July 26th, 2017…my cancerversary

I knew my prognosis was probably grim when the anesthesiologist for my colonoscopy shook my hand after the procedure, said, “Best of luck to you,” and walked out. Little did he know, I didn’t need “luck”, I had God and the prayers of His people. Although this was the hardest year of our lives, I felt the power of prayer on a daily basis. Bob and I were humbled and blessed by the outpouring of love, visits, prayers, cards, flowers, meals, e-mails, phone calls, and Christian care that we received not only during our time of chemo and radiation, but during my time of healing as well.

January 2018

3 months after my chemo and radiation treatments, the doctors were unable to find the tumor, and I was given a “clean” bill of health.

April 2018

At my 6 month follow up after chemo & radiation treatment, the doctors found that the cancerous tumor was back and growing at an aggressive rate. This required Plan B – radical resection surgery. I was in that 15% category where chemo and radiation didn’t work. Because I chose to do this surgery robotically in Austin, I had to wait another 3 months until July to have the surgery. My surgeon was a blessing from God. A friend’s daughter works for DaVinci Robotics and told her mom about this super ninja surgeon for my particular surgery. Although my tumor didn’t go away as hoped for, God led me to a better, less barbarous surgical option.

July 12th, 2018

I had the surgery on July 12th, and I was home in 4 days. I am healing now and hope to be “up and running” within the next 3 months. My pathology report came back with clean margins around the tumor that was removed and no lymph nodes were affected – just that stubborn 2.5cm cancerous tumor. This is a very good prognosis now.

I don’t know how we would have gotten through this last year without y’all’s love and prayers; we truly felt the peace of God. I wish I had the energy and stamina to write each and every one of y’all a personal note to let you know how much you mean to us and how thankful we are to have you in our lives. We are truly blessed.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart,
Rachael