Leslyn's Coming Home

Hello again,

Today Leslyn will be coming home from the hospital. The doctors feel that she is stable enough and able to control the pain from the surgery through oral pain killers, so they want to get her back home where she will be more comfortable and less likely to get an infection from the other patients.

Yesterday, she was doing much better. The nausea had subsided and she was able to sit up, talk, and even eat a sandwich. The plastic surgeon, Dr. Ghorbani, checked the surgery site and said it was healing well. To me, it looked much better than I had expected and the scars seem to be placed well. The doctors truly did an amazing job!

Please keep her in your prayers over these next two weeks, as they are crucial to the healing process. Specifically that infections will not occur and that the pain will stay at a low and manageable level.

Thank you all for your prayers!!!

~Karyn

Surgery Update 1

Hello everyone,

Thank you all so very much for your prayers today!! They have been very effective because the surgery went very well and Leslyn [Mom] is recovering well. Surgery ended sooner than expected, which was great because she didn't have to be under anesthesia for an extra hour. The surgeons are confident that they have clear margins and have removed all the cancer. She was also able to get a private room with a nice view of the mountains, so that is an extra blessing. I saw her today, and she seems to be at peace, especially since Ron [Dad] will be spending the night with her. She has asked you all to please be praying for three things specifically:

*That the nausea accompaning the anesthesia will subside quickly
*That she will remain infection free
*That the pain will be at a minimal level or even better, that there will be no pain at all!!

Thank you all so much for your prayers, they have carried Leslyn and the rest of us through this difficult day.

~Karyn

leaving for surgery in 5 minutes

My dear friends and family,
I just had to write one more quick note to thank each of you for your prayers, loving notes and steadfast faithfulness to me and my family. The peace and presence of God is tangible in our home and in our hearts this morning. God bless each of you! with much love, Leslyn

New Surgery Info

Surgery has been pushed back to 12:45 PM. We will arrive at the hospital for pre-op at 10:45 AM.

Surgery should last for about 5 hours with another hour or so for recovery.

I am having a double mastectomy, then they will biopsy the lymph nodes under my left arm and remove any that have cancer--of course we are hoping they are all clear. The plastic surgeon will then begin the reconstruction process. After that, I will go to recovery and then to a room.

They expect me to be in the hospital for about 3 nights.

*Please pray for Dr. Kerlin, doing the cancer surgery, and for Dr. Ghorbani, the plastic surgeon, and that the presence of the Lord will permeate the operating room.
*Please pray that I get a good room, either with a great roommate or a private room and that the presence of the Lord would already be there when they wheel me into it.
*Please pray that I will remain infection free especially since I have only 3 antibiotics that I can take to fight infection--this is a major concern.
*Please pray for my family during the long hours in the waiting room, I know it will be a long day for them.( Again, I am so grateful that family and friends will be with them and to the Grunders for being available to my girls while I am in surgery and the hospital! It puts my heart at ease.)
*Please pray that I do not get nauseous after the surgery from the pain medication or the anesthesia.
*Please pray that the pain is miraculously minimal.

Please check back here Tuesday night. My daughter, Karyn, will let you know how the surgery went and any prayer updates. Thank you, thank you, thank you for standing with me and my family in prayer, I lack the words to express my gratefulness to you!

The Surgery Date is Here: Tuesday, July 29 @ 12:45PM

When I first found out that the surgery would be a month away, it seemed like such a long time but now all of a sudden the surgery is tomorrow! It seems like these past four weeks have flown by with all of the doctor appointments and things to do to prepare. My whole family is back to the surreal sensation again today.

We have had a pretty good day, thank you all so very much for praying...I can feel it. Ron, the girls and I have all felt a bit nervous off and on throughout the day, but I think that is very normal. Thank you Brenda for doing my hair again today and Julie for adjusting my neck and back...ahhh, I feel so much better!!

We are spending the evening as a family, quiet and just being with each other. Our home feels very peaceful. Michelle O. made a beautiful banner with Scriptures about healing with a cross in the center. We have it hanging in our living room and I can see it right now as I type, it is so encouraging.

Thank you for praying for us today and especially tomorrow and the days following. My brothers, Rich, Bill and Kevin and sister Lisa will be with Ron and our girls in the waiting room along with my sister-in-law, Cecelia and several of our dear friends. They should have a great time together, that makes me happy. I will be sleeping soundly in the operating room in the loving arms of my Heavenly Father and the capable hands of my surgeons.

