Being Told the Final Diagnosis

On Thanksgiving morning, the surgeon explained to John the diagnosis.  I will never forget the look on John's face as he asked the doctor how long he had to live.  The doctor has great faith in the power of hope and with the latest clinical trial, we could have quality time for however long that may be.

 

By this time, all of the family had been notified by the mothers.  And thus, became the difficult task of alerting friends.  Family and friends started streaming into the hospital to support John, share grief, and ponder at the senselessness.  There were many a time the nurses could not get into the room to take vitals.  Notations were made in the chart, "Room full of people, cannot take information.  Wife says 1200 ccs of urine etc."  This was the first example of a miracle.

 

As John recuperated from the surgery of moving and reattaching the exit of his stomach to bypass the "mass," plans were made to visit the local oncologist and the specialists at the University of Chicago for the clinical trial.  John was discharged from the hospital the following Monday, one week after being admitted.  The oncologist could not see us for 1 1/2 weeks and the specialist for 2 weeks.  That was just not soon enough.  Remarkably, cancellations in the schedules opened up and the appointments became almost immediate.  That was the second example of a miracle.

 

The prayer circles and web page were in the works from the beginning.  There are prayer chains from South Carolina to California and Minnesota to Texas.  On the web, we have a place where everyone can come together, share the latest information, ideas, and support.  The fact that a web address was available with the word miracle, that there are prayers all over the country, and that people who don't know and then realize that they are talking about the same person is another miracle.

 

On Tuesday, December 9, John, myself, and my father met with the University of Chicago staff for a second opinion and an explanation of the clinical trials.  The trial sounds promising, they have seen some size reductions in tumors and a longer than expected survival rate.  I cannot publish the specifics out of respect for doctors and their trail data.  However, with John's age, physical shape, and health of his other vital organs, they expect him to be a wonderful candidate for the trial.  We have to wait six weeks at the least for the incisions from the stomach surgery to completely heal in order to start chemotherapy.

 

Most importantly, the lead doctor in the trail wants to make sure of  the diagnosis.  "Something does not look right,"  were her exact words.  She is very suspicious of the diagnosis.  John does not have the typical identifying factors to pancreatic cancer; age 55-65, prior smoker, prior drinker, and level of overall health free from high blood pressure, heart disease, etc.  The CT scan does not look typical of pancreatic cancer and the pathology slides do not look typical of PC.  Could this be another Making of a Miracle?

 

On Tuesday, December 16, a "meeting of the minds" will take place.  The University of Chicago specialists will look again at Johns medical status.  There is another possibility, Pancreatic Adenoma: a tumor, benign, with minimal treatment, and non life threatening.  We will have more information by phone the following morning.  The odds are extremely low, but there is hope.  There is hope where there was none.  Could this be another Making of a Miracle?

 

Regardless of the outcome.  We have witness many a miracle so far.  I would like to take a moment to thank everyone that has shown support to John.  We have literally been engulfed in a flood of well wishes.  For everyone who has cried with us, prayed, hugged, called, sent a card, sent flowers, arranged dinners, organized gift baskets, arranged for gift/food cards, hung Christmas lights and decorations, shoveled the snow, babysat, and otherwise occupied our thoughts, bless all of you.  You are a miracle in itself!