"God works in mysterious ways"

I have tried to respect Jon's privacy and avoid writing about some of the details of this process.  But Jon is completely on board with me sharing some specific details of how God has TOTALLY worked in this entire process.


Initially, when Jon went for his routine MRI and chest x-ray and the tumors on his lungs were found, the doctor also ordered an ultrasound of the remaining testicle.  He has always told us that Jon was at a higher risk for having testicular cancer in both testicles although that is very rare.  Jon has all along during these 6.5 years had routine ultrasounds of that remaining testicle. During the most recent ultrasound they found a tumor.  Although very small, they felt like it needed to be removed.  So the plan was for the doctor to go in and remove the tumor and have it examined during surgery.  If the results showed cancer, the doctor would perform a complete orchiectomy (removal of the testicle).  If the results showed no cancer, he would perform a partial orchiectomy removing only the tumor.


When it came back as "suspicious" it was a little tougher decision.  When the doctor and I had our meeting in the middle of surgery on Monday, he said the decision could go either way, there wasn't a clear, right or wrong answer with what to do.  The risk was that the doctor would do a complete orchiectomy and we find out later it wasn't cancer.  Or, we decide to do a partial orchiectomy and we find out it is cancer, and he would have to go back in at some point and do a complete orchiectomy.  And if you remember my story, at the end of the conversation the doctor felt like God had showed him what to do, I agreed that he would perform a complete orchiectomy (which is obviously not ideal for a 36 year old).


Fast forward to Friday night (5 days later).  Dr. Ritenour calls us.  He had just read the pathology report from Monday's surgery.  He says to us, "God works in mysterious ways!"  The original tumor that he went in to remove (that was found on the ultrasound) came back as seminoma (the same type of testicular cancer Jon had the first time in 2006).  The pathologist also examines every part of the tissue from the testicle that is removed.  The surprising part is hidden in the tissue they found a TINY, TINY tumor.   So small, it did not show up on the ultrasound.  And the pathology report on this TINY tumor came back as embryonal carcinoma which is the very same malignant germ cell that was found on the path report for his lungs (a mixture of non-seminoma and seminoma).  Amazingly, God had literally led Dr. Ritenour to remove that testicle not having a CLUE they would find hidden in there most likely the source of this cancer in his lungs!  I don't know why I am, but I am AMAZED at how God led and orchestrated the surgery and how HE is the one that led the doctor to remove the testicle.


I think the doctor was more relieved than us to find out the news:o).  He did not make this decision lightly and I know it has weighed on his mind since Monday anticipating whether the path results would come back cancer or not cancer.  I told him tonight that we appreciate him more than he could ever know.


We also found out some other news from our oncologist.  Because there is non-seminoma in his lungs, there was some disappointing news but something all of us can pray for.  SOMETIMES, the non-seminoma is not quite as responsive to the chemotherapy as the seminoma.  There is a small possibility that when the chemo is finished, there would still be some non-seminoma cells left in the lungs.  Jon would then have to have surgery to "scoop" out the remaining malignant cells.  Please pray that through the chemo drugs, God would remove every malignant cell in Jon's body!


Jon will start chemo at 10AM Monday morning.  Please pray with us that a miracle will happen in Jon's body!  We see so clearly that God's hand is in this and we know that He will continue to work miracles!


We made a decision to come back to Hilton Head on Thursday after Jon's oncology appointment for the weekend.  It has been very refreshing for all of us to get much needed rest and to enjoy the gorgeous weather here.  The kids played outside for about 3 hours today in the beautiful 58 degrees while Atlanta was enjoying high of 39 degrees!:o)  Jon was also able to work Friday and he did GREAT!  He did get a little tired, but I am amazed at how well he has recovered from this surgery.