I know that a number of you have told me that you are going to be fasting as well as praying, I thank you for that sacrifice on our behalf.

My daughter, Karyn, will be updating the blog while I am in the hospital so please check the blog tomorrow night for a post-surgery update. Blessings and much love from a grateful heart, Leslyn

If you'd like to help

This new "help" section on the blog has been created in response to the many offers that we have received from people wanting to help. I have been urged to make our needs known to you. I thought this would be the best way to communicate those needs.

Over the past 9 months, as many of you know, I have been running a temperature accompanied by debilitating fatigue and body aches. Now, with this diagnosis of breast cancer, I will have another year to year and a half (unless of course I am healed!) of treatment, recovery and healing time ahead of me.

Because of my prolonged illness, I have not been able to travel and speak or write, causing a significant decrease in that source of our income. Additionally, donations to Global Prayer Ministries, of which I am the president, have dropped dramatically so that I have not received a salary in many months. In response to this financial need and the Lord's leading, in addition to being the full-time senior pastor of our church, Ron has taken on a part-time position at Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church (WCPC) making pastoral visits to some of the dear folks in that congregation. He is doing all he can to provide for our family and yet with the increased medical bills and related needs, we are falling short each month and our bills are beginning to pile up. [**update: due to budget cut backs, WCPC could no longer afford to hire Ron so they had to let him go. He lost that job in Sept 08, further reducing our income.]

If you would like to help us during this time of significant need, my family and I would be very, very grateful. Your tax-deductible donations to Global Prayer Ministries will go directly to funding back salary that I have not yet received. If God has touched your life through Global Prayer or through my life, would you please prayerfully consider sowing into our ministry at this time? We need your help.

Your donations, large or small, can be sent to:
Global Prayer Ministries
1647 Willow Pass Road, #317
Concord, CA 94520

Please make your check payable to Global Prayer Ministries. Please do not put my name on the check, instead, you may enclose a note indicating how you would like the gift to be used. Thank you so much!

**Global Prayer Ministries is recognized by the IRS as a non-profit organization. All donations are tax-deductible.

a wise friend said...

A dear and wise friend of mine, Mary L., wrote a while back to warn me that "cancer seeks to infiltrate everything. It seeks to insinuate itself into your body, your time, your thoughts, your relationships. Just like the devil, it wants the supremacy of your thoughts." I took that warning to heart and have been praying about it but also vigilant against it. God has given me great grace to keep close watch over my thought-life. I also know you all have been praying for me and my family for peace throughout the days. Your prayers have been very effective.

The other day I was sitting at the kitchen counter while Ron was working in the kitchen and I said with all sincerity, "Gosh, I really don't feel well. (pause) I wonder why?" Ron turned around and just stared at me. As I looked at him and his response, it suddenly dawned on me..."oh yeah, I forgot."

There are many times in each day when I have no thought at all of cancer. This disease is only a temporary intruder in my body and I have no intention of allowing it to insinuate itself into my life, my thoughts, my emotions or my family more than I need to in order to deal with its effective removal from my body.

Thank you for praying for grace for me and my family, God is abundantly answering your prayers.

Surgery Information and Prayer Points

Well, the surgery is going to take a bit longer than I had anticipated. The doctors think the surgery will take between 4 and 5 hours with an additional hour for recovery. So with the surgery beginning at noon on July 29, Ron won't be able to see me until about 6 o'clock.

They think that I will be in the hospital for 2-3 days if all goes as well as we are anticipating. They need to be able to manage the pain with oral medication before they will release me. I will go home with drainage tubes that will stay in for 5-7 days or so. I'll be really glad for my short hair during those days as I can't shower during that time...poor Ron! smile.

In addition to needing prayer for the actual surgery time and that the recovery will go well, a significant prayer need is that I do not develop any kind of infection. This is a normal need anytime someone has surgery, but especially for me. I am allergic to all but three antibiotics, and only two of those are very effective against infection. Please pray that I would not develop any kind of infection during or after the surgery. That will be an on-going prayer request during the chemo phase as well since the doctors are very limited in what they can use to fight infection.

Please pray too that I will not develop scar tissue at the surgery site and that the visible scars will be minimal, thank you. Of course, I would also appreciate prayer that the pain would be as minimal as possible.

