I've reached my limit." But...then I took a moment and thought...if I had started driving right when the light turned green or if I had been up just a bit, it could have turned out totally different.

So, I'm feeling BLESSED today. Even though I didn't want to be involved in an accident. Hassle with all of the things that go along with the accident, leasing a car, possibly finding a new car...AT LEAST IT ONLY APPEARS AT THIS TIME THAT I HAVE SOME MINOR BURNS AND CUTS FROM THE AIR BAG AND RIPLEY IS OKAY.

~A long long 3 months awaits us~

I think as much as I'm missing the little fellow I'm also dreading the next 3 months. It has been different around the house since Thursday morning without Ripley. There was an emergency at the Vet. Surgery Center Friday so his surgery got bumped until late Friday afternoon/evening. I got my call about 7:00 p.m. that he everything was just fine. They were able to get his leg back in place. The plan is to keep it wrapped for about a month so that it can heal and then after that we'll have two more month of no activity so that his leg will heal completely. If all goes as planned, he should be able to have a normal life.

Being as this is our second go, I'm going to have to be even more strict on him and keep him even calmer than I did the last time.

Has anyone ever tried to keep a young dog calm? It isn't easy by any means that's for sure!

I was very surprised, but also happy that when I took him back for his examination last Thursday that it didn't bother him one bit to go back. At least I knew he had received good care there. Both times he has had surgery on Friday and therefore he stays throughout the weekend so that he can be monitored. The surgeon calls me directly after surgery to discuss the surgery and how he did and the technicians are very good about calling me throughout the weekend to give me updates on him.

I know still he will be very ready to come home tomorrow morning. As will I be ready to have him back home.

I'll post a picture of him tomorrow after I pick him up.

~Rippee~Rippee~Rippee~

What is a person to do?

Yikes! It will be 7 weeks tomorrow. I tell you 7 long long weeks tomorrow since Ripley had his surgery to fix the problem at his elbow. Well, wouldn't you know, he's injured it. He has managed to pop the bone out of place without bending the pin they put in to stablize the joint. So, tomorrow morning they will go back in and put this back in place or try to and it will then have to be wrapped for 3-4 weeks so that it will not be able to come out. Hopefully this is not all done in vain and we are able to save his leg. I cannot stand the thought of this young dog losing his leg. I don't think it would phase him a bit, but it bothers me greatly.

So, we are starting this surgery thing over. It'll be the end of summer before this more doggy will be able to be groomed. He already looks like a rug rat he's so shaggy.

On a lighter note...

This has been my sister's week for chemo and she's tolerated it fantastically. And, Praise God, she's started to grow hair. They told her it would be 2-6 months before this would happen, if at all. Whew! She would not be happy if she didn't get her hair back.

God is Good!

Jan ~ Prior to losing her hair!

~Random Thoughts~

Surgery ~ orthopedic at that and dogs do not go hand in hand. Ripley will be 4 in July. Five weeks ago he had surgery on his elbow. How in the world do you keep a dog calm for 8 weeks? It has been a challenge! He doesn't understand that he is to remain calm for this length of time. This means no jumping on furniture and no running. Actually it means no doing anything for him. This little fellow had a congenital defect where one of his bones didn't grow properly and would pop out of place quite frequently. We still have 3 weeks to go and then after that I think we still have to be very careful. He's such a sweet dog and so loving. My heart goes out to him as he doesn't understand all the changes and he seems to be having a tough time lately. I'm hoping that all is well as this was a tricky surgery and one that is difficult to get good results.

I spent much of the day with my sister yesterday after finally cleaning house. Housework doesn't seem as important any more as it is to spend time with family and friends. However, the last few months has been quite busy with research and such that housework wasn't a priority. Oh, it would get cleaned, but in stages. Yesterday was an over haul housecleaning morning. So after cleaning I arranged to get Jan out of the house for a bit. It was a nice day, so we did some shopping. I'm so thankful that she felt good as it has seemed getting started on the meds has been an ordeal.

Today after church I spent time with a friend and her daughter. Emma is almost 3. She is adopted from China. I wish I had as much energy as she does. It's nice to spend time with friends. I keep in close contact with good friend, however there hasn't been a lot of time to do normal things lately.

I'm so ready for spring. It reminds us of our blessings. With spring come longer days, flowers, more sun and just an overall reminder of how good God is.

We are trusting at this new season, a time of renewed strength and hope in our God. We are praying for good results this week for Jan, as well as peace of mind. With so many family and friends walking this journey with us, we have felt a peace like only what God can provide. This comes from prayer. We are thankful that we have a God that we can go to at any time with anything.

Believers have a major advantage in life -- they can turn to God for wisdom and help.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. James 1:5