Alan's Journey

We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey. ~Kenji Miyazawa

What a day! Alan was moved from the ICU to room 491, (take the A elevator to the 4th floor.) Once he was situated, the concern was about pain management... there has been so much pain today. In order to navigate through the pain, he has developed a form of quiet meditaion each time a shot is administered. We will know more of the "where-do-we-go-from-here" plan later this week.

He sends his love... and we'll send him ours. ~ Juli

When evening falls so hard, I will comfort you.
I'll take your part.
When darkness comes, and pain is all around,
Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down. ~Paul Simon

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2008 (Day of Surgery)

A day for prayer, hope, support, and healing. ~ Juli


A note from Genie:

In I Thessalonians 5:17 the apostle Paul tells us, "Pray without ceasing".

Let us pray without ceasing for Alan's healing. Quantity or quality of words is not important - simply utter Alan's name throughout your days - God will know and that is enough.

Peace and prayers,
Genie


SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2008

We will be praying for you at Beulah today. Juli and I will soak up all the love and care of the fellowship of Beulah that we can and then bring it to you when we come.

From the Gospel of John - Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Do not be afraid.


Dear Everyone,

As it turned out, Alan was unable to make the trip to Beulah this morning... so we took the service to him. What a glorious day - (and night) - filled with friends, fellowship, beautiful music, and amazing grace!

Ronnie and Kelli had prepared a (liquid) feast for Alan and when Genie and I arrived they were sitting at the table enjoying mashed potatoes, steamed squash, and cubed steak. (Thankfully, they had omitted the cubed steak from Alan's blended and pureed concoction but it sure smelled good!)

After lunch, Alan and Genie retired to the porch. Within minutes there was music filling the air. Ronnie's Uncle Steve, his wife Carolyn, and Johnny Dunn stopped in; followed by Alan's parent's, Dan and Maxine, and his sister Dana. Reginia, Alan's neighbor, visited in between her "Sunday-mom-jobs." Kristina and Kevin stopped in; Ronnie -ever faithful- continued working on the "upper room" and busying himself with "the taking-care-of-everything-that has-to-get-done" chores. At one point I told him he needed to take a break and sit down... to which he replied, "If I sit down, I may NEVER be able to get back up!"

When things calmed down a bit, Genie sang "His Eye is on the Sparrow" for Alan. Following that beautiful song, Genie lead us as we prayed over Alan. I think everyone felt the awesome presence of God on that little smoky porch on Boulevard.

My Sunday porch time was coming to an end but not before Kevin played his guitar and Kristina sang "Starry, Starry Night," one of Alan's favorites. They also shared some of his original music with us.

As Genie and I were leaving, Kim arrived, as did Rob and Phil. I heard that the afternoon turned into evening as more and more friends dropped by.

I would guess that Alan would call it a "perfect day!" I certainly would!

~ Juli

Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons. ~Ruth Ann Schabacker

What a day! What gifts! We literally "untied some ribbons!"

Our day began (a few minutes late -- imagine that!) on the back porch sipping on diet cokes and trying to redo the outgoing message on his phone... HYSTERICAL!!! We giggled our way through several attempts and settled on one that begins and ends with laughter. You must call his cell phone and listen to the message... just for the comic relief!

Alan is already packed and ready for the hospital but there were a few things he wanted to get done before heading out on Monday.

Many of you are aware of Alan's prayer beads. He wraps them around his wrist and arm and plays with the "baubles, scarebs, charms, etc" that he has "blindly" - not perfectly - attached to the beads. He wanted to redo the additions (literally "untying the ribbons") and find/attach things that would represent people and events special to him so, obviously, we had to go shopping. UGH! There are few people that dislike "shopping" as much as I do but today was different! I got to take my "dearest dear" shopping for FUN things.

As always, we started out with food -- sharing some very good "Hot & Sour" soup at a new Chinese restaurant. Then we went to Best Buy to get the necessary equipment to set up the wireless network for the voice activated computer that was so generously given to him. Finally we ended up at Michaels to purchase art supplies, and some "baubles, scarebs and charms" for his prayer beads. So, after he led me around the store for an hour, we made our purchases and headed home.

It was a great day and Alan's positive spirit was contagious!

I will be picking Alan up on Sunday at 9:30 to take him to Genie's church service (Beulah Baptist in Linton.) She's preaching on "God Moments" so if anyone wants to join us, you are welcome to... just be at his house by 9:30. Genie will pray over Alan during the service... a very spiritual and emotional event. God's blessings are GREAT!

If you can't make the service, and want to see him prior to his surgery, I will have him back in Macon by 1:30 on Sunday.

An update on the hospital: He will need to be at the hospital by 5:30 a.m. on Monday. I'll be there so, if I don't already know you, PLEASE introduce yourself.

Stay in touch and I'll try to keep this blog updated.

Love and hugs... ~ Juli

From Alan...