Please pray specifically for my surgeons, Dr. Deborah Kerlin and Dr. Ghorbani. Thank you!!

I told a friend that my plan is to check to see if the tumor is gone all the way up until they inject the medication to put me to sleep. I have seen God do many miracles in the "eleventh hour" and will continue to ask and hope for miraculous healing until the very last minute! Bless you and thank you so much for standing with our family in prayer.

pre-op appointments

I have both of my surgical pre-op appointments behind me. Thank you so much for praying for those appointments! Ron and our oldest daughter, Karyn, went with me and there was such grace on all of us. I felt really relaxed and at peace throughout both appointments. The plastic surgeon took my blood pressure and it was on the low side of normal, then he looked at me and said, "You seem to be feeling very positive and relaxed. That is good." So God's grace is tangible to us and to others.

We are all feeling very confident about the surgical team that we have working with us, all the more since meeting with them again this week. In the next post I will give details about the surgery.

Thank you again for praying, I can literally feel the support of your prayers. What a gift you are to our whole family!

Genetic Testing -- BRAC Analysis

Thursday, my wonderful sister, Lisa, and I went to see Kathleen (the same nurse I raved about who did the chemo clinic) for a genetic counseling session. Several people in our immediate and extended family have had cancer, including both of our dear parents who have gone to be with the Lord.

Lisa and I had both been thinking about the benefits of me getting tested to see if there is a genetic component to this cancer or not. After talking with her and Ron, I decided to pursue it.

Genetic counseling is required before getting the test done. It was so helpful to understand how the genetic mutation works and is passed along. If I am negative than that will be great news for my siblings, children and relatives; however, if I am positive than everyone will be encouraged to get tested too. The benefit of knowing is access to better and more sensitive screening tests as well as strong incentive to make lifestyle changes like diet, etc., that can help to prevent cancer from occurring. As the saying goes, forewarned is forearmed.

I will get the blood test for the BRAC Analysis on Wednesday but it can take a month or more to get the results back. I'll keep you posted!

Days by the Sea

I have not posted in a couple of days because Ron and I were able to get away alone to the beach for a few days...ahhhhhhhhh. Though I have not been feeling well for 9 months now, we felt like it may be awhile before I feel much better, so we decided to go. We went to the family beach house in Bodega Bay. Bob and Linda Mahley, who have been my Mom and Dad for many years, have the most wonderful home right on the coast, it has been a place of blessing, provision and restoration for all of us during different seasons of life. It was just the place Ron and I needed for a few days. (Thanks Mom and Pop!)

Ron could walk on the beach while I rested and slept, we were able to drive up the coast which was so refreshing for my senses after looking at walls and ceilings for the past several months. There is just nothing like the ocean for being refreshed and reminded of how big our God is, how beautiful His creation is and how big the world is beyond my own circumstances. Perspective is so important when facing difficult trials, it helps to remind me that God is BIG and cancer is small.

Thank you to those who have been praying for Ron and me as a couple as we walk through this together. The days at the beach house gave us the time we needed to talk, to laugh, to cry and to pray. It was just what we needed.

thoughts on identity--female to the bone

Prefacing all of this with the hope that I will be healed before my surgery date on July 29 and avoid going through surgery and chemo, I have been thinking a lot about the changes that will be taking place in my body.

I knew, even before I received the official diagnosis, that if the spots in my breast were cancer I would pursue a double mastectomy and chemotherapy. I know that was the Lord preparing my heart ahead of time because all of my doctors agree that is the best course of treatment in light of my diagnosis. In addition, we have learned that after I have chemo and and all the treatment is completed, I will also need to have my ovaries removed. That surgery, in combination with another medication, whose name escapes me at the moment, has the best chance of keeping the cancer from recurring.

As Ron and I were sitting in the chemo teaching clinic, we asked Kathleen why some women who are at risk of the cancer returning choose not to have a double mastectomy and have their ovaries removed. She said that for some women, their identity is closely tied to those parts of their bodies that make them distinctly female. Of course, that got me to thinking about what it really means to be female. Here are some thoughts, I may have more as time goes along.

