God's Mercy and My Pancreatectomy

Great News!!!!!!

2010-10-20T21:37:00.002-05:00

Well guys.............. God is so incredibly wonderful, good, loving, giving, beautiful, worthy of praise, and many other adjectives!!! I have been feeling great since a bout with food poisoning a few months ago. No problems whatsoever! The three of us have been thoroughly enjoying being a family and are about to celebrate, in six days to be exact, the one year anniversary of my pancreatectomy! We have also been celebrating the delightful news of God's grace and mercy concerning the fruitfulness of the womb....my womb!!!!! I am still in shock and am in tears just typing such news! I told Jeremy that my faith was so little that I was convinced we would never be able to have another child. I say that with great shame. I have constantly asked the Lord to forgive me since the doctor confirmed that I am truly with child! Wow! Who am I that God would ordain and bestow such blessings?!? We are so thankful and we give the glory and honor to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation!
We contacted my docs in Minnesota, and they were happy to hear the news but were sure to tell us to be cautious, being that they were not sure if any patient had become expectant so soon after a pancreatectomy with an islet cell transplant. They told me to keep an eye on my blood sugar levels, being that my islet cells could easily become tired and could be ruined if not given proper care. I was warned that I would probably have to deal with gestational diabetes if I was to become expectant. My response was and is, "I can certainly deal with that!" A blessing from God in the form of a child is worth all the suffering in the world.
Elyse is so excited and I really think she understands the concept. She does not understand how long it will take for a baby to arrive because she keeps petting my tummy saying,"I hold him?!?" She keeps saying "him." We'll see! She has also been saying, with a sweet, tender voice, "Hey baby.....what you doin'....I pway wit you....You need somepin?" ha ha. She's so sweet!
Thank you all for the prayers that you have sent before the throne of God on our behalf. Our brothers and sisters in Christ have been so supportive and God has used you all in ways that you will never know. Thank you.
There are so many verses that come to mind in this season of rejoicing. I am reminded of Psalms 126:3 - "Jehovah has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy."
A commentator wrote, "This passage acknowledges the hand of our God. Dues nobis haec otia fecit.. translated, 'God alone has given us this enlargement.' This is a burst of ecstatic joy....'Oh how happy we are!'"
And truly..... we are ecstatic and praise the One who has given us this life. Our prayer is that God would receive His due glory from this child and that we could raise our children in the admonition of His Word. Please pray for the salvation of both of our children.
I will try my best to keep you all posted throughout the pregnancy. God bless you all!

2010-06-06T21:29:00.003-05:00

The bouts of hypoglycemia (low sugars) seem to be fewer for now and Lacey continues to do well. She's been able to go on a trip to Destin, FL with some friends and be a bridesmaid in her best friends wedding in the past few weeks. She is enjoying life to the fullest and thankful for the many blessings God is giving her. We are in the early stages of planning (with God's plan superceding and overarching) when we will be ready for another baby!! We are ready and excited but are praying for Gods timing and providence to be show us when He's ready. One doctor said pregnancy may be the "fix" for low blood sugar but we're not jumping right on that one... The blood tests that were done a few weeks back were all normal and the doctors and nurses at UMC in Minneapolis tell Lacey to continue checking her sugar 4 times daily and eating healthy, well rounded meals on a regular schedule. So in just a few months she's gone from not being able to eat "anything," to HAVING to eat!! What fun! She continues to do well and we are eager to tell all what God is doing for us. We've had several calls from people literally around the country asking about the surgery and how it went for Lacey. She takes this opportunity to recommend Dr. Sutherland to all who ask, and to give praise to God for his marvelous grace and miraculous healing in our life. As for Elyse, she is wonderful and continues to grow faster than we can keep up..She is truly a blessing and we are thankful!! More updates to come. For any and all who may read this and wonder if this Total Pancreatectomy would be an option, please email us at jermnlace@hotmail.com. God bless you all!

here are some updated pics of the family......

An update!!!

2010-05-15T21:38:00.002-05:00

My apologies for the absence of updates over the past several weeks. Lacey continues to do very well and has been off of insulin for several weeks now. She is doing well and is living life to the fullest. She is wide open all the time and seems somewhat unstoppable. She is loving being able to be a "mommy" full time, and she loves having the strength and health to keep up with Elyse, who is now 16 1/2 months old. She continues to monitor her blood sugar, which is basically the only health issue she's dealing with at this time. Her pain is completely gone!!! She eats anything, everything, and as much as she wants and I can't express the joy I feel to watch her eat a nice meal. Her enzymes that she takes with meals are working well to digest her food and she looks healthier now than ever! God has been so good to us! However, she has been having some unusually low blood sugars over the past 10 to 12 days, and many times at night her sugar drops well below normal, even after she's eaten. Remember, she is on NO insulin, this is her body producing insulin at this rate. We, and the doctors are slightly concerned about this problem and she had some blood tests drawn this past Friday to attempt to determine the cause of this problem. The problem can be dangerous, especially if Lacey is alone because her rapidly dropping blood sugar can cause unconsiousness and possibly even death, so she tries to monitor it very closely while the doctors test to see the cause. I truly want to blog more often, because it brings light to my spiritual life and also to the life of many others. God has blessed us immeasurably and we must share. We are planning to share our testimony at Landmark Memorial Church tomorrow night and hope to share with many other bodies of believers in our region. Our God is an awesome God, His work in our lives is humbling and we can only be thankful. His work is perfect and all His ways are just! He is a God of faithfulness and we wish to praise Him more. Please continue to pray. More updates are promised!!

I'm back!!!

2010-01-13T21:44:00.002-06:00

Hello everyone! I first off want to apologize for not posting as often as I should. I really had no idea how many people were following this blog until my first trip to Wal Mart after my surgery! A few days ago, I had three more people stop me in Wal Mart and ask if we were done with the blog. I promised them I would post more regularly so here it goes!

My progress is a direct result of God's sovereign work in our lives and His desire to bless us is utterly amzing! I want to be able to share what God has done for me and my family through my pancreatitis and shout it from the mountain tops! I am feeling so much better than I have in a long time. I still have a little back pain here and there and my sugar bottomed out this past Saturday night ( I'll give you the details later in the blog) but other than that, I feel amazing! Just knowing there is no pancreas inside of me is almost undescribable! Lol! I'm eating like crazy and enjoying every bit of food that God allows me to put into my mouth! I actually look forward to eating instead of dreading it! I have rediscovered the beauty of food and am in awe of God's creativity in the foods of His creation!

Something else I would like to say, and never cease to do so, is that I want to thank every person who has prayed for us and helped us throughout this whole ordeal. God has truly blessed us with wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ and we want you all to know we are forever indebted to you! If we can ever help any of you in any way, please please, please let us know! "I give thanks to my God on every remembrance of you..." Php 1:3

As far as last Saturday night, here's the story..............
After Jeremy and I put Elyse to sleep around 8 pm, Jeremy went to work out, as he usually does 3 times a week, while I began to get myself and the house ready for bed... you know...laundry, dishes, Sunday clothes, etc. I was double checking the locks on the doors (I knew Jeremy locked them before he left but when he is gone, I do not take any chances.) I began to feel a little dizzy so I tested my sugar. It was 63. It was then I made the mistake. When I should have eaten something to bring my sugar level up, I instead tried to finish everything I had started...thinking I could get in bed and enjoy a piece of cake once I finished everything. Well, as you can imagine, I ended up on my knees, crawling to my phone, trying to dial Jeremy. He was unable to reach his phone so I tried to dial mother. Now you must understand, when your sugar gets low, you become very weak and very lethargic. I don't remember reaching mother but she later told me that she received my call and I was mumbling something so she immediately got in the car and drove here. Somehow and the reason being, I believe, a true miracle of God, the front door was unlocked, leaving mother a quick entry into the house. She found me on the floor with a half eaten piece of laffy taffy in my mouth. To be honest, I cannot recall what all she told me she did but I soon awoke on my bed with mother and daddy hovered over me, trying to get me to drink orange juice. Jeremy soon arrived and everyone was startled by what had just taken place, including myself. We have been told by doctors that when one's sugar bottoms out, there can sometimes be brain damage if he/she has been out for any length of time and too if one is left for several hours in such condition, it could possibly lead to death. So, needless to say, we were all very shaken. I learned my lesson. I will immediately eat something when I began to feel my sugar getting low. So praise be to our God for blessing the situation!

"For he says to Moses,'"I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion,' So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy." Rom. 9: 15-16

Thank you all again for your love and support. Please continue to pray for us. We have a follow up visit with Dr. Sutherland in Minnesotta on February 17 so please pray all goes well. We will be gone for three days.

Again, I will try to post more regularly to let you all know what God is doing in our lives! May He continue to bless you all!

Love,
Jeremy, Lacey, and Elyse

Obstruction Resolved!!! Giving Thanks!

2009-11-26T20:59:00.004-06:00

We were able to come home early this afternoon after quite a long night at the ER. Lacey's pain seemed to have subsided some as the day broke today and her abdominal xray was normal early this morning. The doctor ordered her a normal lunch tray and she ate hospital turkey and was able to tolerate it well, so we came home!! Praise God! That was yet another scary moment for Lacey and our family. We (and the doctors, who were slightly confused in South MS after such an operation) were considering surgery in the next day or two if the obstruction didn't get better. But once again, God delivered her and relieved her at the brink of her mental and physical destruction. He remains good and his grace abounds in our lives. She is home now and continues having some mild back pain, but much improved from yesterday's severe pain and projectile vomitting. She will hopefully continue to heal at home and we are praying for continued progress. Although yesterday was quite frightening and discouraging to all of us, it was not as bad as the repeated pancreas attacks that we've dealt with for the past several years.

Urgent Prayer Need for Lacey

2009-11-26T01:26:00.001-06:00

Please pray for Lacey, we are at the ER and she has just been diagnosed with a partial small bowel obstruction. She will be admitted to the hospital for observation and they are planning to put a tube back in her nose to empty her stomach if the nausea is unstopable. They will watch her for a few days to see if the blockage resolves, then if the obstruction remains, they will be forced to do surgery to repair. Lacey is quite discouraged as you may imagine, but even in the wee hours of our thanksgiving morning, we are thankful that this is a partial obstruction. The surgeon here and in minnesota seem to be very optimistic that this will resolve in a day or two. Please lift Lacey before God's throne of grace and pray that God will glorify himself through this challenging time for us. More news on the blog tomorrow. God is good and we continue to thank Him for his grace and goodness.

The Lord's Day

2009-11-22T20:59:00.003-06:00

We are able to attend services today with our beloved church family for the first time in weeks. Lacey wasn't feeling very good this morning and had some troubles getting up and ready but God gave her strength and we made it to the service. We enjoyed it and enjoyed seeing our church family. Lacey was quite tired and in pain after only a few hours and we came back home around lunch time. It is so good to be with the people of God, and words can't express how it feels to be away from the family of God for so many weeks. We were and are always uplifted by our brothers and sisters in Christ.

As for Lacey, this afternoon was difficult for her and she had significantly more pain, possibly from the increased activity level of the day. She continues to have severe pains in her back and this afternoon she even had an episode of very sharp pain in her upper abdomen, which we never figured out exactly what that was. After such a surgery, there are so many areas of new connections and areas where sutures were placed, the pain inside of her varies and can be very bad at times. She has been slightly discouraged at times, and wishes to feel better quicker, but she knows (and has been warned by docs) that this will take time. The surgeon told her she'd feel better at 6 months than now, and better in 1 year than at 6 months..and he said she'd even feel better in 2 years than 1 year. She continues to press on and she challenges herself daily to get better. She pushes herself to do what we think is impossible and she goes on, even in severe pain at times. She is to be admired...but i will say and she would also, it's not her to be admired, it's our God working His will and ways in her to bring glory unto Himself. She and I continue to strive to give God the glory in this situation. As for me, I admit that filling the gaps around the house while lacey is down is very tough. The daily housework, bottle washing, clothes washing, and meal prep that she normally does is on me now and it is hard, but i will add that i am thankful God has placed me in such a position as a provider to my wife and child. Things are getting better each day for us and we continue to thank God.

If i may add one request: we were in a hospital room in MN for several days next to a lady named Nancy Wild. Her husband and her visited us just before she was discharged home. We keep in touch with her husband named Jim, and I can't call exactly what set of theological beliefs they have, and i surely can't call his or her salvation, but i will say that they need our prayers. I have been burdened by this thought for the past few days since i got an email from Jim saying his dear wife was back in the hospital with seizures (her previous problem was blot clots and heart problems) and his last email informed me that she was living what the doctors called "her last days." She is very sick and he is very upset. I think of this and realize that my wife laid less than 15 feet from her bed for days, my wife dealt with fevers, infections, pains, convulsions, confusion, and a major surgery. I know that i could be typing here on this blog the same news as he sent me, news that my wife was dying. Instead for some reason, God has spared Lacey and provided a means for her healing. For reasons, that only God knows, this dear lady, Nancy Wild is in her last days of life, with multiple health problems that continue to build...oh how precious is the life God gives? May we use it to His glory, may our end be satisfied in serving God and enjoying Him forever. Please pray for this couple, the Wilds, I'm not sure if they know God or not, but through email, he's assured me that our beliefs are quite different, and hasn't accepted my offer for scriptural counseling for this time of sufferring for he and his wife. Please pray that somehow God could reveal Himself to these people, even in the midst of such sufferring, for we know that He is working all things, through life or death, for the good of His people and for His glory.

For those who may want to just email this fellow, i will attach his email. If you do, just send him a short encouraging email, telling him he and his wife are being prayed for. Encourage him with scripture or with a short testimony of how God heals and provides, and even how God's work can be accomplished through death. The email is spike12@usfamily.net.

Thank you again for your continued support and prayers. Lacey and I will forever thank our God for each of you.

Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica:

I Thes 1:2-3 Every time we think of you, we thank God for you. Day and night you’re in our prayers 3 as we call to mind your work of faith, your labor of love, and your patience of hope in following our Master, Jesus Christ, before God our Father.

Our dear family and friends, we thank God for you day and night and could not be where we are today without God's blessing upon us through each of you.

2009-11-19T20:56:00.002-06:00

Over the past two days, Lacey has done well but continues to have fairly severe pain at times. She is taking less and less insulin every day and continues to have good sugar levels. For now, she is only taking 14 units of Lantus insulin in the morning and has not needed any insulin throughout the day for over a week now. She spends most of the day in bed and remains weak and very sore. She is able to eat anything she chooses but only small portions due to her small stomach (that will expand with time i'm sure). She said yesterday that she was expecting to feel better quicker but doctors warned us that this would be a lengthy recovery and even now she is much better than her "pancreas" days, so we are thankful. I have been back to work yesterday and today, and things are busy again, but we remain thankful to our God for His blessings, and we are so happy to be home. Lacey has her mother and aunt, and maybe other friends and family that come during the day while i work to sit with her and elyse. Her sugar is quite unstable at times and elyse is full time entertainment, so we appreciate the help from our beloved family during this difficult time. We are all so ready for a normal family life and home life, but we are thankful because each day is a day closer to that time....what is normal anyway? God never defined normal for any of us, we are thankful to be used by Him, whether we consider our lives "normal" or not. We appreciate the continued prayers and lacey just told me as i type that she will blog tomorrow so read and watch for her blog..it'll be good i'm sure! Please continue to pray for her renewed strength and patience as the healing process continues. Also pray that God's perfect peace will gaurd her heart and mind in Christ Jesus as she rests at home for the next few weeks.

WE ARE HOME!!! PRAISE GOD!!