Surgery update

Jon did very well during and after surgery.  He had NO nausea.  They gave him LOTS of anti-nausea medication during and after surgery and a good dose in his IV to go home with.  Without going into too many details, I want to share something really neat.  During the surgery, decisions had to be made.  So the doctor came in to talk to me in a little meeting room.  Please do understand we have a pretty close relationship with Jon's urologist.  The answers weren't as clear cut as he would have hoped for.  He walks in and says "I have been asking God for answers on the way over here."  Then we sit and talk about options for about 15 minutes.  We pretty much knew what way we were leaning but still had a tiny doubt that we were doing the best thing for Jon.  He then said, "Ok, God just showed me something."  And he shared it with me, I said, "God, has spoken, you know what to go do."  We both got up and he walked back to the OR.  The answer became so clear to both of us and it was so reassuring that God was a part of this decision.


Some of you may not know this, but Jon is a very RARE guy:o)   So far, almost everything that they have found  about his cancer case is RARE!  The cancer that they found in his lungs is actually 2 types, non-seminoma and seminoma.  This is very RARE for them to find both kinds especially when the first time they found this 6.5 years ago it was only seminoma.  Also, they cannot find any in his abdomen area.  It is very RARE to skip the belly area and move to the lungs.  It is very RARE to find it in both testicles.  It is very RARE that the cancer would come back after 6 1/2 years.  We are calling Jon a 1-2% chance guy because so far those are about the percentages of all these RARE things.


Please pray for Jon as I know tomorrow (Tuesday) will be a more painful day.   Hopefully we can manage the pain, and with him being able to eat and not get to nauseated he will feel better quicker.


We will meet with the oncology nurse on Thursday and go over all the ins and outs of chemotherapy.  They will do a little education seminar with us.  And the plan is to start chemo on Monday, Feb. 4th. He will get a port but not until after he starts.  He will have to get it on one of his weeks off.

Thanks for your prayers!  We really appreciate it!  Here is a fun video to enjoy.

Lung biopsy results update

We heard from the pulmonary doctor today.  Yes, we are VERY thankful these doctor go above and beyond the call of duty and work on Saturday and take the time to call their patients.  The PRELIMINARY biopsy results came back as a "similar cancer cell that Jon had last time."  The doctor said that we will have to talk about the details with Jon's urologist.  We are actually relieved to know that it is the same kind of cancer Jon had last time because the cure rate is high and we already have the chemo regimen set in place.  Jon will have an outpatient surgery Monday, and we will go from there.  The oncologist will have to get the FINAL path results before he will schedule anything on his end.  It could be Wednesday or Thursday before we know about the date chemo will start.  We will keep you updated as we know.  Thanks for praying for Jon on Monday.  Pray that we will be able to control the nausea better this time that results from the anesthesia.

Jon's lung biopsy a success!!!

Jon went in for his biopsy this morning and they felt like they got plenty of tissue sample. They should know results at the end of the week. Jon did very well during the procedure. Unfortunately, the anesthesia makes Jon very nauseous so when we got in the car to come home, he only made it 30 min in the car before he was throwing up. So we will head home Thursday. We are living and learning with Jon and his very sensitive stomach. He was super disappointed because he wanted to work on Wednesday. Hopefully he will feel much better after a nights rest!

A Day of Healing

Today, we went to the beach to rid our bodies of this virus:o).  It was a gorgeous, sunny, warm day.  We all had a great time and hopefully the salty air was truly good for our bodies.  The kids were funny because on the way we passed church.  They were trying to make sense of why we couldn't go to church, but we could go to the beach.  We have talked a lot about germs lately but they aren't understanding why we can go to the beach, not church; why daddy can pick them up today, but couldn't yesterday; why we can go to Atlanta, but Grammy and Gramps can't come over.  They are funny.

Jon is much better and has been fever free for 24 hours.  On the other hand, Luke and Emma Kate both broke out in hives yesterday.  I'm assuming it is from this virus, hopefully the end of it!  Poor things, they broke out almost at the same exact time.  Emma Kate was the worst but benedryl did wonders.  She is still having to take it today also.

We will head to ATL tomorrow for the biopsy on Tuesday.  We will come back Tuesday for Jon to work on Wednesday.  Thanks for praying!