My first and immediate thought was, "Every cell in my body is female, not just my breasts, ovaries and uterus." I have those body parts because I am female, they don't make me female. I love being a woman, I am grateful that God made me female because as one made in the image of God, I believe that women carry a unique expression of the image of God. He has made us little "c" creators, we have the unique capacity to bring forth life. Speaking in generalities, women often reflect the character of God as comforter, as one who comes alongside to help, many women have a gift of wisdom and the ability to care for others, to nurture and give of themselves selflessly for the good of others. These are just a few of the beautiful reflections given to those made in the image of God.

My very DNA is female. I often joke that it is the "Y" gene in men that often leaves women wondering "Y" (why) do they do that?" because we don't have that gene. =) Regardless of whether or not I have my breasts removed, my ovaries removed or even my uterus removed, I am still uniquely female because that is the image of God that has been instilled in me at a cellular level from the womb where God formed me. Therefore, every part of me is female, my fingers, my toes, even my knees are female. My female DNA is in every part of me...I am female to the bone!

photo delay

Due to technical difficulties...we are having a photo drought. I am hoping to have the wig photos up by mid-week.

I am happy to report that I have no doctor appointments for the next few days, after which they start coming non-stop for awhile. I am looking forward to just resting and getting some strength back. The last few weeks have been deeply exhausting both emotionally and physically. I would greatly appreciate your prayer for rest, refreshing and restoration (see, Ron is not the only one who can use the same letter for each point! lol)

Totally Wiggin'

Whew, that was a breeze! You guys are amazing intercessors, I must say. I woke up this morning and spent time with the Lord before even getting out of bed (a great help in starting my days out right). My Mom, Linda Mahley, came to pick me up and we went down to Alamo/Danville area to the "House of Fashion Wigs." We had an appointment so we had the place to ourselves, which was really nice and peaceful.

The lady who works there, Mary Jane, has been doing this for a long time and really knows her stuff. She sized me up in about 60 seconds and though I tried on several wigs, we ended up buying the first one she brought to me! The hair is almost exactly the way my hair looked before I got it cut, it even has highlights just the way I like them done...and they won't even grow out! Amazing.

God is so gracious, Linda and I had a wonderful time together there laughing and learning more than either of us ever knew about wigs, we even got some cute cloths. It was SO great to go with her, I felt so much more relaxed and enjoyed myself rather than feeling stressed or anxious. I can't imagine doing this without her. So I am now the owner of a cranial prosthesis, better known as a wig! She also got me a really cute hat that will keep my noggin warm in the Fall and Winter as well as this little mini-wig that has hair just around the fringe so when you put a hat/scarf on it looks like you have hair but the top of your head is bare and more comfortable. I can only imagine if the hat flew off how funny that would look...I'll need to beware of blustery days!

I'll try and post a photo tomorrow! It is crazy how real this wig looks...who knew!?

Wiggin' Out

Wednesday is, "see if we can find a wig day." Originally, I was thinking I wasn't going to go the wig route, but one of my brothers, Rich, helped me see that there may be a day in the future when I feel better and may want to dress up and go out and that hair might make that easier socially and emotionally. That seemed like wisdom to me.

So tomorrow, my Mom, Linda Mahley who has been a Mom to me for many years, is going to take me out to see if we can find a wig. I am so grateful we are going together. I am hoping to find as natural and normal a wig as possible, no I'm not going for a totally new look or the red, white and blue look that one friend mentioned as a possibility! ;-)

Just talking about finding a "wig" seems very strange to me. I had a pretty hard time today as I called several shops that sell wigs because I had to keep answering the question, "Are you a cancer patient?" I think this whole wig-thing has sort of brought the reality of what I am facing home more than almost anything else so far.

Of course, we are continuing to pray for healing and I hope that we can return the wig unused; however, if I have to walk through this then I would rather be prepared before hand so I am not dealing with so much all at once. I'll take my reality in small bites, thank you.

I think that tomorrow will be a day when I especially need your prayers, it has taken me most of the day to get to a place to even write this post. I am hoping and praying that the anticipation of buying a wig will be worse than actually getting one, sort of like getting my hair cut. Oh and by the way, I am loving my short hair! Thank you for all who have encouraged me about it, you're great!

I'll try and take pictures of wig options and let you know if we find one tomorrow. Good night, my friends. Leslyn

I love my church!

My church family, Lighthouse Regional Church, spent a wonderful hour in prayer and worship for me/over me on Sunday after the service. After a two hour service, I think everyone there stayed to pray for me and my family. I came in at the very end of the service because my endurance is still pretty low from being sick for the past eight and a half months. (Thank you Linda for the ride!!)