2009-11-17T15:28:00.002-06:00

Sorry there was no blog yesterday but it was quite a busy day as you may imagine with a 11 month old and a 3 week post opt wife on a 7 hour airport/flight journey home. We got homea around 1030 last night and we are so thankful. Today is very busy as i try to unpack and reorganize our home after being gone for so long. Thanks to many friends and family, we have groceries (fresh ones that is) and a clean house to come home to. Lacey is having a pretty good day and things continue to improve daily. We will continue to blog often and she will be blogging more and more as she feels better, so please keep watching because i feel that the best blessing is yet to come. Her story and account of all the things that have happened will be a blessing, so continue to check the blog as God provides us a way to share our testimony with all who will read. Sorry for the brief blog today, both of my girls are napping and i'm unpacking while things are quiet. I love these two girls and I am so thankful to be "the man of the house" and to be able to provide, lead, and protect such a wonderful family. God is so good. please keep praying. The cards and letters and prayers have been immeasurable and we thank you all!!

Ready to Go!

2009-11-15T22:46:00.007-06:00

We had a good day today at Bethelem Baptist here in town then Lacey's father and I had the priviledge to attend a Minnesota Vikings game thanks to the benevolence of the Favre family. They are simply wonderful people and have reached out to us in many ways while we were here in the city. By the way, the people here LOVE the Favre's, and we have been nearly famous here just because we're from Mississippi. We LOVE the Favre's too and can't thank them enough for their acts of kindness. I hope Mrs. Favre and Lacey can connect again during the future, since I believe both women are absolutely amazing women and have such a story of God's blessings for others to hear. After meeting Mrs. Favre, I see many qualities in her that I see in my dear wife, for God has given them both many similar personality traits due to their trials and sufferrings. So thankful for the encouragement Mrs. Favre has been to Lacey and many others.
We are more than ready to get home and we are planning to leave here tomorrow around 3pm. Lacey had a very bad episode of pain and nausea tonight and actually passed out in the bathroom, which scared us all, but her pain peaked to a point that she just passed out. We helped her to bed and she is now resting well beside me as I write. We continue to thank God, and we are trying to gradually put all the blessings into words so that we can share them with our families, friends, and churches....and whoever will listen to our testimony of God's wonderful grace in our lives. We are ready to see you all and hope to catch up on some visiting over the next few weeks as Lacey continues to heal.
I attached some pictures below of many things: her first steak, football game, and some great pics of our dear baby girl, who has mastered the "my ma ma" call in the past few weeks!

THE FIRST STEAK..RUTH'S CHRIS STEAKHOUSE

SHE LOVED THE JEWELRY! AM I TO BE SURPRISED?

THE LEGEND

2 Nights til Homecoming!

2009-11-14T20:31:00.002-06:00

Hey, its Jeremy tonight, Lacey has had another slightly better day today than yesterday and we continue to see improvement everyday. She still has the pains and still needs medications for pain and mild nausea but she continues to progress and I think by Monday, she'll be ready for the flight. She is using much less insulin and we learned that she really is only in need of the long acting insulin in the morning. She has had no insulin with meals today, and has not had any episodes of low sugar like she's been having the past several days. It seems that the islet cells are working more everyday. Her sugars have been within normal limits, then rise slightly with meals, then decrease again after a few hours as they are supposed to do. We were delighted tonight to be able to go to the well renowned Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for Lacey's first steak in 12 years. It was wonderful. She only ate about half of it but she loved and and tears rolled down her face as she realized the taste she's been missing for many years. She and I enjoyed a quiet date while her parents kept our wonderful baby girl for a few hours. We got back to the hotel and Lacey was quite worn out and in some pain across her ribs and back, but the outing was very enjoyable..and good for us both. We are hoping to attend church here in Minneapolis tomorrow morning at Bethlehem Baptist Church, the church pastored by John Piper. He is truly a hero of the faith and for those who don't know him, he is a very popular writer and theologian. See his blog attached on my page, it's called Desiring God. It's great! I've learned a lot from listening, reading, and studying his materials and we are very excited about listening to him preach and worshipping with the body of believers at Bethlehem Baptist. Please continue to pray for us as we plan to fly home on Monday and pray that God will continue to gaurd and protect Lacey as we travel. We are all slightly nervous about the flight but we know God's provisions and protection is with us. He has been so good to us. So ready to see you all, our family and friends!!

Hey Y'all! It's me!

2009-11-13T19:50:00.003-06:00

Well hello there everyone! It's me, Lace. I've been meaning to blog sooner but my darling husband has been doing such a grand job that I hated to take it away from him! Just to warn everyone, I will not be near as good at this as he is. Anyway, I sure do miss you all. The utube hellos from the church were absolutely wonderful and make me cry tears of longing and joy everytime I watch them. First off, I could not even begin thanking everyone who needs to be thanked. I mean, absolutely every person I know has been so helpful in so many ways. Thank you to everyone is the only way I know how to say it. Thank you Thank you. The prayers and cards and calls have been so encouraging and have helped keep my spirits up when they were not where they were supposed to be. God has been so good to me, guys. There's just no two ways about it. He has blessed in every corner of this situation, even corners that we didn't even know existed! God Almighty deserves all praise and honor!!! He has brought me and my family through this and has made us stronger in Him, more reliant upon Him, and happy in Him.
Today has been a wonderful, blessed day! My family took me to the mall of America where Jeremy pushed me in a wheelchair, constantly trying to keep me in it because I'd see something interesting and I'd try to jump up to get it or grab ahold of the wheels and start pushing myself. One thing I've had to learn through this whole thing is to let my family do things for me until I heal. For those of you who know me well, you know this is very difficult for me...but the Lord is teaching me day by day. He's allowed me to feel so much better that I feel I could do anything! Watch out, guys! Cause when I heal completely, y'all better move aside! Ha Ha.
I still have limitations though, and that's ok. My sugar is a pickle to get regulated, but it's a comin. I've had a few hurting spells today but nothing like it's been. The doc told me yesterday that it was ok to pick up Elyse so everytime I bend down to pick her up, my whole family gasps and holds their breath. They don't feel I should be doing that just yet...but what mother doesn't want to hold their child constantly? When I hold her, I squeeze her and smell of her and I close my eyes and thank God for putting her back into my arms again. When I look at her, I praise God for such a gift as she. She is my little loan of love, our gift from above and my desire is to give her back to the Lord so that He is most glorified. I feel a flood of emotions when my husband holds me. I just squeeze him, smell of him, thanking God for creating such a good man. If you guys don't understand what kind of man the Lord has brought me, well let me tell ya! Jeremy has been such a strong, God fearing, God glorifying, will seeking man through this whole ordeal. When my faith would become weary and my mind overwhelmed with narcotics and pain, he would hold me and quote scripture and remind me of how our Lord will never leave us and he would give me examples of how the Lord was working this for our good. During the long, dark nights, I could hear him whispering prayers on my behalf, begging God to ease my pain. Guys, I have the most wonderful man in the world! I am not bragging. I am so thankful because I know if he were not the one God created for me, that he would have left me a long time ago. He has had to deal with so much but he has looked to God for his strength and has been a husband to me that I will forever be greatful for.
My family is the same way. Mother, Daddy, Mr. Ricky, Mrs. Sharon. They have been by my side, holding my hand, reassuring me that everything will be ok. They have taken care of our precious daughter, which means more to a mother that almost anything. They have lifted me up in prayer constantly and have been there for every big and small request I have ever made. Thank y'all so much. I love you all more that I will ever be able to express. Daddy, thank you for plugging the ipod in my ears with songs that kept my thoughts on God. Thank you for reading scripture and songs to me, even when I was not very fun to be around. Mother, thank you for holding me, kissing me on my forhead and singing to me. Thank you for holding my hair back during those awful times of you know what...... Even the smell of you comforts me. It brings me back to my childhood of comfort and happiness.
I feel so much better, guys. It's so hard to explain. Yes, I still have surgical pains that are pretty uncomfortable but to have no pancreatic pain......it's unbelievable really! The moment I woke up in recovery, I was in extreme pain but I reached to feel where I normally hurt with pancreatitis, and it wasn't there!!! Not one bit! UNBELIEVABLE! After 12 years of this hideous pain, it's just...GONE! Glory be to our God!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really haven't told the story of my surgery and recovery and the details thereof. I'll do that tomorrow or the next day. I'm getting pretty tired now but I just wanted to share some of my thoughts with you all and express my gratitude, in some small way atleast. Thank y'all again for everything and thank you to the followers of this blog. Thank you for being interested and thank you for your prayers. May our God ever bless you!

Love,

Lacey

Some pictures of us at the mall..and of my first outing at the Sushi resturant.

Me and Elyse in the mall.

Isn't she a doll?

She went and got the shoes and wanted them on with her night gown.

Daddy and his girl at the sushi resturant.

Me and Mother celebrating my first tempura (fried) sushi!!

Follow-Up Doctors Visit

2009-11-12T14:27:00.003-06:00

The visit with Dr. Sutherland went very well this morning and he was surprised and impressed at Lacey's progress and recovery. He released us to come home whenever Lacey felt up to flying!!! Praise God! We are so ready to come home and see our families and friends. Lacey continues to feel better everyday and still has ups and downs with her pain and sugar. Dr. Sutherland seemed to think that her islets were working hard and that we were overdoing the insulin, and causing these daily sugar drops. She had another drop today and it went to 43 so we did the spoon full of sugar in her mouth until she woke up enough to eat some crackers and juice. We are gonna back off the insulin over the next few days and ensure that we are able to fly home without any major episodes. She has taken less pain meds each day and doctors say it will take quite a while before her pain is completely gone. He said she may deal with pains for up to another 6 months before all is working well again. We are thankful for the news and we are hoping to fly home sometime late Monday night or tuesday morning. Please continue to pray that Lacey will gain strength and that our flight home will be much less eventful than the flight into Minnesota. Sorry I don't have any pics of Dr. Sutherland and Lacey hugging...I took the camera but left the battery on charge at the hotel! Hope he'll email us the pics he took with his I-Phone soon and I'll post them. He is a wonderful man and he and Lacey have bonded wonderfully through this process. He tears up at the sight of Lacey and her thankfulness and genuiness toward him has really won his heart. Please thank God for him in your prayers, because he is truly a blessing to so many people.

Hotel Day 3 - Healing and Rejoicing!

2009-11-11T17:13:00.009-06:00

I Thessalonians 5:16-18 - "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. "

Rejoicing! What a joyful precept of God's word! Because Jesus has sufferred, we are encouraged, commanded and enabled to rejoice. In this passage, we have an imperative command to rejoice, and we ought even to rejoice at the mention of a command to rejoice. Here, the apostle, Paul, speaks to the church of the Thessalonians of rejoicing as a personal, present, permanent duty to be always carried out by the people of God. The Lord has not left it to our own option whether we will sorrow or rejoice, but He has pinned us down to it by positive injunction here in 1 Thessalonians —“Rejoice evermore.” This command to rejoice is set in the midst of a passage of duties, and just after the text, comes a flavor of trouble and bitterness and a command to "hold fast to what is good."

A quote from C.H. Spurgeon pertaining to this passage comes to mind: " Suppose some other kind of trial should come upon you? You are still to rejoice in the Lord always. The dearest friend is dead—“rejoice evermore.” The sweet babe is sickening, the darling of your household will be taken away— “rejoice evermore.” Trade is ebbing out, prosperity is disappearing from you—you may even be brought to poverty— but, “rejoice evermore.” Your health is affected, your lungs are weak, your heart does not beat with regularity, very soon you may be sick unto death, but, “rejoice evermore.” Shortly you must put off this tabernacle altogether! Tokens warn you that you must soon close your eyes in death, but, “rejoice evermore.” There is no limit to the exhortation! It is always in season! Through fire and through water, through life and through death, “rejoice evermore.”

So how do we rejoice in such a time of sufferring? Think upon none other than that Holy and lovely one, whom gave Himself for thee, on Golgotha's hill. Think of the love of the Father, who gave this, His one begotten Son for the ones of His that would be saved. Think of the Father's love flowing down from his merciful and gracious hand of perfection, sovereignty, and abounding beneficence toward me and you, His people. People of our God, we must rejoice in His promises, rejoice in His being, and rejoice in His dear son, the one who is altogether lovely, Jesus Christ. Children of God, think of the Holy Spirit and rejoice in Him as dwelling in you, quickening you, comforting you, illuminating you,and abiding with you forever. Think of the Triune God and be blessed. I believe in our right mind, every doctrine of Gospel will give us due reason to rejoice, every promise will make us glad, and every precept will fulfill our every longing for joy. Rejoice with us in Christ Jesus, as we conquer and overcome, just as we rejoiced in the midst of the sufferring. Victory in Chirst is sweetest when the depth of sufferring is deepest and the height of His revealed glory is highest!

Today has been even slightly better than yesterday and Lacey continues to need less and less pain meds, although she is still hurting severely at times. Food proves to be moving through her system as desired by the surgical team(and designed by God!) and she was able to get out to a baby boutique today and do a little looking around. She enjoyed the outing and we continue to praise God for his many blessings, which are too numerous to name. As this begins to end and our time for departure home draws near, we continue to count our many blessings and attempt to name them one by one. As we do this, we see and know that God has been extremely gracious to us and we continue to thank Him.
Lacey intended to be the blogger tonight and she is not feeling that great at the time so I decided to take advantage of another opportunity to blog (as you all may well know by now how much I enjoy it). Her blood sugars continue to be "out of whack" and are difficult to control. Once a day for the past 3 days she has had an episode of low blood sugar and today it was 51 and she almost lost consiousness. We are good at feeding her sugar until she comes around the sugar returns to a normal level. We are hoping to get some better management formulas from the surgeon, and the nurse today informed me that the islets were working some and that is the reason the sugar is so hard to control. This is a good problem to have at this point and we are thankful that the transplanted islets are seemingly working. Look for info on tomorrow's blog for a possible homecoming date and we are really hoping to be heading south by early to mid next week. I can't thank you all enough for your continued love, support, and prayers for Lacey and me as we continue to endure this difficult but yet glorious time.

Hotel Day 2

2009-11-10T21:04:00.003-06:00

Day 2 here at the hotel has been rather uneventful and we remain very thankful for yet another day of healing from the hand of our Lord. Lacey has done well and continues to need medications for her pain, which is expected for awhile. She is also having some issues with her blood sugars, and like yesterday, it seems that the sugar gets really low really quickly. We are experimenting daily with insulin and trying to do what the diabetic team told us, but with her islets doing partial work and her insulin doing the other part, it is difficult to maintain. We are thankful for the activity of her islet cells and it seems that she continues to get better..and closer to flying south! After seeing the surgeon on Thursday we will know more about when we can come home but we are hoping for sometime early to mid next week.
We did get to go out to dinner tonight about 2 blocks from the hotel and Lacey was able to try some fried sushi for the first time. We had an enjoyable with with her parents and Elyse, but she was tired and ready to rest when we got back to the hotel. Please continue to pray that God will increase her strength and prepare her for such a long trip back home. Thank you for your coninued prayers, and please continue to watch the blog as Lacey will in the next few days, begin to blog some of her experiences. I am very excited for all of you to hear from Lacey and she is excited about sharing God's grace and mercy with so many of you, who have held us up in prayer for so many days.
Also if I could add, if any of you are interested, please see on my list of blogs that I follow, and look at the blog Altogether Lovely, which is a blog started by Lacey's father, Randy. It is full of Biblical nutrition and has some breif and very powerful teaching on God's Holy Word. He also has been deeply impacted, as you may imagine, by watching his daughter suffer for 12 years with such a life threatening illness.

A sweet time for Mommy and Baby

Tears at the good taste of pizza!

Catching up on quality time with our girl!

