Happy Saturday

Happy Saturday, people! It has been a few days since our last update so we wanted to check in this weekend.

Thankfully, Kelly has continued to progress slowly. She is moving forward toward recovery, sometimes an inch at a time. Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty good days – I enjoyed chatting with Kelly for a few hours on the porch each day, and even watched her make her own breakfast (a huge win!).

Thursday and Friday were tougher. Even on the “good” days, pain management is critical to keep Kelly comfortable and ensure she’s able to continue moving around (which is important for recovery). But on the tougher days, the pain can be unbearable, and it really throws a wet blanket on things. It is hard for me to watch, and harder for Kelly to endure; and yet we press on. One day at a time.

There have been a few major medical updates this week –

• On Monday, we had a follow-up with our surgeon at Emory (Dr. Staley). It was good to see him, and this was also Kelly’s first outing. Kelly had a little bit of internal bleeding that they reassured us wasn’t a concern (praise God!) and it was an amazing surprise that they also took out Kelly’s 37 staples from surgery and removed the medical drain that they sent her home with – this was so liberating! (It meant Kelly got some pain relief and we also got to stop thinking about doing extra medical tasks at home).

• Also on Monday, we got pathology results from the material removed during surgery (i.e. tumors). Without getting into every detail, it was a mixture of Grade 1 and Grade 2 disease. Generally, cancer is on a scale of 1 – 3, with 3 being the most aggressive and 1 the least. 3 is also more responsive to chemo, while 1 is less responsive (or not at all). So – this pathology was in some ways helpful in that it might explain why the cancer came back at all (after a total removal in 2022). The better thing to focus on is that during surgery this time around, all visible cancer was yet again removed. We didn’t get deep into pathology Monday since we were with the surgeon, but that leads to our next update…

• As a follow up to Monday’s appointment, we also met with a medical oncologist (aka, chemo doctor) from MD Anderson (virtually) on Thursday. His perspective was really helpful, and he did review the pathology from surgery. Here were his (Dr. Shen’s) thoughts:

  • While some patients undergo traditional chemotherapy before/after major surgeries (“clean-up chemo”), he still doesn’t believe that the benefits would outweigh the costs of doing so in Kelly’s case (frankly, the benefits of traditional chemotherapy on low/mid-grade metastatic appendix cancer are unknown, while we know the side effects would be generally negative from a quality-of-life standpoint).

  • Shen is reviewing the surgical readout from Dr. Staley’s work during surgery, but assuming the outcome was “Clinical Complete Response” (our understanding is that it was), this would mean that no cancer (in theory) was remaining at the completion of surgery (a good thing!), which would also support the notion of not undergoing traditional chemotherapy right now.

  • Finally, if cancer were to reoccur in the future – Shen would recommend considering chemotherapy at that time, based on the pathology of the reoccurrence (his opinion is to “cross that bridge if/when we get to it rather than doing preventative chemo right now that may or may not work, and that may or may not even be necessary).

• All in all, it was not an easy conversation with Dr. Shen (it’s hard not to worry about all the different possible future scenarios when we’re discussing them 1 by 1), but we left it feeling grateful for the outcome, grateful for the brilliant doctors who are keeping an eye on Kelly, and hopeful for the future.

So – where are we now?

This is a tough question to answer! There are lots of emotions spinning as we look ahead to this weekend, next week, and the rest of this year.

• Right now, Kelly’s oldest sister is in town helping us out for a few days, and we are enjoying good family time this weekend. So, we are feeling thankful!

• We’ve also got the privilege of singular focus right now: Kelly’s recovery. That clarity is really nice, even though the recovery journey takes endurance. (I am so proud of Kelly – she is enduring long-suffering with a warrior’s heart and mind).

• I will start back at work full time next week – I am so thrilled (and thankful) for the routine of getting in the car with a cup or two of coffee and the luxury of focusing on solving Chick-fil-A problems instead of medical problems.

• It’s scary to think about what the future might hold. Terrifying sometimes... And it’s also beautiful to think of the stories we’ll get to tell of God’s faithfulness. And to go to Him regularly asking for help and praising Him.

• We also oscillate between feeling motivated and exhausted. So many people are rallying around us and praying for us – we are so grateful! We feel these prayers daily and they energize us. And it is also hard work to endure this season. To be honest, I don’t even feel like typing this update. But we believe that this is the path the Lord has before us, and we know He’s given us the chance to use it to talk about Him. So, we’ll do that. In humble reliance on Divine grace.

In the deep moments of fear, we try to shift our gaze to Scripture stories like the one from Acts 3, where a man lame from birth is healed by the disciples in the name of Jesus. What’s amazing to me is that after being healed, he immediately entered the temple and began openly praising God. Onlookers saw him and were filled with wonder and amazement at what happened. Or we think of John 9, where a man blind from birth is healed by Jesus so that “the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:3). I can only imagine the thrill and relief that these people (and perhaps, their families!) felt upon being healed and no doubt, we want the same healing in this cancer journey! However, the deeper theme in both situations is God’s incredible (and gracious!) power and kindness. He is the focus – not just the earthly, physical healing. We are learning to walk this balance (asking Him for earthly relief while recognizing that our stories truly aren’t about us – they are HIS), and we are often asking for God’s help as we learn to walk this balance.

In any case – thanks for reading. I’m hoping we can upgrade to posts authored by Kelly soon (I love getting to read her words as much as you do), but in the meantime you get me. And since I have full artistic liberty I’ll close this one out with a big Go Dawgs (!!), a huge thank you for your love and support, and ask that you keep praying for us related to the updates above. For those at CFA, I hope to see many of you next week!

Jonathan (and Kelly and Maddie)

PS - the green PJs in the picture of Kelly below showed up at our house randomly this week. We have no idea who they are from but if they are from you - then thank you (and let us know who you are!!)! Not only are they great for THE best season (Christmas), Kelly lives in them now and that's been a great bright spot. We are grateful!