Update on Strebe sickness

I took Luke to the doctor yesterday. He has pinkeye and an ear infection. His eye is so much better since I started his drops. It was looking so bad when I took him in, poor thing. Jon is much better also. He was headed to work this morning and he realized he had a low grade fever so he had to stay home. He was so disappointed and frustrated, but I know we made the right decision. His fever never spiked today but he is feeling so tired and the after effects of having a high fever. He is starting to feel much better tonight. Please continue to pray he will be fever free because we cannot do this lung biopsy on Tuesday unless he is fever free for 24 hours prior to the procedure.

 I have washed every towel, sheet, pillow case, clothes, etc that we have used. I have sanitized every door knob, crib, any surface we would touch. We have done 10 loads of laundry in 24 hours and that is no exaggeration!! So hopefully our home will be germ free, and we will all get well.

 I want to give a shout out to Jon's urologist from Emory, Dr. Chad Ritenour. He is an incredible surgeon. He is so thorough, detailed, and such a pro-active doctor. We completely trust him with every bit of medical and personal advice he gives us. He is phenomenal at what he does. He goes way above and beyond the call of duty. But beyond that he is such a humble, caring person and has become over the past 6 1/2 years such a great friend to us and I just wanted to say THANKS! We are so thankful God led us to him 6 1/2 years ago when all this began (that's another story I'll have to share sometime).

Lung Biopsy Update

We are ALL sick! Jon is the worst and his keeps dragging on and on. It has been about 8 days now. He has congestion, chest cold, ear problems, and fever. I caught it from him and it seems that our kids have a small version of what he has. We cancelled the port because we weren't even sure if he was well enough to get it and he needed to be at work. We went to the pulmonologist yesterday. Jon will be having a procedure where they go down his throat and try and get tissue from a spot that is on a lymph node close by. It is a very simple, easy low risk procedure. They are 80% sure that they can get what they need to determine what we are dealing with. So PRAY they will because the next step is a more risky surgery to get some other tissue in another part of his lung. This procedure will be done this coming Tuesday. He will be able to work on Wednesday. We will know results in 5 days. Which means that we will NOT start chemo on January 28th. I thought I would tell a funny story everytime I write. It is never a dull moment with kids, and with multiples, there is REALLY never a dull moment. So this is my funny story of the day: I changed RYAN's poopy diaper and put the babes down for their naps. I was making the bed and doing a few things and Luke came in and said, "UH, didn't you say I needed to go to the bathroom?" Translation: I just pooped in my pants! Sure enough we go in the bathroom and he says, "UH, I need help pulling down my underwear." Translation: I DO have poop in my underwear. Sure enough, there was. So we sit him on the potty. Meanwhile, RYAN starts crying in bed. I go in there and the smell of the room overwhelmed me. I Yell to Luke, HANG ON, GOTTA CHANGE RYAN. So I take him out of bed, lay him down, take his bottoms off and get up to get a diaper, turn around and there is NO RYAN. Of course, he had escaped out the door in a matter of 2 seconds and was running around the family room giggling. So I run after him, catch him, change him, put him back in bed. Emma Kate is over in her bed asking me to dance with her!! I have to remind her, NO, this is naptime, NOT dance time. Meanwhile, remember, Luke is still sitting on the potty. I go in to get him situated which i wont go into detail, but obviously had to clean him up (Remember, he had pooped in underwear). Get him cleaned, new underwear. Luke goes to "quiet time" in his room. FINALLY sit down. I then get a phone call from Jon. He is sick at school with a 101.6 temp. So we talk about what he should do, get off the phone. I notice the babes are still WILD in bed. Throwing everything out, giggling, banging things on the wall, reaching up to take pictures off the wall, etc. I go in and the smell overwhelms me again. RYAN had pooped AGAIN. Now, please understand this all happened from 2-3:30. I walk out of the room and Jon walks in the door feeling terrible! "Break" time for Momma OVER:o) JUST AN ADDED NOTE: Jon's fever got up to 105. I used all my methods I use for the kids and it worked. 3 hours later we got it back down to normal BUT PLEASE PRAY FOR HIM. He obviously has something going on and I will be on DUTY all night:O)