Hotel Day 1

2009-11-09T21:32:00.005-06:00

We enjoyed our day together at the hotel today and Lacey continues to do fairly well. She is still having moderate pain but it is controlled by the medications she has available to take. Her blood sugars have been jumping around a bit today and the insulin treatments after meals is getting a little tricky. She had low sugar this morning and again this evening and we had to give her a sweet treat to make it come up. It seems that the insulin regimen given to us by the nursing staff is a little too aggressive for Lacey. That leads us to beleive that her transplanted islet cells are beginning to work, which is a good thing. She is able to eat a normal diet and has had minimal nausea today, which was also controlled by her medications. She did get to eat a real pizza tonight (and they have great pizza up here), and her parents and I stood around the bed watching her enjoy pizza with real ranch dressing. We all cried together with joy. She has been able to have more time and interaction with Elyse, although she can't lift her, or anything else greater than 10 pounds for 4 more weeks. Elyse has the ma-ma-ma call down, and she calls her mommy often. God has preserved Elyse's memory of her mother, and it's almost like they were never apart. We will see our surgeon on Thursday at 930 and hopefully we'll get an idea of when we can fly home. Looking forward to seeing him again, and thanking him for his good work. All continues to go well, although Lacey has had a severe bout of pain as I write this tonight, but I think the medication is beginning to help relieve it. We hope to have a day or two of enjoyment in the city this week as she begins to feel better. Sorry for the lack of blogging today, it's been an enjoyable but very busy day! Thank you for your continued prayers and support, so ready to see you all. I'll attach some good pictures tomorrow.

DISCHARGED TO HOTEL!! PRAISE GOD!!

2009-11-08T17:11:00.003-06:00

As you all probably have heard, Lacey was discharged today and the doctors have been more than amazed by her progress. She is still having pain and needing pain meds but she is taking adequate food and liquid to be free of IV therapy. She is free from IV or PICC line for the first time in 49 days. She has had no vomitting and foods are moving through her system as expected. We are so thankful. Our God is wonderful. Not only is wonderful at our time of discharge, but God is good to His people. He has been good to us even through the deepest days of sufferring and we cry thanks to Him from the depths of our very souls. So many thoughts in my mind right now about our blessings that I will eventually get into words. I know whom we have believed in, and am sure that He is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me. Please continue to pray that God's wonderful and perfect will be made manifest in our lives.

2 Timothy 1:6 ¶ For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher,
12 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.
13 Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

Some photos for your (and our) enjoyment, please rejoice with us, for many of you have sufferred with us:

Elyse's expression when she realized Lacey was at the hotel with us!

News?

2009-11-08T09:55:00.004-06:00

Not trying to get everyone premature excited but wanted to share a bit of info the docs told us this morning. They said that they were going to check Lacey's calorie count from yesterday and assess her pain medicine use and effectiveness this morning and if all checks out, we'll be discharged TODAY!! We are excited but trying to keep our cool because there is some reservations on the doctors part at this time. They told Lacey this morning that she has been the toughest patient ever for this auto-islet procedure and that if she went home today, it would be the shortest hospital stay after the surgery that she had! We are thankful and we know that no one but God could accomplish such a pheat.
She had a good night last night with only one flair up of pain around 430am, but this seemed to be because she had slept for so long and the pain snuck up on her, because she wasn't awake to take meds. They gave her medicine and the pain settled. I woke this morning to find her as you see her in the picture below, sleeping on her stomach!! What a comfort for her to finally after nearly 8 weeks of pain be sleeping on her stomach. I am amazed daily at the little things that we overlook, but God is giving her the comforts of life back, one by one. I will post more as soon as we hear for sure about discharge. They said if not today, for sure in the morning. Keep praying!

Sleeping on her tummy. Must feel good!

Incision site after 12 days.

Drain removal site.

Few more Pics

2009-11-07T21:58:00.001-06:00

Post Opt Day 12

2009-11-07T17:46:00.006-06:00

The drain was removed today! The doctors said that her drainage had decreased to the amount that it wasn't useful and the resident doctor came by and removed it early this afternoon. Lacey was very relieved and has had a better day today and has been on pain meds by mouth all day. Her pain has been bad a few times but the fact that it is controlled by mouth is one step in the right direction for getting discharged. She was able to have a good walk today with her mother outside to the sidewalk, and the weather here was great with a temp around 60 degrees. Lacey is very ready to go home..mentally at least, but we're not sure she's quite ready physically. The doctors this morning said they were looking torward Monday for discharge to the hotel. We will then stay in the hotel from 1 to 1 1/2 weeks then finally head home if all goes well. We will have to see the surgeon in his clinic before going back to MS. We are so ready. I think that by Monday, Lacey will possibly be ready for discharge to hotel. The only line she has left in her is the PICC line in her right arm that is used for IV fluids and TPN. They have cut the TPN down to only 12 hours a day instead of 24 and the nurses and doctors are simply amazed at the fact that she's not having much nausea. They are counting her calories and backing off the TPN as her calories increase. Her blood sugars have been better controlled and the nurses think that the islets are beginning to work. The nurse tonight just came in and said it was purely a miracle that Lacey has only vomitted once since the surgery, and of course we attribute that simply to our loving all powerful God, who has continue to providentially work every detail out so that this process has been bearable for Lacey. It has been very very difficult and at times, she and I both have wanted to quit, but the Lord graciously continues to provide grace and strength.
We will see what the night and tomorrow holds and we are both SO ready to come home and see our family, church, friends, an co workers. Miss you all so much. Thanks for the prayers and support. I've pasted some pictures below and hope this makes you smile. Lace was able to feed Elyse a bottle today for the first time in many weeks. She cried through the whole process. She misses her so much and longs for the day when she can feed her again. It's so easy to overlook little things in life like feeding our children bottles and changing their diapers, but these things are precious and should be appreciated. Lacey is so ready to be the mother God has called her to be and that day is coming soon. She also got to eat Cadburry chocolate today and Raising Canes chicken fingers. The pictures shown are such a blessing to see for us, and were taken during her times of feeling good. Please keep praying because there are many times during the day when the smiles you see are not there because of such pain. Pray that God will continue to heal her body, and that He will be glorified through our testimony of this sufferring. We love you all. Enjoy the pics, smile and cry with us. God is truly good.

First time feeding Elyse in weeks

First ever taste of Canes Chicken...Logan will be proud!!

Post Opt Day 11

2009-11-06T15:14:00.002-06:00

Today has been somewhat better than yesterday thus far. Lacey has only had one episode of severe pain and she has been taken completely off the IV pain meds. She is receiving pain meds by mouth and doing fairly well. The communication between her brain and her stomach and bowels is somewhat messed up due to the surgery and doctors say this can take a few months to resolve. The pains are due to muscle spasms in her stomach, sides, and back, and any type of gastric movement is very painful as her intestines continue to "wake up" and trying to function as usual. She has had no more vomitting since last night and has had a fair appetite today. Her drain coming out from inside her belly has decreased in output greatly today and it should definitely be removed late this evening or in the morning. Doctors are still saying that discharge may not be until mid next week, but we are happy with that as long as Lacey continues to make progress. She has been more encouraged today and since last night, the Lord has continued to increase her peace and rest and today has been a better day. She is able to move around and we walked downstairs and outside for a few minutes. She is now only getting TPN for 16 hours a day rather than 24 hours, since she is getting some nutrition by mouth. Doctors continue to say she is one of the strongest patients they've seen, and they even comment on her drive and motivation to get better. We know the God gives her this drive and motivation and the drive to be a wife and mother in our home once again. We will hold fast to God's promises and continue to withstand the hospital life until He sees fit to give her complete comfort and discharge from here. Thank you all again for the support and prayers and words cannot express how thankful we are. It is hard to appreciate being a part of God's family until you experience Christian love and ministry from brothers and sisters in Christ as we have the past month.

Rough Day

2009-11-05T21:33:00.003-06:00

Psalm 139:1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. 3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. 4 For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether. 5 You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it. 7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me," Even the night shall be light about me; 12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You. 19 Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men.20 For they speak against You wickedly; Your enemies take Your name in vain.21 Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties;24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.

This is my prayer tonight as I write heavy hearted, after I've watched my dear wife on the heels of such a hard 2 months, she's had a rough day today. The pains of post surgery muscle spasms that radiate from her rib cage around to her back have become yet even more intense and it is wearing on her already frail body. She wishes and wants that each day be her day of discharge, but i must say that today was a slightly different story. She had a total of 4 major bouts of pain today, which doctors continue to say are normal, but the classification of normal doesn't lessen the pain. Tonight, as we were visiting with Lacey's mother and Elyse, Lacey hastily got up from bed and squatted to the floor in tears, just trying to find a comfortable position, she cried and moaned and rushed into the restroom where she began to vomit. So painful and distressing for a already marred abdomen to endure such pressure. We assisted her back to bed and the wonderful nurses provided her with some meds for nausea and she was more comfortable within minutes. However, this knocked her down emotionally, mentally, and even spiritually as we all recognize the difficulty it is to continue to hold fast to our Lord when things seem so negative. Please pray that Lacey can continue, by God's intervening hand, to trust in Him. Pray that God will continue to strengthen her and hold her up as she desires so much to be with her dear baby girl. Pray also that i may continue to share truths from God's word with her that she may be upheld by His spirit and preserved by his promises. She is resting now and seems to be more comfortable but we can only beg our Creator to glorify Himself through us, and we beg Him that it may be pleasing in His sight to begin to remove some pain and distress from my beautiful bride, of whom I love dearly.

I find rest in the Psalm of David quoted above because I know that God knows us, He knows are sitting and our rising, He knows our hearts and minds, and He hems us in on all sides with a hedge of protection. We cannot and will not ever be or flee from his presence. His hand leads and holds us up. The darkness we face as the sun sinks low this evening and Lacey continues to suffer is no darkness at all to our God. He neither slumbers nor sleeps, and in Him there is no shadow of turning. He formed even Lacey's inner most parts and knew them in her mother's womb, and His eyes saw and knew even our unformed substance. God isn't affected by fatigue, soreness, nausea or emotional despair, God is a God of consistency, sovereignty and love. His way for us is our way toward good. Lacey, in the midst of her vomitting today said, "at least my pancreas isn't hurting, I can deal with this," my heart wept but she demonstrated a trust in God's providences and demonstrated her sight that even in this, He is working for our good. He is using her sufferring, 1200 miles from home, and many nights away from a beloved 10 month old daughter, to affect and change the lives of many people. How could we complain? To God be the Glory! Thank you for calls, texts, prayers, cards, flowers, baby supplies and simple comments on this blog. Each of these is so encouraging to us, me especially, as i continue to minister to Lacey. Please continue to pray for her and for her complete healing.

Post Opt Day 10

2009-11-05T15:11:00.002-06:00

Lacey has began to have some increases in her pain over the past few days which has been discouraging to her, and me. However, the doctors and surgical staff ensures us that these pains are expected and that they will begin to dimenish with time. The pains she's experiencing are like muscle cramps in her stomach that radiates from her front abdomen around to her ribs and back. These pains come on suddenly and usually last until she is able to get a medication that will help relax her muscles. The doctors said that many patients get these pains after surgery as the stomach begins to wake up and move again. She had an episode around 4am, then another around 9, then we just had another very severe episode about 3pm. She is now resting comfortably. She tried to do some walking in the midst of this last episode but it did not help. Her blood sugars have been better and more regularly controlled with a slight increase in the amound of insulin she gets in the morning. So far today she hasn't needed any additional insulin. She did order a cheeseburger at lunch with fries, which is a dream for her, but she was only able to eat about half the fries and two bites of the burger. Her stomach is just not able to hold the food that her mouth and eyes dream of. That will get better.
They have also cut her IV pain medicine down greatly and she is getting some pain meds by mouth. She is doing very well with the pain, except when those sharp spasms come on. The doctors are still hopeful for discharge on Monday, and they are doing calorie counts today to see if lacey is taking in enough food or if she'll continue on TPN after discharge until her stomach stretches a bit. We are still hoping the drainage tube will be pulled out of abdomen tomorrow, but not today because it is still draining.
Please pray specifically today for Lacey's strength and encouragment from God. Pray that He will give her extra encouragment and hold her up as He has thus far. She is discouraged at the increase in her pains and the muscle spasms and she is really beginning to get homesick. She also misses Elyse so much and desires greatly to be with her again. Just when you think the battle can't get any more difficult, there are new challenges and new goals. Lacey understands that she is not ready for discharge physically, but mentally she wonders how many more days she can go. We are faithful that God will continue to hold her up by His gracious hands and she knows to trust Him through these trials. However, with pain and fatigue, it is very difficult for her to focus. Please pray that God will continue to reveal Himself to her and that he will encourage her to press on.

Post Opt day 9

2009-11-04T19:57:00.003-06:00

All in all, it's been a good day for Lacey today. She's had some slight increases in her blood sugar and the diabetic team is a little confused on the reason for the increase. They want her sugar to run about 100-120 and it's been around 130-180 today. They are changing her insulin a little to try to get things a little more controlled. She's had some episodes of increased pain today but seems like the pain is related to activity and she is pushing herself to get better physically. The doctors changed her to regular diet this morning and she's enjoyed a few bites of normal food, however, she has a very small stomach right now and only can hold 6 to 8 bites of food. She has been so many days and weeks without food in her stomach and because of the surgery, her stomach is much smaller and doesn't tolerate food as well. The doctors say this will change with time. They began taking her off of the IV pain medications today and are changing her over to meds by mouth which is a big first step to going home (or to the hotel at least.) There are many residents and students that are part of Lacey's care and we see many doctors and near-doctors everyday. They are all very helpful. One of the young doctors came by today and said a safe prediction for discharge would be Monday which is not what Lacey wanted to hear but we remain thankful for the time here and the healing that is taking place by the mercy of God. We are glad to have an end in sight and glad that her pancreas pain and nausea are gone! She was able to take another shower this evening and though it wore her out, it made her feel better and she is beginning to handle more daily activities on her own day by day. Please keep praying.

Draw Near to God - C.H. Spurgeon

"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you #James 4:8

The nearer we come to God, the more graciously will He reveal Himself to us. When the prodigal comes to his father, his father runs to meet him. When the wandering dove returns to the ark, Noah puts out his hand to pull her in unto him. When the tender wife seeks her husband’s society, he comes to her on wings of love. Come then, dear friend, let us draw nigh to God who so graciously awaits us, yea, comes to meet us.

Did you ever notice that passage in Isaiah 58:9? There the Lord seems to put Himself at the disposal of His people, saying to them, "Here I am." As much as to say—"What have you to say to me? What can I do for you? I am waiting to bless you. How can we hesitate to draw near? God is nigh to forgive, to bless, to comfort, to help, to quicken, to deliver. Let it be the main point with us to get near to God. This done, all is done. If we draw near to others, they may before long grow weary of us and leave us; but if we seek the Lord alone, no change will come over His mind, but He will continue to come nearer and yet nearer to us by fuller and more joyful fellowship.

Our God is near and Our God is good! We thank Him for each day and each step!

Post Opt Night 9

2009-11-04T10:21:00.005-06:00

Last night was another quite restful night for Lacey..and me. Her stomach began moving late yesterday evening and she was able to move some liquids through her system. She is having some periods of very intense pain in her belly at times depending on when her intestines are processing food and liquids. The doctors say this will get better. She had a bad episode around 3am and finally got settled back in about 4am. We both were able to sleep til around 830am and she was feeling better this morning. The doctors came in and were impressed with her progress and glad that her stomack has "woke up." They changed her diet today to a regular diet and will begin changing her pain meds over to oral medications rather than IV meds. They want to see how well she does and how well her stomach and intestines digest and process the foods she eats. The doctors exact words were "if you do good with regular diet and oral meds, your discharge will be very soon." Now I can't explain what "very soon" means so we will continue to be patient but we are hopeful that in another 2-3 days we'll at least be back at the hotel with our daughter and Lacey's mother, hopefully to gain a few days of rest and recooperation. This road has been hard, but God is delivering us, just as He has delivered His people so many times since the Exodus. We are thankful, and even though Lacey is having some intense periods of pain with the intestinal digestion process, she is overall better and continues to improve. The doctors said this morning that she will most likely not need TPN after discharge which is a true blessing.

Laceys blood sugars have jumped around a bit since her intake of liquids has increased but the endocrinologist says that her islet cells are beginning to work but that it will just take some time for them to be in full operation. She gets a small shot of Lantus, a long acting insulin in the morning, and she is only needing like 1 or 2 units of insulin with meals. This is minimal and is definitely a great trade off for that pancreatitis she was dealing with. We continue to thank God and He continues to hold us up. I can't testify enough of what He's done for us.

