F.R.O.G.

Today was the day, they say Kevin most likely will not remember anything from today - and that is good.  I came up last night and stayed in Kevin's room with him so that I would be here for pre-op. Pastor Ide, who married us, baptized both children and was my pastor throughout college came and joined us. Even though he is retired, he made the exception to spend an early Friday morning with us in Topeka. He brought along a F.R.O.G. for Kevin, this is a very special F.R.O.G. because it wears it's very own mask. Some of you may remember, when we went in to deliver Avery, Pastor Ide brought me my own frog, which stands for Fully Relay On God. Pretty cool huh? 

They took him back and we said our good-byes and I love you's this morning. Patty was the RN who went back into the OR's to see what was going on and came and reported to all of the families who were waiting. We had an hour by hour update, each time was about the same "still working on removing the tumor" "the mood in the OR is relaxed and calm"

Just after 12:30 I met with Dr. Crabtree, she said that the tumor was actually bigger than what they had anticipated and saw, she just kept saying "it was HUGE". I would have to agree, I would find myself staring at the scans and the screen in our room this week leading up to today. Like everyone else, I was taken aback by the size and the lack of signs that we had. All in all it was 8cm by 7cm by 6cm. 

She said they ended up draining it, it was gooey and bloody - he had a couple of units of blood, just as a precautionary measure (another reason why it is so important to donate blood!). We have some preliminary pathology reports back, but nothing final or sharable at this time. Once we have those back, we will have some official tumor diagnosis's/names. Due to what she saw, there is a good chance that he will need to do radiation as a follow up measure. One of the blessings 

Dr. Crabtree is an amazing doctor, as so many of you have shared your personal experiences with her. 

Michelle Overstreet is an amazing women, she came early this morning - sat with me and brought her Mary Poppins bag, ate lunch with me and nourished me with pistachios and starbursts throughout the day.

I am now sitting in Kevin's ICU room, they wake him up about every 30 minutes to ask him questions. He isn't quite sure what today is, which is normal. He does think that our President is Barack Obama (and who can blame him) and they tell me is also completely normal. He knows Kennedy and Avery's name and my ICU nurse assures me that he is doing fabulous. He says that his head doesn't hurt, and is able to answer questions a little more clearly each time he is asked. 

It is truly a miracle that he had not had a seizure. I have replayed all of the 100's of scenarios of "what could have been" in my head. Not one of those scenarios ends up with the eye doctor finding the tumor. I feel like it is God's way of telling us that Kevin still has some pretty big things left to conquer in life. 

They have already started to talk about discharge on Sunday.... I told everyone that there is no need to rush things at this point - I want him to be healthy and on the very best road to recovery.  

Today's surgery was one of the biggest hurdles that we needed to overcome, next up will be recovery. 

We are beyond blessed of those people who surround us, have lifted us up and have continued to take care of us. We will forever be thankful and grateful for their unconditional love and support.