October 18 Quarantined

Sunday:  No in-person church today. No Emma. No visitors. Sigh. Thankfully, I could worship on-line with Calvary. It was an encouraging and challenging service. 

I've been charting my breathing exercises in preparation for Tuesday's surgery, along with drinking this icky stuff (protein and immune system booster). 

This is the drawing Dr. Onesti did to show me what they are going to do Tuesday. The two pictures are essentially the same, except the bottom picture shows more of what will happen if they have to re-route my stomach/intestines. But hopefully, it will be a simple tumor removal, a 35-minute procedure, overnight stay and then home on Wednesday. See the top right corner in both pictures? The round thing with the little arrow extending down is a diagram of the tumor. Dr. Onesti hopes that it is attached to my stomach wall by just a tiny fragment. The robot can simply lift it up and unattach it--snip, snip ... stitches, and then a done deal. 

But since the tumor is located so close to the "faucet" or "drain" that attaches the intestines to the stomach, if the tumor isn't just "floating" and barely attached, but rather is laying down and embedded into the stomach, then she is going to have to cut more extensively--removing the faucet completely and re-routing the drain on the other side of my stomach and into the intestines via a different route (all inside, thankfully).

GIST = gastrointestinal stromal tumor. These are not aggressive tumors, but CAN be cancer. The tumor will be examined carefully once it is out and then determination will be made as to whether it is benign or malignant. Naturally, I am asking the Lord that this will be the first and more simple procedure, and that the tumor will be benign. But ... either way, God is calling the shots. It's good to know that He holds me in His loving hands.