Everyone gathered around our family and prayed and worshiped, declared and decreed, read Scripture, cried and loved us. It was truly an amazing experience. I went home feeling so filled up, so spiritually fed, loved and so very grateful for the precious ones I am privileged to walk with in this journey with Jesus. A special thanks to our Elders and Intercessors who put this together for us...you're amazing!

Though I have not yet experienced any physical change in my condition, I feel so tangibly filled with peace and the love of our Heavenly Father. I am still basking in it even today.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Thanks to those who were praying for me today as I got my hair cut short. The anticipation of getting my hair cut was harder than actually getting it cut; once the first couple of snips were made, I relaxed and was fine. I think it was the thought of why I was getting my hair cut that was difficult, sort of made the whole thing a bit more real.

My long time friend, Brenda, a superb hair stylist, cut my hair for me which made the whole experience so much easier. We have been friends since I was a teenager and she has been cutting my hair more than half my life. Monday is usually a quiet day in her salon so it was just the three of us, Ron came with me. The Lord uses Brenda as an expression of His comfort and peace, I was so grateful for her today.

The weather was perfect for getting a short haircut, it is so hot that I was REALLY grateful for how cool it felt and I actually really like it. Ron likes it too as do the girls, so that made me feel better too.

Thank you so much for walking with me though this journey in prayer. I am so grateful for you.

P.S. Thanks to Karyn and Hannah for the pictures!

HER/2 Receptor positive

I also found out yesterday, during the chemo clinic, that the doctor had gotten back the test to check the tumor to see if it is HER/2 receptor positive (I think I am saying that correctly). It is. The good news is that just in the last couple of years, Genentech has come up with an amazing medication that blocks the HER/2 receptors, so instead of being really bad news, the medication has a very high success rate and makes this diagnosis not that big of a deal anymore. Kathleen explained it by saying that a tumor that is not HER/2 receptive is like a refrigerator magnet that attracts whatever it is that makes the cancer cells multiply (she knew the name of what it attracts, I can't remember), a HER/2 receptor positive tumor is like a magnet that can pick up a car. The medicine, Herceptin, goes directly to those receptors and blocks them...hallelujah!

Practically, and this part is not so good, this means that they will need to add herceptin to the chemo therapy. Right about the middle of my 24 week chemo regimen, they will start giving me herceptin. They infuse it every week for a year, it takes about an hour each time. That was a little overwhelming to hear also. I was hoping to finish up treatment in Spring 09, this will extend it through all or most of next year.

Again, thank you for praying for healing, this is one journey I would really rather not take. I must say though, my compassion level that was already pretty high just continues to rise for those who endure sickness and suffering. It makes me ask God all the more earnestly that He would release His healing miracles in the Earth through His Church and through me. I know more than ever that divine healing is the way to go!

Chemo teaching clinic

First, I must tell you how very much we appreciate each of you praying for us. I can often feel your prayers for me. It is as if I am being lifted up and sustained by them. What an amazing gift you are. Just last night I reminded one of my daughters that many, many people were praying for her too. Our God is a loving and gracious God and one of the ways He is manifesting His grace to us is through your prayers and the many encourageing words you have left on this blog. Thank you.

I guess I would describe the chemo clinic as having several blessings and encouragements interspersed throughout a difficult hour and a half. The greatest blessing was finding out that the nurse who oversees the chemo and will be caring for me, helping to tweek my treatment to make it as comfortable as possible and is really compassionate and wonderfully committed to the care of her patients, is a Christian. She goes to St. Mathews Church, please be praying for her too, her name is Kathleen. She is truly a gift from the Lord to us and I am sure to many.

She went through all of the drugs I will be taking during chemo and all of their side effects (though, of course, we are still praying that healing will come and I will not have to go through this). Another blessing is how far they have come with finding various drugs to conteract the negative side effects of the chemotherapy. As the various side effects were discussed, the counter measures were also discussed which helped. Overall though, I have to say that it was pretty overwhelming. Ron sat beside me, both of us taking notes, and prayed for me the whole time. I felt like crying several times. Yesterday was a hard day emotionally, I had a good cry in the afternoon, which helped. My Auntie Allene called last night too and reminded me of God's grace and that there will be a day when this will all be just a memory, that helped too.

