Back under the knife

Today I met with Team Nowell.  Dr. Kerri Nowell did my lumpectomy and I had a post-op with her.  Then she sent in her husband, Dr. Andy Nowell.  He'll be inserting my 'powerport'  on Thursday morning at St. Luke's.  I love the sound of that- it's like I'll get superpowers!!  Actually- it kind of is.  The port will be subdermal and will be the vehicle for chemo treatments.  The chemo people will just stick a needle in the port, rather than searching for a vein for an IV 16 different times.  I'm not terribly excited about surgery again, but I am very excited about not having IV's for awhile.

I'd appreciate your prayers Thursday morning.  There are some rare but very serious complications that could arise, most notably a collapsed lung if he happens to turn the needle the wrong way.  I'd prefer to keep my lungs in their non-collapsed state. ;)  And, of course, they have to put in an IV to do the surgery.

The surgery is at 9 am at St. Luke's Surgicare.  They have to do some X-rays after they place the port, and they can't do that at the Surgery Center.  We have to be there at 7:30.  The whole thing takes about an hour, so I should be home around lunchtime.

On an more fun note, we went over to The American Cancer Society yesterday afternoon.  We walked in and were greeted warmly.  I said I had been recently diagnosed with cancer, and one of the ladies immediately said, "What size t-shirt do you want?"  :)  We laughed and laughed.  We think the t-shirts should say, "I was diagnosed with cancer and all I got was this t-shirt!"  ;)  Anyway, after the t-shirt (from the Relay for Life event), they pulled out 3 large tubs full of hats and scarves knitted/sewed by volunteers.  Mostly retirees who knit all winter in Texas and Arizona. We had a great time trying different hats.  I took 4 hats and 3 scarves.  They are all pretty cute.  Not as cute as the TLC hats online, but they'll be a great addition.  I get to go next Monday night to their Look Good Feel Better program.  Major cosmetic companies donate products for cancer survivors and they will go over skin care during treatment.  It should be pretty fun.  I've been out of makeup for awhile, so it will be nice to have some again.

When we got home, I modeled all the hats for the boys.  The first two Andy kind of shrugged at.  The third one he says, "I like that one better.  It doesn't make you look like a cancer patient."  I said, "I AM a cancer patient!!"  We had a good laugh.  I'm really trying to make this whole thing as not scary as possible, both for the boys and for me, too.  It's nice to find things to laugh about.

Over the last few days, people have just been pouring blessings out on us.  Thank you all so much.  Friends have been stopping by, I am still getting cards everyday, and a few people have even brought gifts.  This is so humbling.  Thank you for being Jesus to me and my family.  It is so wonderful for all of us to see the body of Christ working in this tangible way.  I am truly blessed by every one of you.  

We appreciate your continued prayers.  The next few days might be hard.  We are out of town on a little day trip all day Wednesday, Thursday I have surgery, and Andy leaves for Puerto Rico at 5:45 in the morning on Saturday.  Pray for time to complete all his preparations.  Thank you!!  GO TEAM ROBIN!!