Here is a picture of Lacey eating her first hash browns in 12 years. Enjoy. I nearly cried just watching her enjoy such a basic meal! We just don't appreciate the small things in life like we should.

Post Opt Day 8

2009-11-03T21:04:00.003-06:00

Hope you all enjoyed the pictures. Sorry its so graphic. We've had a good day today and things continue to go well. Lacey has had some gastric stimulating medications today which have made her slightly uncomfortable but tonight the meds paid off and her intestines and stomach woke up. Things are moving through her system and we hope that tomorrow the docs will increase her diet to a soft regular diet and maybe she'll be able to take pain meds by mouth. Still no nausea! The intestinal movement is a huge step toward discharge and we'll hope it's soon. It's easy to assume the body is working and things are flowing as usual but it is important to know that God did create us and step back to watch us work. He continues by the power of His hand to hold us up and make our tiniest particles interact so that the body functions properly. Not only is birth of a baby a miracle, the plain fact that our bodys work and flow as they do is a daily miracle. We thank God that He coordinates the movement of cells and electrical impulses that makes our bodies work.
They will be doing some diabetes management training for lace and i over the next day or two and are also considering sending us home with tpn for nutrition because with this procedure the stomach shrinks and it is difficult for patients to eat enough food to provide good nutrition for a few weeks. Hopefully we'll avoid the TPN and maybe she can go out of here IV and tube free. The drainage tube in her belly continues to drain but is less and less everyday but docs aren't ready to remove it yet. If tomorrow continues as days have in the past, we are anticipating a great day and more progress. Please keep praying and in those prayers thank God for His mercies and blessings on our lives.

Another fine quote from the Prince of Preachers:

"Natural disease may be instrumentally healed by men, but even the honour is to be given to God who giveth virtue unto medicine, and bestoweth power unto the human frame to cast off disease."

--C.H.Spurgeon

THE PICTURE WE'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!!

2009-11-03T14:49:00.007-06:00

Lacey has had a pretty good day today and continues to use less pain meds as the days pass. She was able to go out for a walk as you saw the pics earlier. The stomach is slowly beginning to wake up some and we are praying for a good night. Sugars continue to do well with the shots and Lacey is eating a full liquid diet but is not really hungry due to her intestines being slow right now. I've pasted some pics that you may want to see. Beware those of you with a weak stomach!! You will see by the pics why she is hurting so bad, they had her stomach stretched open for 12hours. Hope you enjoy!

The extreme pain she's been in is partially from those stainless binders holding open her stomach for 12 hours.

That is the stomach in the right hand.

Dr. Sutherland, the chief surgeon on the left and Dr. Black on the right.

The angry pancreas, finally where it belongs...in a bucket.

Now, that's what i'm talking about.

Now who's in pain?

Lots of sutures connecting the intestine back to the stomach..very painful.

A Walk Outside!!!

2009-11-03T09:45:00.003-06:00

Post Opt Night 8

2009-11-03T09:13:00.002-06:00

Lacey had another good night of rest and did not wake very often to press her pain button. She used less than half of the medicine during the night than she had used the previous 8 hours. She woke up this morning around 530 in some pain, but seemed like the pain was a result of not using much medicine through the night. She was able to get it controlled within an hour and by 630 she was sleeping again. The doctors came by again this morning and are pleased with Lacey's progress. They will increase the med today to encourage her intestines to wake up so that food will pass through normally. Her blood sugar before breakfast this morning was 135 and that is good, but they are going to increase her insulin shot by 2 units to keep it nice and low for now. They are still very positive that her insulin needs will continue to decrease as she continues to get better. Lacey and I were able to walk downstairs and outside earlier this morning and she really enjoyed a breath of fresh, COLD air. It was nice. I think it's about 28 here this morning but it was comforting to Lacey since she had not been outside since Oct 22 when she was rushed off the plane by paramedics. Lacey is far more ready to go home than the doctors are, and patience is wearing thin. Please pray for her to be patient and pray that her body will continue to heal by God's merciful healing touch. Pray specifically that food will move through normally and that her intestines will begin to work as usual.

Post Opt Day 7

2009-11-02T21:19:00.002-06:00

So we've survived (and thrived) through 1 week after surgery and Lacey continues to improve. She has had a little more pain today, and as stated earlier, i feel that it is from all of her activity yesterday. Still no nausea and absolutely NO PANCREAS pain!! She (and I) are really missing our dear little girl and we were able to visit with her tonight at the hospital for a few minutes. It is so hard watching your daughter grow up from a distance and only having minimal interaction time with her. She is so sweet and has been as perfect as a 10 month old could be through all this. We are so thankful for her and just seeing her smile brings encouragement to us all.
Lacey did get the central line in her neck removed today and got a picc line in her right upper arm, which is less cumbersome to her movement and with less risk for infection. She also was taken off the IV insulin and began receiving insulin through a tiny shot in the arm. Hopefully this will control her blood sugars as the islet cells continue to work in the liver. We have had a good day together and she actually walked up and down a flight of stairs today, which allowed her to be officially discharged from occupational and physical therapy, so now it's my job to help her rehab. We enjoy our short walks together and with time, we've learned to thank God for every step she takes. She was also increased from a clear liquid diet today to a full liquid diet, which basically means she can have anything that is liquid in it's simplest form (coke, tea, ice, ice cream, broth, and cream soups). I got to watch Lacey enjoy her first bowl of real ice cream in 12 years!!! It was truly a moment of joy for us both. No more worries about pancreas pain from fat because there's no pancreas!
Doctors continue to be impressed and surprised with her speedy recovery and this surgery usually requires at least 14 days of hospital stay and we're on day 7 and she's doing great. However doctors did say today, she'll be in for 5 to 6 more days, but Lacey has not settled for that yet(shes working hard to get out sooner). They are still waiting for her intestines to wake up and for food to start moving through her system more regularly. Seems like the intestinal movement and pain control is the main holdup for getting out of here, but the doctors really don't feel comfortable discharging a patient this soon with so many new connections in the stomach, so she's being patient. God continues to bless us and i can't possibly (and will never be able) to express my thankfulness for what God has done. There's no doubt this has been the hardest and most life changing experience we've ever had, but I can be nothing but thankful for what God is doing through this. Thank you alll for your comments, prayers, cards, calls, and even financial support. We will never be able to thank you enough.

update

2009-11-02T15:00:00.002-06:00

Central line in neck is out and they have successfully inserted a picc line into Lacey's right arm. TPN will continue through the picc line. She has had more fluid intake today and continues without nausea, which is rare for this post-surgical period. They are stopping her IV insulin today and will give her minimal amounts insulin in a shot to see how she does. Seems like her transplanted islets are really beginning to do their job and doctors remain very hopeful that she will not need insulin in the days to come. She has had more pain today and it seems that it stems from the amount of activity she had yesterday with the shower and walking more than usual. She is resting now and continues to make progress.

Post Opt Night 7

2009-11-02T10:03:00.002-06:00

Lacey's good day yesterday continued into the night but she became quite tired and sore. She was able to take a shower and move around quite a bit but it took a toll on her. She rested well through the night once she finally got comfortable and she didn't have to get up and walk during the night for the first time in a few days. She has been waking up quite uncomfortable and needing to walk to the halls to work out the soreness but last night she rested very well. She did wake up this morning to more pain than usual, but nurses and doctors seem to think it's a result of her activity yesterday. We had a wonderful time last night in the hospital room when we were able to have Elyse here with us. She got in the bed with Lacey and we held her so that she wouldn't shake the bed too much. To see Lacey interact with her was truly a joy. We miss her so much, but I know Lacey is missing her incredibly. We've been in the hospital either here or back home for 45 of the last 60 days, which means we've been away from our daughter that many nights. It is so hard. However, as happy as we are in each other and with our daughter, we know that our source of joy and strength is not in each other and not Elyse, but it comes from our Heavenly Father, in whom we will never be separated from. We long for Him for our strength and He is able.
The surgical team came by today and said she was still making great progress but that she would probably be in the hospital at least another 5 to 6 days. This was not news we wanted to hear. We were hoping to get out of here Wednesday but not sure that's gonna happen. They are very cautious after this major surgery and don't want to discharge until it is obvious that the GI tract is working normally. They also will remove the central line in her neck today and insert a picc line back into her arm so that she can continue to get TPN for nutrition until they are sure she is able to take in adequate nutrition by mouth. She continues to get insulin in her IV and her blood sugars are very stable. So for today, therapy will continue, liquid diet will continue (she's had no nausea for 36 hours now!!), and the new picc line will be inserted. We will continue to wait for her gut and intestines to begin to move food through then she will hopefully be advanced to a more solid diet and less of the TPN. The goal before being discharged to the hotel will be food intake by mouth, minimal insulin by shots, and normal food flow through the body, as well as strength for activities of daily life and the pain must be controlled by oral pain meds. We look forward to that day of discharge and to some nights with our baby girl, but until that time, we will continue to call out to God and beg for his continued mercy and blessings. May He continue to be glorified through us.

Lyrics to a song on my mind this morning:

In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise, give me Jesus

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus

When I am alone
When I am alone
When I am alone, give me Jesus

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus

When I come to die
When I come to die
When I come to die, give me Jesus

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
You can have all this world,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus

Not a person, thing, situation, medication, doctor, or any other entity in this world can bring peace and rest to the children of God. He sent Jesus, and just as the the thief on the cross cried out to Jesus as He sufferred so shall we call on Jesus, and long for nothing else. For with worldly things and people, the joy provided will be temporal, but from morning's rise til death's call, the peace and rest of God through Christ will never be a failure upon us.

Post Opt Day 6

2009-11-01T13:38:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to share with everyone that Lacey was just able to take a shower and wash her hair (which will mean alot to you women). She's doing a little better today than yesterday and has had the tube out of her nose since around 10am and has had no nausea. Ate some jello and drank some juice and no nausea. Hoping the good progress continues and thankful for where God has brought us thus far. Praise be to Him alone.

10:00 AM

2009-11-01T10:30:00.002-06:00

The doctors came by early this morning and shared some great news: the nasogastric tube can come out! The nurse came by a little later and pulled the tube out and Lacey is very relieved. One step closer to full recovery. Seems like her stomach and intestines still haven't began to wake up much, but the doctors say that will come with time. They ordered her a full liquid diet and she was able to drink some apple juice without any nausea so far. She has had a restful morning so far and she will have therapy today at 11. Things continue to go smoothly and God's blessings continue to pour out upon us. Some of our families will be leaving today and we are sad about that but we remain here for an undetermined number of days. Lacey's mother, sister, myself and Elyse will stay in Minneapolis and the rest of the family will head south. It has been so wonderful to have our families here to share this time of sufferring and celebration with us. Lacey continues to get TPN for nutrition as her fluid intake by mouth will still be minimal for the next few days. She continues to use pain medications but seems to be using less each day. She is able to sit up in the bed on her own and go from sitting to standing position on her own. Walking is improving and she now walks without the walker. Only two tubes left in her: the one draining from inside her stomach out the wound area, and the IV central line in her neck. Hoping the drainage tube from her would will be gone tomorrow and the IV will stay in as long as she's here.
Progress continues and we are humbly thankful to our Lord.

Post Opt Night 6

2009-11-01T05:21:00.002-06:00

Lacey has had another fairly good night and she rested pretty well. She was having some nausea early in the night but was able to get nausea med around 11pm which helped her nausea and also seemed to help her rest. She did wake up around 3am again with some back pain and so we walked down the hall to try to loosen up her muscles. She got back to bed around 4 and has rested well since that time. She is using less pain meds as the days pass, but remains quite uncomfortable. Her blood sugars are running very good, but the nurses still have to keep a check on it every hour, which is really bruising the tips of Lacey's fingers. She's had hourly blood sugar checks for nearly 6 days now so you can imagine how bad her fingers must hurt, but she hasn't complained a bit about that. Math tells me that's around 144 finger sticks this past week....no fun! They have kept the nasogastric tube clamped off all night to see how her stomach reacts without being empty all the time and she has done fairly well. We'll see how the day progresses and if the nausea keeps up, they may have to turn the tube back on to suction to keep her stomach empty. If her stomach can tolerate the natural fluids it produces, they will probably remove the nasogastric tube. Still haven't got much evidence that her intestines have started moving good yet so they'll force her to hold off on food and liquids until there is evidence that the stomach and intestines are ready to process food. Until that time, she will continue to get the TPN through her IV line in her neck so she has adequate nutrition until her stomach is ready for food.
So for now, we are still waiting and recovering and she continues to work hard and do exactly what the doctors tell her...she is a much better patient than I feel I would be. I admire her greatly and she will never know what an encouragement and inspiration she is to me (and many of you i'm sure).

2009-10-31T19:52:00.001-05:00

"Do not attribute to secondary means that which ought to be ascribed to God alone. His fresh air, and warm sun, or bracing wind, and refreshing showers do more for our healing than we dream of, or if medicine be used, it is he who gives virtue to the drugs, and so by his own Almighty hand works out our cure."
Charles H. Spurgeon

Post Opt Day 5

2009-10-31T17:27:00.002-05:00

Today has been much better since the episode of nausea around 9 this morning. The medication she received for nausea about 10 made her quite drowsy so she has slept quite a bit. I also think the sleeping is a sign of less pain and a sign that her body is so tired from the past weeks. She needs all the sleep she can get. They moved us over to 6D finally which is more like a regular hospital floor on the transplant unit. Lacey rode the wheelchair over here then got up and walked over 300 feet down the hall and did some upper body range of motion with the therapists. They continue to be amazed at her strength and drive to get better. As for her attitude, it has been much better since this morning and i think the nausea was discouraging since that was one of the main problems prior to the surgery. The doctor came by and ensured her that the nausea was expected for several days but would get better. Just the thought that nausea before the surgery, then big operation, then more nausea after surgery seems to be discouraging because the surgery is supposed to "fix" it all. The doctors say things will get better but progress comes slowly since her entire stomach and intestines were rearranged and are just now beginning to "wake up." They did clamp off the nasogastric tube about 6 hours ago to see how her stomach would react and so far she's had no nausea since around 9. We'll continue to see how she does as the nausea medications wear off and her stomach continues to wake up. I would guess that if she does well for 24 hours with the tube clamped and begins to see signs of her intestines moving they should remove the nasal tube tomorrow. I have also noted quite a bit less drainage from her tube coming out of the wound and doctors said when drainage is less than 50ml a day, that tube could be removed. I think it was 150 yesterday so maybe by tomorrow it'll be able to be taken out also. Things are looking better, but Lacey still has quite a long recovery. Not sure how much longer we'll be hospitalized, i would guess at least 7 more days, then we'll spend about 7-10 days here in the city to see how her body reacts to food and activity before the doctors will let us return home. Please continue to pray for us as we continue heal and get closer to coming home. Pray for me specifically because i get homesick on vacations, so you must know i'm getting homesick here because this is far from an enjoyable vacation! God continues to amaze us daily. Hope you enjoyed the pictures, maybe they'll be more later.

