Surgery Update

Lots to update since our last post. Here is goes.

Thursday was a pretty rough morning with lots of tears and the unknown facing us. We were so blessed with Dan's parents being here and friends showing up at the hospital to pray for us. We were overwhelmed with everything and the prayers helped tremendously for comfort.

The doctor told us the surgery would be about 2 1/2 hours. At 10:45 they wheeled Dan away from me (that was an aweful moment) and I went to the waiting room. Norton hospital is wonderful!!! They have a board on the wall that has surgery updates throughout the time Dan was in sugery. They also gave me a beeper for additional updates. We watched the time tick away and then the board said they had made their first incision. AH!!! Dan's dad followed the minutes for us and at 12:10, we were beeped and told the surgery was complete. We were shocked as that was only 1 hour and 10 minutes vs the 2 we were told. I was taken to a room to wait for the doctor to update me.

This was a moment of complete praise to Jesus. The first thing the dr.said was the surgery went very well and it was a textbook operation. YEH!!! Because Dan did not have any problems, his prostate was very firm, young, and not enlarged. It was easy to preserve the nerves, cut the tissue away, limit blood loss, and complete the surgery quickly. Our prayers where answered for this part for sure.

Dan spent that evening coming out of the anesthetic. The doctor wanted him to get up and move around. When he tried, he got very light headed and dizzy. This was a result of his blood pressure dropping to 98'ish over 48'ish. So much for his HIGH blood pressure. Because it was so low, he was having these side effects. Dan's dr. said he needed to stay in the hospital until he could stand and walk. By Friday evening, he was better and we could leave. We made it home by 8'ish. Being home was great "medicine" for him.

He has been doing very well. He is sore from the surgery and his muscles are sore from walking gingerly. The catheter is a whole different story. It takes a lot of getting used to. He is getting better hour by hour.

We are so thankful for all the prayers. The kids have doing VERY well thru all of this. WE are trying to keep our routine going and so far things have not been too bad. We cannot wait for life to get back to some kind of "normal."

I am so thankful and blessed that we can finally put the surgery behind us and look to the future. Dan will continue to have tests and various follow up visits because he is now a "cancer survivor" and we need to make sure it stays that way. We decided during the first week we were told about his cancer that we would take it one day, one chunk at a time. The first hurdle is now over and we move on to the recovery stage. There is alot of changes in the future but with the Lord we have found a tremendous peace about it all. We hope we can be used to share how the Lord has been amazingly faithful thru it all.

Continued prayers for Dan's recovery and for future heart tests. During this process, tests revealed that there is some abnormalities that need to be addressed after he recovers. That will be another chapter of the book I am going to write someday. :) Until then.......