I am reminded of the story that Corrie ten Boom tells of taking a train ride with her father, her Daddy always gave her the ticket just as she needed to get on the train and not before. I know that today I do not have the grace to go through chemo, but I know that if I have to walk that road, Jesus will be with me and there will be grace for me to take that journey. My heavenly Father knows just what I need and provides it just when I need it.

surreal-ness wearing off and I am pondering

With the surgery date set, the surreal quality of this experience is beginning to wear off considerably. After the surgeon's office called with the surgery date, I hung up the phone and sat at the desk in silence for quite awhile just sort of letting it sink in.

I see this surreal quality, or some would say a measure of denial, as a gift of God to deal with the shock of unexpected news. It keeps the full emotional impact at bay allowing the reality of it to sink in slowly on both a conscious and emotional level. Of course, problems develop when and if we get stuck in the denial mode, but it is a blessing that gives the mind some time to adjust.

Walking in faith adds another level to this process. While on one hand I need to deal with the very real possibility that I have a double mastectomy and chemotherapy ahead of me while at the same time holding ever present the even greater reality of the possibility that God will intervene with miraculous healing. I have seen Him heal so frequently and so dramatically that I have no doubt of God's ability to heal this cancer in a moment.

I guess it comes down to the idea of being in this world but not of this world. I am in this world and have been diagnosed with cancer, which requires many medical tests, doctor appointments, surgery, chemo, etc. but I am also not of this world because my heart, my hope and my true home are with Jesus in heaven. I continue to pray for the inbreaking of the Kingdom, that heaven will invade earth and I will be healed, specifically before surgery!, and I am ever walking in that hope. Using Paul's vocabulary, I am walking in the hope of the inbreaking of the age to come while living in this present evil age, looking to the cross where Jesus bore my sin AND where by His stripes I am healed.

These past two weeks, I have thought often of and have been encouraged by the story of the three young men who were thrown into the fiery furnace. Their words have been my heart too, "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up" Dan 3:17, 18. In my case, I know that the God I serve is more than able (the Hebrew sense of that phrase) to save me and heal me from this cancer before surgery, but even if he does not, I will continue to love Him, to trust Him, to follow Him and I know without any shadow of a doubt that He will walk every moment with me through this valley to the other side fully surrounded in His grace.

Thanks for listening. I'd better sign off, I need to leave for the echocardiogram in 20 minutes and I am still in my PJs!

I'm going to be shorn

After reading info at the breast cancer website and the American cancer association site, I have decided to get my hair cut really short next week. They recommend getting your hair cut short before surgery and before chemo while you are still feeling relatively well so that you can start getting used to seeing yourself with short hair while you still feel pretty good. That way it makes loosing your hair easier and when it begins to grow back in, you feel more like yourself sooner rather than having to wait months for your hair to get long again.

That seemed to make sense to me. Besides, since everyone tells me I look like Jamie Lee Curtis, I already pretty much know what I will look like with short hair!! =)

<-- Jamie Lee Curtis

Surgery date!

Just heard from the doctor's office and we have a surgery date.

The date of my surgery is Tuesday, July 29.

I thought that seemed pretty far off, but according to Alley, at Dr. Kerlin's office, it is amazing that we got in so quickly. So thank you to those who were praying for favor with the timing of the surgery. We are trusting the Lord that this is just when I am supposed to be there. Ron and I prayed that since God knows all things that He would choose the date when both doctors would be on their best game.

This date gives us four more weeks to pray for miraculous healing!

We have a winner!

Thank you so much for praying as Ron and I decided about which plastic surgeon to choose. We have decided to use Dr. Ghorbani. There were numerous confirmations, the Lord was gracious to make the decision clear for us over the last few days.

I feel extremely happy and comfortable about the team that we have now. The surgeon who will do the double mastectomy and remove at least one lymph node is Dr. Deborah Kerlin, she is awesome and one of the best surgeons in N Cal. She is very kind and warm, an unusual blend for a surgeon. It seems that surgeons usually deal best with patients when they are asleep! =) Dr. Ghorbani is the plastic surgeon who will take care of the reconstruction. Then there is Dr. Michael Sherman, he is our oncologist and is an excellent doctor, also very compassionate and up to the minute on all of the most recent research, medications, etc. For those of you who like to pray specifically, I wanted to make sure you had the names of my doctors.

Again, thank you again for standing with us in prayer, God answered your prayers for wisdom and direction! Bless you!!