Few Pics

2009-10-31T14:04:00.004-05:00

Battle Scar

View from Hospital Room of the Mighty MS

Sunrise from Hospital Room

Post Opt Night 5

2009-10-31T11:06:00.003-05:00

The nights seem to be continually getting better for Lacey. She has been getting nauseated slightly more the past few days than she did right after surgery and last night they gave her some nausea med around 8 and she slept well through the night. She did have some pains around 3am and she was able, with the help of her daddy, get up and walk down the hall to a sitting area. She sat in the chair for about 30 min and went on back to bed where she slept pretty good til around 9. She woke up again about 9am with nausea and after waiting over an hour for meds to come from pharmacy, the nausea got near out of control but there was no vomitting or even heaving (which would have been terrible on a 6 inch surgery wound). They got her the meds and she is now resting as I write this.
All reports from doctors have been good, and the surgery team is very impressed and happy at how Lacey has progressed. She is a hard worker and continues to press on with hopes of going home. She did have some times last night and this morning when she became quite discouraged, as we all might be after so many days in the hospital. For times like these, we encourage Lacey to keep fighting and keep up her faith in our God, who has providentially led us to the place and time where we now are. We serve a faithful God, and He is our rock and our shield. May we be conduits of his love and vessels to his glory as these trying days continue.
The doctors are planning at some point to move Lacey out of this room in the intermediate care unit (which is a step down from ICU) and into a room on the transplant unit. We have requested a private room, since most rooms here are double rooms. They have said we could get a private room and we should be moved over to another hall today or tomorrow. Although she's having slighty more nausea, it is still very evident that lacey continues to improve and from all we've heard, nausea is a common problem for the first week or more after surgery. The doctors also decided this morning to attempt to clamp off the tube draining her stomach to see how she would tolerate it. Her gut hasn't began to wake up from surgery good yet and the doctors are hoping that in the next day or two they'll be able to remove that tube from her nose and she'll be able to start a liquid diet. So clamping the tube will give doctors an idea of how she'll do before they pull it out, so in case it's not time, they won't have to reinsert.
Please continue to hold us up in your prayers as we continue to spend time in the hospital and away from our home, our church, our families, and our dearest baby girl. Thank you all for all the comments of encouragement on the blog and facebook and emails. Thank you also for the e-cards, I read them all to Lacey and she may not remember them but they encourage her at the moment i read them. I am saving them all for Lacey to read as she recovers. She still is not completely aware of the depth of love and support we've received from family, friends, doctors, and even people we don't know around the country. Thank you.

From the prophet Jeremiah to the exiles that King Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jeruselem to Babylon. It would take 70 years but the Lord promised to bring the people back, restore their fortunes and gather them in. Suffering may last for a time, but God will hold to his promises:

Jememiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Our addresses for those who have asked

2009-10-30T14:19:00.000-05:00

Hospital address:

Lacey Bolling - Room 6-227
University of Minnesota Medical Center - Fairview
420 Delaware Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Hotel Address:

Marriot Townplace Suites
525 N 2nd Street
Minneapolis, MN 55401

Post Opt Day 4

2009-10-30T13:33:00.002-05:00

Lacey has been able to get out of bed 4 times today, two of those times she walked over 100 feet. She is doing better day by day but continues to have alot of severe pain. She has gotten up a couple of times due to pain that radiates from her rib cage around to her back on both sides. She continues to press on and impress us all. God continues to give her peace and she is dealing quite well with yet another long hospitalization. She continues to tell us that all the pain is from the surgery and there has been no pancreas pain or the like.(which is rare because so many pancreatic patients have nerves that remain agitated for up to 2 years after the surgery and can cause some pancreas-like pain). But for Lacey there is no pancreas pain.
Because she has been able to get up and down, they did remove the catheter from her bladder today and that one one of many tubes that we are excited about removing. She has been sipping on some vitamin water and suckers, which continues to be sucked out of her stomach by the tube, but it helps her mouth! She remains on TPN for nutritional needs and the doctors are waiting on her bowels and intestines to wake up before taking out the NG tube and introducing food and liquids. The surgical team came by this morning and said all is going well and that Lacey is working hard, impressing them all. They said that nothin more could be done in addition to what she's doing. The medical staff here is great and consists of many doctors. Dr Sutherland, the chief, is such an encouragment to Lacey as he always has been, and the other docs are also very encouraging to her as she endures. They've given us no definite time from for discharge but i'm thinking it'll be at least another 7-10 days. Progress is being made daily and God's blessings cannot be described. Her insulin needs are minimal at this point and the docs think that her islet cells that were transplanted are already beginng to work. It will take time to know for sure how well the islet cells will work but all seems like she'll be insulin free in the weeks to come.
If anyone has any specific questions about her status or anything else that i may be overlooking please send me a comment on the blog or email me at jermnlace@hotmail.com. We have been taking some pictures and i hope to post them as soon as i buy some technological equipment that i forgot at home to transfer pics from camera to computer.

2009-10-30T03:44:00.003-05:00

So it's 3am and Lacey has had a restful night. She just woke up in some pretty bad pain and we decided it may be time to try to get up and walk..since that was the only option we had at relieving the pains. She was hurting on her rib cage on both sides radiating into her back. The surgeon warned her of these pains and said that her abdomen was held open with a binder for a long time and the ribs were stretched during surgery. That sounds very painful to me and we think the pains are from that stretching. So she got up and walked down the hall (very uncomfortably) and looked out a window that overlooks the MS River, which is a beautiful view. She seemed to get some relief from the pain, so we walked back into her room and she is now settled back in the bed resting. She continues to press on and she has gotten progressively better daily. She can't always see the improvements but as her family we see that she is improving and the nursing staff here also speaks of her improvements. I must say once again, the U of Minn has a medical facility and staff that is unmatched. The nurses here are amazing and the doctors come by 3 or 4 times a day. We have been treated like royalty and we are thankful. We are all encouraged and I must say again, it has been great not hearing that p- word in the past 3 days. It's history!

Post Opt Day 3

2009-10-29T21:04:00.005-05:00

Well we've made it through the third full day after surgery and Lacey has progressed every day. She was in alot of pain this evening and couldn't seem to get comfortable in bed so she decided to just get up and walk. We were skeptical but she wasn't. We got up and she walked about 35 feet then sat in a high backed chair for about 30 minutes and the pain seemed to decrease somewhat. She began to have pains again after awhile and we got her back to bed. That makes 3 walks today!! We are so proud and it feels great to see her making progress after the many weeks of struggles. She's still got a long long way to go before she's back to normal life again, but everyday is closer. She had a good night last night and we are hoping for the same tonight. All tubes and lines remain attached and we are hoping tomorrow will come with the removal of at least one tube. Doctors say we've still got 7 to 10 days left here in the hospital if all continues to go well, then we'll have a week or so to remain in Minnesota to make sure there's no other problems after she begins to eat. We are all so ready to get back home and get back to our life and church and families, but we are so excited about the progress she's made.

"We do not, perhaps, as yet, receive, or even perceive, the present and immediate benefit of some of our afflictions. There may be no immediate benefit; the benefit may be far hence and to come. The chastening of our youth may be intended for the ripening of our age. “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.” The affliction of to-day may have no reference to the circumstances of to-day, but to the circumstances of fifty years ahead." -
C.H. SPURGEON

More Progress!

2009-10-29T15:33:00.004-05:00

So the therapists just came back in at 3 and encouraged Lacey to get up and walk. She sat up with minimal assistance and they gave her the walker. She walked to the door, then to the hall(where she went this morning), then she asked to go further. There is a small room at the end of the hall that overlooks the MS River with chairs there for patients. She managed to make it to that room, which was over 60 feet from her bed(one way). She sat about 10 minutes and the therapists were in awe. She made it back to her bed and is now sleeping. The pain increased some with walking but is controlled by the meds much better than in the past two days.
She still has all the tubes and lines, and none of them will be removed until she can walk 4 times in one day, which is her goal tomorrow. She remains on TPN for nutrition and only gets minimal amounts of water and juice by mouth (which immediately is sucked out of her stomach by the tube in her nose). Just wanted to keep all our prayer warriors updated so that we can glorify God together with our thanks.

Ultrasound done!

2009-10-29T14:36:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to share with all that the ultrasound of the abdomen was done and lacey handled it well. she was quite uncomfortable during the exam but it lasted about 20 minutes. The chief surgeon (and our hero) dr sutherland came by and is very pleased with her progess this far and seems to think all will continue to go well. All the results to the ultrasound came back and were reviewed by the surgical team and all is normal!! What a blessing it is to get normal reports from doctors for the first time in 12 years. More updates later. lacey will walk again at 3pm, please keep begging God for His mercy and thanking Him for his blessings.

Post Opt Night 3/Morning 3

2009-10-29T12:01:00.004-05:00

Lacey had a greatly improved night last night and rested quite a bit better than since the surgery. The new medicine for nausea seemed not only to work for nausea, but also really helped her rest. The pain has decreased to a rating of 5-7 out of 10 which is great improvement after 48 hours of pain rated at 9-10 out of 10. Lacey did have some increased episodes of nausea last night but the meds kept it controlled. She laid in bed this morning saying "i really need to wake up, i shouldn't be sleeping at 1030am, i'm being lazy." ha! i encouraged her to please keep sleeping since she has gotten far behind on her sleep. She is so ready to get up and get out. The pain still seems quite a bit more controlled since the visit with the doctors yesterday evening.
AND NOW FOR THE BIG NEWS...
We were greeted at 11am today by the physical therapists and they encouraged Lacey that it was time to get up and move. She asked them if she could walk! Of course that's music to the therapists ears and they grabbed a walker and began the process. Lacey was able to sit up on the side of the bed with assistance and she slowly stood with the walker and walked to the door of the room, which is about 15 feet!! She was surprised at her own strength and needless to say the family that was here were snapping pictures and wiping tears. What a blessing to see!! Her legs actually seem stronger now 3 days post opt than they did before the surgery (since she had been in bed over 4 weeks). She managed to go into the hall and turn around, making it back to her bed. Pain before walking was 3 and after was only 6!! We are so thankful. Doctors and nurses are all very impressed and seem to think she's physically conquering this pain as quick or quicker than anyone they've seen. We are supposed to walk again today at 3pm so please pray specifically for her during that time. We even saw her smile today for the first time in days, and for me, her husband, my heart was blessed. That smile means more to me than words can say.
So for those of you who may be saying..."well what about the pancreas?" Well we hope by now the pancreas has began to rot and turn black in whatever hole of garbage it was placed in. And for lacey, she continues to say that there's an empty hole where that rock of pain has been for so long and we are so happy. All of her pain at this point is post surgical pain but it is getting better everyday. They have now ordered a liver ultrasound and from my understand that will serve to check the blood flow in the liver and check for clots. She is still on the heparin blood thinner and hopefully if the ultrasound is normal and all looks good, they may be able to get her off the blood thinner? (those are my thoughts, not heard that from a doctor). She is a little anxious about the ultrasound since we know they will have to press on her abdomen to get the pictures. Please pray that God will comfort her in that process. Thank you all for your prayers and continued support. God continues to provide all we need and more. He is truly good.

Post Opt Day 2

2009-10-28T20:34:00.004-05:00

Lacey has had quite a long day today. However, she was able to get into a chair at the side of the bed twice; for about 10 min the first time and about 22 minutes the second time.(yes we were timing because every minute is brutal for her and it counts!) She impressed us all with her desire to push through the pains and strive to get better. However, she continues to suffer greatly from pain and discomfort. She still has the tube in her nose, drainage tube from her wound and from her bladder, as well as a line in her neck for iv therapy. She also has an o2 monitor, cardiac monitor, and air compression to her feet, so you can see how tied down she must feel and how hard is must be to move, muchless get up and walk. None the less, God is keeping her encouraged and her desire to heal hasn't changed. She did tell me tonight that she couldn't continue to bear the pains and i know she hasn't slept in 48 hours now for more than 30 minutes at a time. With such a serious surgery, medical staff are checking on her hourly or more and between those times, she's having pains that prevent her from resting adequately. Lacey needs continued grace and mercy from God and she is so tired from over 6 weeks of struggling now. However i must say, we are nearing the end of this suffering and progress can be noted. Even on the times when she's stood, her legs are stronger than even before the surgery. I'm not sure how to comprehend how someone could lay in bed 5 weeks, have terribly weak legs, have an abdominal surgery of 12 hours, then wake up in two days stronger than in 5 weeks. That is God's mercy! We are seeing more of His mercy daily and it is new every morning. The doctors did come by this evening around 6 and increased Lacey's pain meds once again. Her pain hasn't gotten less than a 7 out of 10 since the surgery and once again, if you know lacey, you know that is great pains. They also ordered a new nausea med that i'm not terribly familiar with but it has made her very restful since about 7pm. We are thankful and hope she has a better night of rest. Testimonials tell us that things progressively get better after the first 24 hours so we are hopeful. Lacey has be so blessed because there is a young lady who had the surgery about 10 months ago, that actually got to sit in the operating room for lacey's surgery. she has also been by to visit lacey several times in the past few days. Her name is merita and she has great success with the surgery and she has been a great encougament for lacey. God has placed many many special people in our paths as we endured this suffering. We even got a visit from the dear Christian lady doctor who took care of lacey on thursday in the Er after the scare we had on the flight. She even prayed with lacey and i and encouraged us that things would get better. We are hopeful that possibly tomorrow lacey can get up in chair just a brief few minutes longer than today and maybe even walk a few more steps. there is even a small opportunity that doctors may remove the cathether in her bladder or maybe even remove the tube from her nose. Removal of any tubes would be progress for sure and would increase lacey's comfort. Pray that lacey will have a better day tomorrow and that people around the country and around the globe will continue to see God's grace and mercy in our lives. I pray that through this situation and perhaps even through our presentation of God's blessings on us in this blog, God may be pleased to reveal himself to someone and by his marvelous grace, draw someone into a relationship with Himself through Christ. May God bless all who read this blog, for we are thankful for the support of all.

Up in Chair on Post Opt Day 2

2009-10-28T11:37:00.002-05:00

Lacey was able, with the help of two therapists, to get out of the bed, stand up, take two steps and sit in a high backed chair for about 10 minutes. We are so proud of her. God is giving her strength and desire to really push herself toward recovery. We're still looking at 2 or more weeks here but she is motivated to get home as quickly as possible since we have been in the hospital and away from our dear darling elyse for 38 of the last 52 days. Not a fun journey but oh how we've grown! I will post again tonight but just wanted to share the news that she sat up and she continues to push her body toward recovery. keep praying!

Post Opt Night 2

2009-10-28T06:17:00.006-05:00

Lacey had another sleepless night and was awakened often by her pain and discomfort. However, as i watch her, i am beginning to see some small improvements. She is moving her legs and arms more in the bed and seems to be getting more ability to reposition herself. She started TPN last night (nutrition via IV) and because of that, her blood sugars jumped around a bit during the night. The nurses continue to check the sugars every hour and adjust the insulin pump so that sugar is kept on the low side of normal, hoping that the transplanted islet cells can continue to rest. The nurses seem to think that because Lacey is needed such small amounts of insulin in the drip, her islets are already beginning to work a little. She doesn't seem bothered at all by this, but i was looking at her fingers last night and they are just covered with marks from the multiple blood sugar checks. Hopefully the insulin and sugar regulation will level out so they can check the sugars less frequently and maybe the bruises to her finger tips can begin to heal. She will remain on the TPN for at least the next 4 to 6 days depending on how long it takes her guts to wake up and how long it is before she can tolerate some liquids and foods by mouth.The tube in her nose draining her stomach will stay in place at least another day or two depending on the nausea (which has been good) and the amount of drainage from the stomach. The drain into her wound will also stay another day or two depending on how much drainage is present.
On of the surgical medical students just came by early this morning and removed the dressing from lacey's wound. It looks really good and shows no signs of infection. The wound is mid abdomen and about 6 to 7 inches long. For those who have seen Lacey, she had a scar in this area from a previous surgery, but the surgeon not only made a new incision, he cut out the old scar completely and closed up the wound so that she now has only one scar that actually should heal and look better than the old scar. She will probably like this for aestetic reasons.
So we are sure that today on post opt day 2, they will be begin what the surgeon called "boot camp." They will have Lacey up and walking a few times today and possibly even in the chair to sit. She is somewhat anxious about this, as are we all. The staff here is very supportive and encouraging, and all have said that she will feel significantly better after some movement. She does still have wires and tubes coming from everywhere and this is going to be challenging when trying to walk.
All in all the first 36 hours have proven very very tough for Lacey. But this is expected and even patients with the best outcomes have very rough days in the beginning. Thankfully, there has been NO pancreas pain and no vomitting, which are the two things we were striving to rid with this surgery, so this means the surgery has been successful thus far. We are thankful. Please continue to pray for Lacey through the day today as she will be pushed beyond what she feels is physically possible. Pray that God will hold her up mentally, spiritually, and physically as she attempts to learn to walk again.