The life of God flows through every single fiber of my being... it is through His grace that I will be healed... either in this life or the the next... God's grace is sufficient!

Hi Everyone!

Alan gave me this - "his meditation" - and asked that I share it with all of you. It is certainly a time for faith, prayer, and miracles!

Okay, this is what I know:

Last week was busy and also slooooooooooow! Anyone that has ever had to endure a complicated health "event" knows just what I mean.

Alan saw his surgeon and the consensus was to move forward with the surgical option. It is a radical operation but is supported by everyone concerned.

On Monday, September 29th, Alan will check into the surgical unit of the Medical Center (Macon) at 7:30 a.m. The surgery to remove the esophagus and the stomach will begin between 7:45 and 8:00. My understanding is that after the esophagus is removed, the stomach will be taken out and the cancerous part of it will be removed. Part of the uninfiltrated stomach will be used to construct a small section to be molded into a new "mini" esophagus. The rest of the stomach will then be re-attached to it and will make it's home in the chest.

Sounds easy... not really! This will actually be THREE SURGERIES! There will be an ongoing exploratory surgery, a stomach surgery, and an esophageal sugery.

However, it must be done! With the aggressiveness of this cancer, there is a 95% chance that it will return so we need to move forward.

Here's where the prayers and miracles come in...

Join me as I offer prayers and peace to all... ~Juli

Genie's prayer...

A Prayer for Today:

O Thou in whose great arms all the children of earth are embraced,
Here in thy presence we remember our kinship with all human kind.
We rejoice for those who are in full health and strength.
Our hearts reach out toward those whose ways are ways of suffering, of body, mind, or soul.
May it be that thou shalt find us reaching out to them, not only with our hearts but with our hands also.
To help them in the bearing of their burdens and to help in the lifting of their burdens.

Amen

Peace to you all...

From Alan...

"To get through the hardest journey, we need take only one step at a time... but we must keep on stepping."

Hi Everyone!
I'm pretty new at this "blog thing" but Ronnie suggested I do one so everyone would be able to follow Alan's progress through this journey and send him well-wishes along the way.

~ Juli

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"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz

In mid August Alan made an appointment with a gastroenterologist, Dr. Vincent A. Gibbert, because he was having some stomach issues. An endoscopy was performed on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 at which time a very suspicious tumor was found in the lower part of his esophagus. A biopsy was done and a follow-up appointment was scheduled for the next day.

The news was not good. Alan was diagnosed with Esophageal Adenocarcinoma.

"I am a bear-of-very-little-brain, and long words bother me."

Winnie the Pooh

Although commonly associated with lung cancer, adenocarcinoma is a type of cancer that develops in cells lining glandular types of internal organs, such as the lungs, breasts, colon, prostate, stomach, pancreas, esophagus, and cervix.

A P.E.T. scan was scheduled for the following Friday but, because of the Monday holiday, the gastroenterologist did not receive the report until Tuesday, September 2nd.

Because this cancer is known to be extremely aggressive - the typical "plan of action" is to quickly begin chemotherapy, radiation, and - once the tumor 's size is reduced - surgery is performed to remove the affected part of the esophagus, and re-attach the stomach to the remaining part. Everything sounded "scary but hopeful" so Alan was anxiously preparing to move forward with the plan.

However, after Dr. Gibbert's further review of the studies, it was determined that in just 3 days the tumor had already increased in size! His opinion was that there was not enough time to wait for the chemotherapy to shrink the tumor so his office contacted Dr. Randall B. Brown, a well-respected Macon Cardiothoracic Surgeon. Alan met with him on Tuesday and was prepared to enter the hospital immediately.

This would not be the case. Dr. Brown explained to Alan that the adenocarcinoma had moved vertically up his esophagus, was in the mucin, had "infiltrated" -- (his word) -- the mucous membranes in the top part of the stomach, and there appeared to be some possibility of lymph node "involvement" -- (again, his word). With that said, the original "scary but hopeful" plan has been postponed.

Because of Alan's inability to eat, he has become extremely malnourished. The "new" plan of action will require him to build up a "nutritional level" that will give him some much needed strength to prepare for the possibility of surgery at a later date.

If the surgery proves to be his best option, Alan will travel to Charleston , S.C. and the surgery will be performed by THE top surgeon in this field, Dr. Carolyn E. Reed. To learn more about the surgery, you can go to:

http://theoncologist.alphamedpress.org/cgi/reprint/4/2/95.pdf

In the meantime, Dr. Brown has ordered additional tests to be performed in order to determine the scope of the disease and options for treatment. No doubt this next week will be a busy one for Alan!

Dr. Brown believes that medicine and miracles go hand-in-hand. Please pray for both.

A blessing from Genie...

I too am lifting you up in prayer - praying for an extra measure of courage and strength. I pray that we, your friends and family will be the people you need us to be during this journey.

"May the Lord bless you and keep you; and make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; may the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace." Numbers 6: 24-26