Post Opt Day 1 - TOUGH!!!

2009-10-27T20:40:00.004-05:00

So we've reached the end of post opt day 1 and as i type this we are exactly 24 hours out of recovery. Lacey has had a very difficult day and i would say she hasn't rested more than 10-15 minutes at a time all day. However, the surgeon and nurses prepared her for this and warned that the first day is absolutely horrific. They have told her that she has done as well or better than any other patients so she is encouraged and continues to press on. They are forcing her to deep breath and cough and even the tiniest cough seems so difficult since her abdomen was held open with steel binders for nearly 12 hours just yesterday. She is very weak physically but she remains strong in the Lord and continues to give Him praise. She told me today that her pancreas "spot" felt "empty"!! What a joy to hear. She has no pancreas pain and has had very minimal nausea today for the first day in over a month. Nurses came in tonight and helped Lacey sit up on the side of the bed and she even stood for about 15 seconds. Her pain was manageable although this was quite scary for her and her heart rate reached 160. She has had lots of pain meds today and has been in moderate pain that she rates about 7 out of 10 (for those who know lacey, that is alot of pain!) So tonight she is now resting fairly well, better than she has all day, after the doctors increased her medications again tonight. They have been checking her blood sugars hourly since she continues to get insulin in an iv drip so that the transplanted islet cells can "rest" til they find their new home in the liver and begin working. Her blood sugars have been well controlled and the endocrinologist came by today stating that Lacey will be on minimal insulin if any! We're hoping for a better day tomorrow and Lacey has an awesome attitude for recovery at this point.
In case you all aren't aware, things could be so different for us right now. There have been so many hurdles to climb the past 2 months and we were unsure if this surgery would happen probably over 20 times in the past 2 months. there were several financial barriers, physical barriers, and then when we actually flew into minnesota, we had that major scare with the 105 fevers. If we can't see God's hands in this situation, we must not know God's attributes. He is mighty, sovereign, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, and powerful. His plans cannot be thwarted and no one can take away that which belongs to our God.
In Romans 8:28-30, we read And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 ¶ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
This means that for the believer, the one whom God has soveriegnly saved by his grace, that all things are working together providentially by God's hand for the good of His people. So how do we apply that? We know that for the believer, we aren't equipped with the knowledge to classify our experiences as "good" or "bad", for God tells us through Paul that all experiences are simply for good...and not only for good, but for God's glory. On the other hand, for the unbeliever, all circumstances whether it appears good or bad on the surface(to those who once again are unequipped to decide), it is ultimately working for destruction and punishment of the unbelievers sin. Without Christ, all things cannot possibly work for good. Consider these things as you consider Lacey's sufferings as well as any sufferings that any of us may face in the future. God is in control and for His children, those who know Him, love Him, serve Him and have been regenerated by the power of his saving grace through Christ, nothing can work for our "bad," but all is for our ultimate sanctification and glorification. Therefore we can rejoice in our sufferings and trials for we know God, and by knowing God, we have assurance by Him that these things are for our good. Please pray that Lacey will have a restful night and that her pain will somehow begin to diminish because she hasn't had true sleep since Monday at 5am. But in this also know that whatever her night holds and whatever challenges may present tomorrow, God is soveriegn and He is working these things for our good and for his glory. We cling to this truth as we pray for God's healing on the body and strength of my dear bride.

Post Opt Night 1

2009-10-27T06:11:00.003-05:00

Well it's 603am and Lacey has had a fairly decent night from what the nurses say compared to the average patient. She has had constant pain and lots of it. The nurses and doctors say this is by far the most invasive and painful surgery a patient can have concerning the organs. Then intense pain comes from the amount of manipulation in the surgery as well as the removal of 3 organs and many many new connections to be made in the gut. Lacey pressed her pain button close to 350 times during the night and was only granted medication close to 50 times. She is getting a small constant infusion of pain medication called Dilaudid and can get extra doses every 10 ten for pain. Her pain has been so intense that she has pressed the button constantly, hoping for relief. They have increased the meds throughout the night and she is getting slightly more comfortable. The surgical team just came by and said that she had such a great surgery and a great transplant of islets that it is possible that she'll be insulin free before leaving the hospital in 2 weeks or so. The first 24 hours are very painful and critical but staff says that in days 2, 3 and thereafter, things will begin to get better. Her blood count has stayed good through the night, so there's no evidence of internal bleeding, praise God. Lacey has had no episodes of nausea or vomitting since leaving recovery last night and after all she's been through with nausea the past few months, that is a blessing. So for today, we expect her to rest in bed and possibly even try to sit up late this evening. Since surgery was so extensive and long yesterday, we're not expecting her to walk until tomorrow morning. Physically, she's doing well and has begun the long road to a pancreatitis free life. We are thankful! Please keep praying that God can be glorified through us in this suffering.

All Done - In Her Room..finally

2009-10-26T23:53:00.003-05:00

Lacey finally made it to her room around 1100pm. She looked very sick but i must say she looked better than i expected. She has lines and tubes everywhere and is in lots and lots of pain. These nurses here are pros at taking care of pain and Lacey has been kept somewhat under control. She is having back pain (as any of us would after 12 hours on a 3 foot wide stanless table), she is also having abdominal pain and lots of tightness to her back and abdomen. However, she says NO PANCREAS PAIN!!! We are so thankful. The nurses will monitor her blood sugar every hour and adjust the insulin drip to keep her blood sugar as low as possible. They also have her on Heparin to keep her blood thin so there are no clots. The blood sugar is to be kept very low because they want the freshly tranplanted islet cells to rest as long as possible so that they can take up new residence in the liver. They will also be monitoring liver tests, and hemoglobin every hour or two to check liver function and to check for internal bleeding. We should know more about how things will be by morning and things should be more stable by sun-up. I am sitting her beside her thanking our God once again for His blessing on her and praying (along with hundreds of others) that He will continue to watch over her and protect even tiniest cells in her body. She will keep the nasogastric tube, the drainage tube in her incision and the central line in her neck for a few days at least and it will be several days before she can eat again. As i type she is pushing her pain medication button at least once every 30 seconds and seems to be hurting a lot. Nurses say tonight and tomorrow will be the worst so please pray God will continue to comfort Lacey. On a lighter note, the doctor did manage to get some good pics of the pancreas with knife in it, as Lacey had requested. He is gonna email them to us so keep a watch for those. We will celebrate the removal together. Thank each of you for praying. God is amazing and i can say that because i am experiencing God in a way that i have never before. He has truly changed my life through this experience.

In Recovery!!

2009-10-26T19:15:00.005-05:00

Dr Sutherland just came out and said all was done! Lacey is in recovery after nearly 12 hours of surgery. The islets were transplanted and they were able to infuse nearly all of the islets that were harvested. They gave her 7500 per kg which is over twice the amount that they consider successful (read my previous blog). The doctors seem very very optimistic of her recovery but say since there was such a large amount of islets infused, the pressure in the liver rose significantly which increases the risk for clots. Because of this she will be on a constant infusion of heparin (blood thinner) for 4 to 5 days, which increases her risk for bleeding. He said the risk for reoperation for bleeding is high but we should know by sun-up if she bleeds or not. As for now, Lacey is in recovery and we are not able to see her. From my understanding, she has a drain coming from her wound in the abdomen, as well as a tube down her nose to empty her stomach. She also has a central line in her neck for in fluids and blood. I'm sure she looks very ill after a long day of surgery, and even as a nurse i am praying that God will prepare me to see my wife in such a poor physical condition. We have missed her dearly today and i even keep thinking my phone will ring at some point and it will be her, but i must be reminded that she is STILL not awake. i miss her dearly and am so thankful God has provided this means for her healing. We should know between now and 10pm if she will be put on the intermediate care unit (sorda like ICU), or the Intensive Care unit. Her disposition from recovery will depend on how long it takes her to wake and how her respiratory status is after weaning off of the anesthesia. I am forever thankful to my merciful God for his grace in our lives and pray that He will continue to provide us with mercy and grace as she battles this recovery. Lacey is very very weak since she hasn't been out of bed in over 4 weeks and she will basically have to learn how to walk again...starting tomorrow. The therapy team here is very aggressive and as i stated in my earlier blogs, lacey is ready for the challenge. She is truly an inspiration to me and i'll never be able to tell her how much she encourages me. We remain here in the surgery waiting room and hope to hear from the nurses at some point on where they will send lacey for tonite. I will keep you updated as things change but for now all has been without a mishap and lacey got plenty of islets which should be great for avoiding long term insulin use.
I cannot express to you how much God has blessed us in this situation and my faith in Him is increasing daily. You may think i'm crazy but i am thankful that he has placed us in these trials over the past weeks. His glory is being revealed in the lives of us, his children. The doctors, nurses, techs, hotel attendants, flight attendents, and others are swept away by our desire to continue to love our God and serve our God as we suffer. God is God, and God is good, He is mighty and all his ways are just. Lacey will endure, and with endurance, God will give strength and healing. He has given her an amazing testimony of His healing power and our knowledge of Him and faith in Him tells us that regardless of what happens tonight, tomorrow, next week or next month, Our God is controlling all things, and working all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to His purpose. Praise His Holy Name!

Update #3

2009-10-26T16:50:00.002-05:00

So we finally heard from the doctor...the pancreas is still being processed in the lab. Her pancreas was moderately larger than the normal pancreas, which is requiring longer to process. The islet cell lab called and said that she has close to 587,000 islets yielded. In simple terms, she has a great yield of cells. the doctor likes to get 3000 cells per kilogram infused in order to have 75% or greater chance of no diabetes. If they can get all the cells yielded into Lacey's liver, she will have roughly 10000 cells per kilogram which would be nearly unheard of!! the doctor is quite positive of her outcome but has a rare concern: he thinks that she may actually have too many islet cells to infuse, which is a good problem. Even if he gets half of her total yield (587000) she would still get twice the average amount, which puts her in real good position to be diabetes free. God's hand is in this and we see it continuously!! The doctor is hoping to get at least half to 3/4 of the total amount of cells infused which will put lacey in good shape concerning risk of diabetes. He said the liver would only hold a certain amount of the infused tissue/cells and we can't know how much the liver can hold until it's infused. We should get islets by 530 and it will take about 2 hours to infuse them into the liver. so we're looking at 8pm or so finishing surgery and then maybe 9 or so getting out of recovery. Been a long day. that will put total time around 14 hours for Lacey. please keep praying, expect another update between now and 730pm. thanks for your support and prayers. God continues to hold us up by His grace. Praise be to Him.

Update #2

2009-10-26T13:42:00.002-05:00

Just had a great visit from dr sutherland. he said lace did very well and that there were no surprises. said that she is very stable and that the pancreas is in the lab being processed. Said she would have major major pain as she awakes later tonight. He expects the cells to be back by 3 or 4 and maybe another 2 hours to inject them and close the wound. We are hoping this all will be over by 6 or 7 this evening which will be a long day for lacey! God continues to bless us. The doctor showed us plenty of pictures from the surgery and we'll get them emailed and show everyone later. He did take a picture of the pancreas with a scapel through it which will thrill lacey. NO MORE PANCRAETITIS! i'm sure you can somehow know what joy we feel. Lots of road ahead with lots of rehab and lots of pain. God's providences continue to amaze us. please pray for her. look out for more updates in a few hours!

update #1

2009-10-26T11:22:00.002-05:00

Just got a call from the operating room nurse telling me that lacey is doing well. They have successfully removed the pancreas, spleen, and appendix without complication. The pancreas is now in route to the lab where the islet cells will be processed. This may take 3 - 4 hours. We are expecting a visit from the surgeon at any time now, so i'll re update the blog after we meet with dr. sutherland. Keep holding her up in prayer. We konw that God is working through these doctors and his will is perfect. Please thank Him in your prayers as this progresses.

Surgery is Underway!

2009-10-26T08:12:00.008-05:00

i'm gonna try to keep the blog updated very often today as soon as we hear updates from the doctor. God has been wonderful to us. Lacey had a much better night last night..probably the best night she's had in over a month. She rested well and we slept in the hospital bed together. It was good for the both of us. After we got her clean last night, we were able to fix her hair and dry it and straigten in by midnight. After that she went to sleep and slept all night til the surgery staff woke us up this morning at 6. I know it is the peace of God that passes all understanding that is guarding her heart and mind. It baffles me to think of how she could rest so well the night before a 12 or more hour surgery that will change the rest of her life. I am so thankful she rested!
Her hopes and spirits were soaring this morning and the surgeon came by to see us in the pre surgical suite. In Lacey's surgery today, there will be a medical student observing that actually had the surgery 10 months ago. She spoke to Lacey prior to the surgery and brought us all to tears. The young lady said she was exercising 3 months after her surgery and now 10 months later, she's in medical school. She told Lacey that if she could, she'd climb on the mountain top and yell to everyone how great the surgery was. Lacey was soaring spiritually and emotionally as the surgery team rolled her out the door. The last words she said as she rounded the corner into the surgery department were "To GOD Be The Glory!" What a joy it was for us, her family, to hear her constantly praising God even through suffering. We are blessed.
One more small area of interest: Lacey asked Dr. Sutherland to take a picture of her pancreas with his phone. She asked the doctor to stick a knife through the pancreas and take a picture of it..ha. He agreed so we'll look forward to seeing that.
God has been good to us. God's providences in our lives are too numerous to count. It's now 821 and we've not heard any news. I'm assuming she's asleep and the surgery is being done. They will probably not call or talk to us until the pancreas, spleen, and appendix are gone. May be around 11 or 12 but i'll let everyone know soon. Please pray for us continually! God is amazing, and the glory is and will be His!

Surgery Eve!!

2009-10-25T12:44:00.012-05:00

Lacey is doing slightly better today and seems encouraged by the thought of today being her last day of life as a patient with pancreatitis. She has several things today that will be prep for surgery. There will be plentiful blood tests today as well as visits from surgeons, social work, dietary, labortory, surgical, and lots of other specialty staff. This hospital is simply amazing and God has placed us in the best possible facility I believe in the world. From the janitorial staff to the cheif 40 year veteran surgeon, every person has been absolutely wonderful. Lacey is also required to take two showers with a surgical scrub today and we have finished the first shower this morning. The showers are challenging because Lacey is very weak, in pain, and has lines and cords stuck everywhere. We made it through the first shower and she did well.
Lacey has also been having problems since the flight in with convulsions, shaking and shortness of breath. These episodes come about every 4 to 6 hours. They are very scary for Lacey and the family as well as for the doctors. Lacey's parents remembered that she had reaction just like that in her teenage years after recieving high doses of phenergan. The doctors have ordered today for us to stop the phenergan in hopes that these spells will stop. She has done well last night and today so far just with zofran, which is a milder medication for nausea.
So the surgery is scheduled for 740 in the morning and they will take Lacey from the 6th floor down to the 3rd around 545 for surgery prep. We will have some family time around 615 and the surgeon Dr. Sutherland will come and talk to the family around 715. Lacey is very excited and we are counting down the hours and minutes. They will take out her pancreas, spleen, and appendix, which will take about 5 hours. They will then take her pancreas to a lab about 15 minutes away to extract the cells that make insulin. The pancreas will be placed in a centrifuge and spun down and the islet cells rise to the top. The cells will be delivered back to the operating room and injected into the portal vein of the liver. They will then close up her incision. The doctors will give Lacey blood transfusions during the surgery due to high blood loss. They say it should take about 9 to 10 hours but could last up to 16 or mor depending on the cell extraction time. They've encouraged us that long operating times do not mean complications, the hold up is often based on how long it takes the lab to extract and transport the islet cells. I will keep the blog updated frequently tomorrow so keep watch for updates.
Wanted to share a prayer from a puritan that my father in law shared with me. Mind you that these puritans faced suffering, trials, and persecution..mentally, physically, and spiritually, and some were even put to death for their faith in Christ. Read this prayer and consider sufferings:

SOVEREIGN COMMANDER OF THE UNIVERSE,
I am sadly harassed by doubts, fears, unbelief,
in a felt spirital darkness.
My heart is full of evil surmisings and disquietude,
and I cannot act faith at all.
My heavenly pilot has disappeared,
and I have lost my hold on the rock of ages;
I sink in deep mire beneath storms and waves,
in horrow and distress unutterable.
Help me, O Lord,
to throw myself absolutely and wholly on thee,
for better, for worse, without comfort, and all but hopeless.
Give me peace of soul, confidence, enlargement of mind,
morning joy that comes after night heaviness;
Water my soul richly with divine blessings;
Grant that I may welcome thy humbling in private
so that I might enjoy thee in public;
Give me a mountain top as high as the valley is low.
Thy grace can melt the worst sinner, and I am as vile as he;
Yet thou hast made me a monument of mercy,
a trophy of redeeming power;
In my distress let me not forget this.
All-wise God,
Thy never failing providence orders every event.
sweetens every fear,
reveals evil's presence lurking in seeming good,
brings real good out of seeming evil,
makes unsatisfactory what I set my heart upon,
to show me what a short sighted creature I am,
and to teach me to live by faith upon thy blessed self.
Out of my sorrow and night
give me the name Naphtali - 'satisfied with favour' -
help me to love thee as thy child,
and to walk worthy of my heavenly pedigree.

From The Vally of Vision - A collection of
Puritan Prayers and Devotions

Night 2 - Pre-surgery

2009-10-24T06:59:00.002-05:00

Lacey has had a decent night's rest, however she's had more nausea and vomitting over night. She has had two major episodes of nausea and vomitting. Once about 2am and another about 530am. The fever seems to be down and the chills and tremors have not occurred through the night. Last temp at 655am was 98.7. Her heart rate is now 89 and it has came down from the 120's since the fever has subsided. She is quite restful now, very weak, and difficult to even communicate with due to large doses of medications required for her severe abdominal pain. I am sitting at the triple window on the 6th floor watching the sun rise over the Mississippi River as I typed, thanking God for another day of life and vitality. He remains faithful and He continues to bear us up. Today should be a day of rest for Lacey with hopefully less visits from nurses, lab techs, radiologists, surgeons and other medical staff. Yesterday was tough for her due to the high volume of staff and tasks to be done throughout the day. Please pray she will rest comfortably. Also seems that the antibiotics are working or either the inflmmmation from the injections is settling because temp has been normal through the night.

As I meditate this morning, I can only think of the Exodus 14 account of Moses leading the Isrealites out of Egypt and out of the hands of the Egyptians. The Lord had hardened the heart of Pharoah and the Egyptians continued to pursue the Isrealites to the region near the Red Sea. The Isrealites grumbled toward God and Moses requesting that serving the Eyptians would be better than dying in the wilderness. Deliverance wasn't immediate. All hope was gone for the Isrealites, but the meekest of men, Moses held strong to the Lord's promises and continued to seek God. In verse 13 Moses said, Fear not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord," and in verse 14 Moses said, "The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace." Then God told Moses to lead the people close to the shore of the sea. After all hope was gone for the Isrealites and they were submitting to serving the Egyptians or dying, God's timing and Moses' submission delivers them and His glory is magnified. Verse 18 follows : "and the Egyptians have known that I am Jehovah, in My being honoured on Pharaoh, on his chariots, and on his horsemen." Verses 19-20 And the messenger of God, who is going before the camp of Israel, journeyeth and goeth at their rear; and the pillar of the cloud journeyeth from their front, and standeth at their rear,20 and cometh in between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and the cloud and the darkness are, and he enlighteneth the night, and the one hath not drawn near unto the other all the night. Here's where I apply! The Isrealites waited and were protected all night by God, and then with sunrise, came the parting of the sea and the crossing into Canaan.In verse 16 God finally tells Moses to "lift up thy rod, and stretch out thy hand towards the sea, and cleave it, and the sons of Israel go into the midst of the sea on dry land." Then the Egyptians pursued and God caused the wheels to fall off their chariots as Moses held out his rod and the walls of water to the right and left closed in on the Egyptians.
Here's application for me: We sit in this room, tired and worn, Lacey in pain and nauseated. We've been hospitalized for 37 of the last 50 days. We feel like we're at the banks of the sea, encamped between waters and enemies. Our lives at times seem to have no way of deliverance. But as the sun rises each day God renews our strength and as He controlled the winds and the currents preparing the sea to part, He's controlled the winds and currents of the tiniest details of our lives, preparing us for deliverance. We press on. Our faith is not as the Isrealites who grumbled wanting to submit to Egypt and Pharoah or die, but I, like Moses will say "fear not ,stand still, see the salvation of the Lord." I am trusting His providential hand as I watch Lacey suffer seemingly encamped on all sides by pain, nausea, confusion, fever, chills, and total weakness. Her deliverance is near. God is good and all His ways are good. Praise be to Him.
Please continue to pray for us. Also pray for doctors and nurses that will be caring for Lacey over the next few weeks.

Arrival to Minnesota / Hospital Day 1-2

2009-10-23T23:03:00.002-05:00

Well I'm not sure where to start but I will say that our first 24 hours in Minneapolis has been eventful to say the least. Sorry I haven't blogged lately for those of you who follow this, but life has been challenging..moreso than in the past. I'll try to be brief but I want you all to know the happenings so prayer can be specific.
Lacey woke up yesterday morning at home feeling quite well. We packed our last few items and boarded a plane in Gulfport, all hopeful, and although weak, Lacey was feeling better than she had in weeks. Our flight to Memphis was rather uneventful with the exception of some first flight jitters from our dear little Elyse, who I must say has been a trooper! Sometime as we were getting off the plane in Memphis Lacey began to have chills and weakness. Our connection time there was very short and we only had about 45 minute to prepare Elyse and ourselves for the cold weather upon arrival in Minneapolis. However during this short time, Lacey's health began to falter. We boarded the plane and took off for Minnesota at 2:23pm. Elyse put up a fight on the flight but finally fell asleep but for Lacey things continued to deteriorate. She had increased chills and weakness than led to confusion and slight combativeness. I was scared. Her mother, our helper, and our blessing from God was several rows up on the plane. About 30 minutes prior to touchdown in Minnesota, Lacey got terribly sick. Began to try to nurse her, while holding Elyse, who remained asleep, and I was trying not to stir up all the folks on the flight around me, although they were obviously aware Lacey was very ill. She lost recognition of me and Elyse and began to think she was in many different places. She become very frightful and combative against me. I checked her sugar and it was good at 120. Then I pulled out a thermometer and checked her temp, which was 103.5, and I knew we had problems. She was having convulsions, and was now unable to communicate or even hold her head up. Let me add here that on Wednesday she had 4 immunizations that are required for surgery. I had no idea what was happening but she then passed out and I was really out of my league as a nurse. I had no idea what to do. She woke up sobbing, calling her momma, and telling me goodbye and that she was dying. I truly believed this was the last time I'd speak to my wife. I was very fearful. I held her in my arms, while holding sleeping Elyse and praying that my God, the God of my salvation, the God of all knowledge and power, would somehow keep my dear wife with me long enough to land the plane. I notified the stewardist who got Lacey's mother to come take Elyse. There was also a nice doctor on the flight that came for moral support, although none of us knew what to do. Her fever was firing, her heart rate was 160 and her respiration were over 50 a minute. She was not cooperative. We were all fretful.
So the stewardist notified Minneapolis Paramedics who met us once we finally landed and to shorten things up, we had a wild ride to the hospital, leaving our dear child with Lacey's mother...who was now responsible for 7 large suitcases, 3 carry ons, and a 25 pound 10 month old. I was on the ambulance crying for God's mercy and listening to Lacey scream in the back as a wonderful female paramedic with a strong northern accent attempted to make her comfortable.
This is really lengthy, but we made it to the ER of the hospital where the surgery is scheduled, and thank God, Lacey's mother made it to our hotel with the baby and almost all the luggage. At the ER, staff was wonderful, Lacey was horribly ill with a fever now of 105.7. She now was having terrible pains to her pancreas and nausea which compounded the issue at hand. Nurses and a wonderful Christian doctor tended to her and she was comfortable within 10 minutes. Fever was still flaming. Lacey did become more aware of her surroundings but we were both quite scared, in a new city, with new symptoms that we'd never seen concerning the pancreas. After dozens of tests and lots of doctors we were admitted to the floor, wondering if the surgery was even gonna be possible, thanks to the high fever.
She suffered on and off all night with terrible chills fever and pain, but i must say there's no place like University Medical Center in Minneapolis. It sets the bar for what a hospital should be. These folks are great. I owe them thanks for the rest of my days.
So sunrise came and with sunrise came more doctors, more tests and more of our God's grace and mercy. We had a visit from Dr. Black, one of the surgical partners who said all tests thus far seem to be absent of evidence of an infection and that it seems to be a severe reaction to the immmunizations from Wednesday. We are thankful for that news. Then later we receieved a visit from Dr. Sutherland, the chief surgeon and pioneer of the pancreatectomy auto islet transplant. He allowed us to sign consent for surgery and said Monday would be the day of Lacey's dreams and that the surgery would be done on Monday. This was the assurance Lacey and I needed to keep pressing on.
So from that point up until now at least, we have continued to pray and beg for God's grace and mercy. It is now 1145pm and Lacey has had a better day. She has still had lots of pain, but thankfully no nausea and she has actually been eating meals by mouth without any tube feedings. Her fever has continued to rise and fall and has stayed around 103 all day. She has terrible pain and inflammation at the site of the injections to her right shoulder. We are still waiting on some of the blood cultures to tell if there's any infection in her blood stream but all signs now are pointing to a reaction to the immunizations and the surgery is still on for Monday. She has had a couple of bouts with severe chills and anxiety today and due to the fever, she has been unable to stop shaking at times. She's quite restful now and I must add that staff and doctors at this facility are simply amazing and God continues to provide wonderful people in our path to provide us with encouragement. Our families have made it here and we are thankful.
I will add briefly about the surgery: the doctor said today that they would cut lacey from her upper belly down the center to her belly button. Her pancreas, spleen, and appendix would be removed. The pancreas will be taken to a labortory about 15 miles away and it would be spun down in a centrifuge, making the islet cells (that produce insulin) rise to the top. These cells would then be transported back to the operating room and injected into Lacey's liver where hopefully they will take up residence. Doctors reminded Lacey that this pain would be the worse she's ever felt and that it would feel like a car accident that broke her to pieces. They encouraged her to be tough and to walk as soon as possible after the surgery. Upon hearing this, Lacey's eyebrows furrowed and she said, "I'm gonna set the record for walking the soonest after my surgery." She said "God will give me strength, and I'll show these doctors how it's done." She is very ready to fight the fight. Please pray for her as she prepares to undergo this operation. Pray that God will continue to hold her up and encourage her to press on.
sorry for the choppy nature of this post, i'm trying to paint a picture of Lacey's situation, and we are tired as the clock now reads 1212am. Our God is mighty. He is mighty. Faith in Him is real to me. I have no strength in myself to continue, Lacey has no strength to give me and I have none for her, but my friends, please know our God is a consuming fire, His strength is sufficient even when we look upon the face of a spouse not knowing when you'll see her eyes open for the last time. Our God holds us up and He will provide a means for us to glorify Him. Pray that He is glorified as we suffer, and that Lacey's suffering would be ended with relief of this pain and an ability for her to live somewhat more normal than she has in 12 years. Thank you our brothers and sisters. We love you all, and may God bless you through our testimony and sufferings.

WE'RE HOME!

2009-10-17T21:02:00.002-05:00

Before writing this post, I took a few mintues to read through some of the past posts that were written as Lacey laid in the hospital bed with vomitting and pain every hour or two for a period of 18 days. I can only think of the desparation that was in my tone as I typed updates regarding her condition and our pleading for God's mercy to make it stop. Now as you may know, we lay at home in our bed, after a day of fellowship with our beautiful child, and we can only think of how God works and how He has been glorified through the suffering we (specifically Lacey) encountered. People all around the community have held us up in prayer, supported us financially, and even fed our family meals. God has been glorified! His people have ministered to each other, and His name was exalted. His power and soveriegn grace delivered Lacey from a bed of tears on the 7th floor of Forrest General to her bed of comfort at home. He gave her renewed strength day after day, and when she couldn't feed on physical food, she had to feed on the truths implanted in her heart. We are thankful. God has used this situation to spotlight his mercy and grace and to provide us with a faith that we didn't have 20 days ago. This faith he's built in us will be a faith that He may use to continue to bear us up as we endure another long hospitalization beginning next week. God is not overtaken or overwhelmed. God has been working for our good and for His glory even since 11 1/2 years ago when Lacey, as a 12 year old girl, wept in the ER of Stone County Hospital with unbearable abdominal pain. His plans to be glorified will not be thwarted. We are excited about the future He has for us.
Concerning Lacey's health state now, she has pain and nausea still, even here at home. She continues to take meds by mouth to control these discomforts, but thankfully she is able to keep medications down. The doctor was somewhat skeptical about discharging her on Friday (as i was), but thank God, she has done quite well at home. It's no secret that I and the doctors are quite nervous about handling her case outside the hospital due to the acute and unexpected epidodes of pain and nausea. She has done very well since arriving here at home. She has the PICC line with TPN flowing in from 8pm to 12pm which is 16hrs a day. We have a home health nurse who helps with the nutrition and Lacey is doing well. She is able to eat soft baked potato here and there, and also had some bland noodles today. She is so thankful for every bite she eats, and I can only be humbled by the ability God has given me to eat and digest food. I've learned to pray specifically before meals, thanking God for my ability to eat and digest the food He's provided. It's more to me than being thankful for the food, it's about being able to eat it and my body being able to use that food. Please continue to pray for Lacey as she recovers. Her leg strength is returning and she is now able to walk unassisted but she remains very weak. She is very content being at home (as you can imagine) and we will be flying out on thursday moring oct 22nd.
We beg that our Christian family will continue to approach our God on our behalf. Continue to pray that God will be glorified in us and in our situation. Pray that He will heal Lacey and even prepare the tiniest microns in her to be able to heal and respond to the surgery in a positive way. We can't thank you all enough for your support.

Phillipians 4:19-20
and my God shall supply all your need, according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus; 20 ¶ and to God, even our Father, is the glory—to the ages of the ages. Amen.

Hoping for Home!?!?

2009-10-15T19:41:00.003-05:00

Well it seems that Lace has continued the very slow and gradual trend of getting better over the past day and a half. She was so hungry last night and I asked dad and mom to pick her up a plain baked potato from wendys (mind you that she's had nothing more than broth and suckers for 18 days, most of which didn't stay on her stomach) and I took the potato and scraped it off to make her soft potato. Needless to say she loved it and she even licked the plate clean. Thrilled our hearts to see her enjoy even a basic bland bite of tater. Since that time, she's seemed to have ups and downs but she has had some soup and more liquids and even more potato tonight. Her pain and nausea persist but are not as severe. The vomitting has been minimal and Lacey's mindset, attitude, and faith have really increased. We are thankful for her recovery to this point and we continue to pray God's blessings on her for the next weeks to come.
As for her, the doctor said today that we are planning for discharge home tomorrow! These plans do hinge on Lacey's level of health and strength and regardless of when we go home, we are set up to be on home health, with TPN nutrition via her PICC line to continue at home. We are hopeful and encouraged with that news since today is our 18th day in the hospital and away from our dear little miracle daughter. The plan is that Lacey will continue the TPN up until the flight to Minnesota on Oct 22nd and then we will possibly (depending on how she is) be admitted to The University Hospital for care on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the surgery to follow on Monday. So much more could be mentioned here regarding finances, plans, and Lacey's health but instead of getting entirely lengthy, I will say God is good, His plans will endure and will not be thwarted. Our road ahead is challenging even still - physically, emotionally, financially, and spiritually, we are challenged. We are thankful for this time, for we are being sanctified through this suffering and God is increasing our faith. Please continue to pray for Lacey as we come near to the day of this surgery.
Here is a passage that was shared with me recently. Hope it will affect you in some way:

Isaiah 40:21-31

Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 23 who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. 24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.
27 ¶ Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”? 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

2009-10-13T22:41:00.003-05:00

It is with overwhelming unspeaking joy I write tonight as I have recently seen the outpouring of God's grace and mercy in our lives evidenced by the love and financial contributions given to us by our family and friends. Thank you to each one involved. I am still in tears nearly 4 hours after the event. God is so good. We sit here in the hospital in the depths of suffering, and on the outside, thousands of people are functioning and working on our behalf, serving our Lord so that His perfect plans can be fulfilled in our lives. Our suffering is made bearable with knowledge of God's grace, and with the sight and experience of absolute Chistlike love from our family and friends.
Lacey's doctor changed her over to pain meds by mouth today in hopes of getting her on the road to going home. She was more than upset this morning when the doctor came by and informed her that she wasn't ready for home. She has since accepted that there are more days to be spent here and that we must continue on. She had a fair day considering that some of the IV meds for pain were withheld and the meds by mouth didn't seem to control the pain quite as well. The doctor also encouraged Lacey to get up and walk the halls (which is truly unheard of after 16 days of pancreatic spasms - Lacey calls them "charlie horses in her pancreas") but none the less, with hopes of convincing the docs to let her out of here, she decided this afternoon that she would walk pushing Elyse in the stroller with me holding her up and her mother pushing the IV pole. Lacey didn't want 10 or 12 feet, she wanted to go the nursing station to prove to the nurses that she could. She successfully made it, with obvious signs of pain, and as we returned back the door of our room, she collapsed into my arms. I lifted her entire body and put her in bed and she regained consciousness. Her low blood pressure and weakness caused her to pass out, but she did walk! She is determined to go home and her attitude and emotional state has been slightly better this evening, praise God. He continues to strengthen her.
I sat at her bedside after the amazing benefit supper and I talked and she listened. I told her of all the people, named specific names, and we discuss how humbling it was to have such support from so many dear people. We cried and cried together, both thanking God for his blessings and begging God for his mercy. We are tired, our families are tired, and even our church families are tired because this has been a group effort. However, God has not lost control, God is not tired, God is not waiting for someone to tell him what to do - God is perfectly controlling this situation and anyone who has followed us over the past months must be able to see God's wonderful providences. We are grateful.
Sorry to be lengthy, but my heart is full and we feel so blessed. Please, please continue to pray that God would be pleased and that His purposes would be fulfilled, and that if it would glorify Him to take this pain from Lacey, that He could do so. We love each of you and our lives are being shaped by this sufferring. We are forever changed and God is to be glorified!

For those of you who know Jerry Doggett, my Christian brother and friend who now looks daily upon the face of Christ, you know the following passage was dear to him, He, while dying of brain cancer, held fast to this passage and continued to uplift his church family. This passage will always be near to me as I remember how God used Bro. Jerry, even in the very pit of his suffering:

Romans 8:38-39 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord

2009-10-13T07:09:00.002-05:00

Lacey has had a much better night and remains asleep even now as I type this. She has had less pain and less nausea even between periods of sleep and continues to get medications but the medications do seem to have longer lasting effects. We hope to see the doctor this morning and get a good report and Lacey is very very very ready to go home. Not sure if it'll be today but we're hopeful! One new concern we have is that her PICC line which runs from her left bicep up through her shoulder into the top vessel of her heart, is having problems. She has extreme soreness to her under arm and shoulder area, but staff says there's no sign of infection or blood clot at this time. We will show doctor the concern this morning, so be in prayer that God will provide relief in this matter. We are thankful for her progress and we remain strong in the Lord, although we falter and even question God's purposes at times. We still know the our God is a mighty fortress, a bulwark never failing, and he is the rock of our salvation.
A thought that continues to cross my mind is the thought that God is our creator. With the title of creator comes many implications. He has created us from nothing and upholds us by his power. He knows our every part, every atom, and every body system that works within us. But God does more than "know" us, he continues to make us work, he holds us in place, and works his will through us. He did not create us and then step back to watch his creation move and function as an inventor would a robot. He created us, knows how we work, and causes us to move, stand, and accomplish that which he deems best. I can't help but think that even the smallest enzyme or atoms or cells of Lacey's pancreas are under the soveriegn control of our mighty God. He will be most glorified through it's functioning..or disfunctioning. Our prayer remains that even through suffering, pain, or unto death, we can only wish to glorify our God with the lives he's provided to us. In the few times over the past 16 days when Lacey's medication levels were low and she had moments of lucidity, she ensured me that she knew God had purposes here, and that she was more than ready to give of her life for his sake. He continues to preserve her, and we are thankful, but his purposes will not be thwarted and we are His. Please continue to pray for Lacey and her healing, but be sure to pray primarily for the will of God, not for our comfort and happiness. We know that what is His will will ultimately bring us the most comfort and happiness. Thank you all. May God bless you my dear brothers and sisters.

2009-10-12T16:38:00.002-05:00

Here we remain in the hospital and after a rough evening yesterday and some severe pain, nausea and vomitting around 7 last night, Lacey seemed to have had some relief over night. She slept very well and only woke up once around 3 am. Today, she's had some nausea but only one episode of vomitting and the meds seem to be working well and she seems more relieved between doses of nausea and pain meds. She is using much less pain meds and actually took 3 small cups of chicken broth today. We are seeing progress thanks to God's healing hand and we are thankful. However, Lacey remains very homesick and even says she feels almost trapped between the 4 walls of this hospital room. Please continue to lift her before the throne of God in prayer and beg for His mercy and grace in her sufferring. She continues to get nutrition via TPN through her PICC line and doctors are encouraging her to increase the fluid intake by mouth as much as possible with hopes of advancing to a liquid diet...and discharge home!! Seems like we may still be a day or two away from that but today's progress has encouraged us both. Thank you for the prayers and please know that the God we serve is never failing, never sleeping, and He is not surprised or overwhelmed by any happening for we know that He is our creator and He plans every detail of our lives. Our sufferring is to glorify Him for we know that all things are working for our good and for His glory because we love Him and we are called according to His purpose. Praise be to Him from whom all blessings flow.

An awesome quote from C.H. Spurgeon:

I, the preacher of this hour, beg to bear my little witness that the worst days I have ever had have turned out to be my best days, and when God has seemed most cruel to me he has then been most kind. If there is anything in this world for which I would bless him more than for anything else it is for pain and affliction. I am sure that in these things the richest, tenderest love has been manifested towards me. I pray you, dear friends, if you are at this time very low, and greatly distressed, encourage yourselves in the abundant faithfulness of the God who hides himself. Our Father’s wagons rumble most heavily when they are bringing us the richest freight of the bullion of his grace. Love letters from heaven are often sent in black-edged envelopes. The cloud that is black with horror is big with mercy. We may not ask for trouble, but if we were wise we should look upon it as the shadow of an unusually great blessing.

2009-10-11T10:04:00.002-05:00

It seems that the sleeping plan is working. Lacey had a very restful night and only woke a few times. However, when she was awake, the nausea was present. She is continuing to make progress and we are very thankful. Her pain seems to have dimenished markedly since a few days ago. For, Lacey at this point, the physical battle she is in has really evolved into a spiritual and emotional battle as well. For all of us could only imagine laying in a 14x18 room for 15 days and being away from our family. Lacey is very active but the inactivity is really becoming a challenge for her. God grants her grace and mercy daily and He renews her strenth morning by morning and by His power, she continues to press on and her thoughts last night and today have been very positive. Please pray for her in this matter that she can continue to rest in the soveriegnty of God and His peace. He is being glorified even in the midst of her sufferring and Lacey would be the first to say that she would be delighted to be used of God for His glory, even if it meant suffering as she is. He is working in the lives of many, and we are thankful. Please continue to bear us up before God's throne of grace so that He may continue to be gracious and merciful unto us although we are unworthy. I'll post another update this evening on her progress today.

Lamentations 3:21-24 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

Hospitalization day 14

2009-10-10T14:25:00.002-05:00

Dr. Phillips came by today and wanted to change things up a bit to try to halt the intractable nausea and vomitting. Lacey says that her pain is seeming to dimenish somewhat but the nausea is persistent and from the vomitting comes pancreatic spasms. Dr. Phillips removed the nasogastric feeding tube :D but wanted to start her on TPN. TPN, for the non-nurses, is nutrition that is provided via the intravenous route. Lacey has the PICC line in her arm that provides her with IV fluids and the TPN will be hooked to that line and the nutrition will be provided into her veins instead of in her stomach. This is hopefully give the stomach a rest and allow the gastro system to relax. The doctor also ordered a new medication to increase Lacey's sleep so that the vomitting will stop. He said "I've never seen someone vomit in their sleep, so we'll make her sleep so the stomach can rest." The nausea has been purely brutal and Lacey is sore all over from the heaving. We are hopeful and praying that this step will change the course of things and allow her to rest and heal. God continues to be gracious to us and we are daily overwhelmed by His provisions. We are also overwhelmed by the ourpouring of kindness and support from our family and friends....and even people who we don't even know. It's difficult to know and understand just how valuable and precious the family of God is until you see Christian brothers and sisters literally lay their life aside and devote time, efforts, and money to assist another Christian. Thank you all.
As for Minnesota, all still remains planned and we are very excited. We plan to fly out on Oct 22 and have preopt on Oct 23. The 24th and 25th is the weekend and hopefully we'll have a restful one in Minnesota(and hoping to stay warm), then the surgery will occur on Oct 26th. Please continue to pray the God will be glorified through this and that Lacey could have releif of this 12 battle.
Thank you again for the outpouring of God's love through your prayers, love, and support.

hospitalization day 12

2009-10-08T20:01:00.002-05:00

So we remain in room 7701 of Forrest General and although Lacey has made some progress over the past 2 to 3 days, she remains very weak and in pain with nausea. Lacey has used markedly less meds over the past two days but is unable to keep enough food down to sustain life without assistance from the tube. She had a very bad episode of pain about an hour ago and got some medication to relieve the pain. Lacey is very tired and wonders how she can continue life in this health state. We only have less than 3 weeks until the surgery at University of Minnesota so please continue to pray that God will provide Lacey with pain relief and strength to travel and withstand the stress of the major operation. We remain hopeful for we know our hope lies not in the temporal, mortal strengths of our own mind and body but our hope lies in the eternal immortal, invisible and wise power and strength of the one true and living God. He is providing Lacey with strength daily and although at the close of each day she feels as if there's no strength for tomorrow, God provides and she endures another day. Please bear her up before His throne as she has been in pain and away from our beautiful daughter now for 12 days. God's word tells us that He will never leave us nor forsake us and that all things work together for the good of those who love God and who are the called according to His purpose. Lacey knows Christ as her Savior and God's mercy and grace allows her to endure. Thanks for the prayers, please pray specifically that she will rest in God's peace and that her mind and heart will continually commune with Him during these times of suffering.

Isa 26:3 Thou dost keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusts in thee.

Praise God from whom all blessing flow!

2009-10-07T18:15:00.001-05:00

here is the exact email i received just a few minutes ago..we are so thankful!

Jeremy and Lacy, I have moved the surgery to Monday, Oct. 26th, which means you need to plan to arrive for pre-surgery physical on Friday, Oct. 23 @ 9:00 in the Transplant Clinic where you met with Dr. Sutheralnd previously. Lacy should get the following immunizations before she comes for surgery... As I recall, Lacy already did the boost meal test, so she will not have to repeat that for the surgery. Also, now that we have a nurse coordinator with our program, you will hear from Louise Berry at some point and you will be able to meet her at Lacy's clinic appt on the 23rd. Congratulations on the approval, and look forward to seeing you soon.

May all the praise be unto our God and Father! Keep praying, He is providing!

hospitalization day 11

2009-10-07T17:03:00.000-05:00

Praise be to our Lord! Lacey had a better day with much less need for pain medication and nausea medication. However, she still remains with pain and nausea that seems to be hanging on. We continue to pray for God's upholding strength in this time of suffering. I did get confirmation today from Mr. Jim from Minnesota regarding insurance and finances and seems that the financial part of the surgery is going to be possible with the combination of insurance payment and some out of pocket costs..at this point, relief and healing is worth millions to us. Please pray that God will continue providing funds and means for us to have the surgery in three weeks. We are deeply thankful for the funds that have been donated up to this point and words are not adequate to express the appreciation we feel. Lacey remains with the picc line for iv meds and fluids and also with the nasally inserted feeding tube(which is quite uncomfortable). We are hopeful that discharge from Forrest General may be within the next 2 to 4 days if the improvement and blessings continue. thank you again for your support and keep watching blog as we hope for definite surgery plans to be determined in the next 2 to 3 days.

Psalm 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!

2009-10-06T17:35:00.000-05:00

Lacey has had another rough day and the doctor ordered a feeding tube this morning to be inserted through her nose and past her stomach into her small intestine so that she could get adequte nutrition and allow her pancreas and stomach to "rest." The insertion was very difficult and painful but Lacey endured. She had nausea, vomitting and pain on and off throughout the day today as it has been in days past. She is resting now as I write this and we are hopeful that the insertion of the tube will begin the healing process. Please continue to pray for her as she deals with the same discomforts of the past attacks in addition to the discomfort of the feeding tube in her nose. As for the surgery, we did hear from Jim, my new friend in Minnesota that has been our advocate in dealing with the insurance company here in Mississippi. He continues to give us hopeful news regarding insurance coverage and we are thankful for God's provisions in this thus far. The surgery remains scheduled for October 27th and could potentially be moved up to October 26th. Continue to pray that Lacey will build strength and that her nutrition will be stable so that we can make the flight to Minnesota and so that she can recover from such an invasive surgery. Also pray that God's perfect peace will gaurd Lacey's heart and mind through this suffering as we know that no strength and no joy is sufficient for us but the strength and joy provided by God in Christ Jesus.

Phillipians 4:6-7 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

2009-10-05T16:29:00.000-05:00

It Jeremy writing for Lacey today. She's had somewhat of a worse day today thanks to her pain and nausea. Doctor Decoux came by this morning threatening a feeding tube(again) and seems to be set on tomorrow for insertion based on the results of Lacey's protein level in her blood(which is low even when she's "healthy"). So please continue to hold her up before the throne of grace and pray specifically for her faith to hold strong and for God to uphold her and sustain her physically, mentally, and spiritually as He always has. Lacey is very tired. Her body is weak and she has muscle cramps and sore abdominal muscles from vomitting..on top of an angry pancreas. She knows that God is a righteous perfect and soveriegn God and her sufferring is for His glory in some way. I have been on the phone off and on all day with insurance representatives and financial reps at The University of Minnesota Medical Center and things are quite cloudy on whether the surgery will be affordable for us. We're talking mega bucks! God is still working and nothing surprises Him or sneaks up behing Him. He is not a God affected by fatigue, nausea, weakness, hunger or labile emotions. HE WILL PROVIDE. We should hear more news tomorrow regarding insurance coverage and out of pocket expenses. In the meantime please continue to pray that Lacey will begin to feel stronger soon. We are still on for October 27th for the surgery and we are still very excited!

" DON'T YOU KNOW THAT DAY DAWNS AFTER NIGHT, SHOWERS DISPLACE DROUGHT, AND SPRING AND SUMMER FOLLOW WINTER? THEN, HAVE HOPE! HOPE FOREVER, FOR GOD WILL NOT FAIL YOU!"
C.H. SPURGEON

2009-10-04T19:36:00.000-05:00

Still flat on my back in the hospital and my pain and nausea continue. Using less medicine for pain and nausea and thankfully got to take in some clear liquids today. My angry pancreas will not stop the spasms. God will continue to be merciful to me in this and His love is preserving me moment by moment. So excited for my surgery and so excited to eat a normal diet of which I've not tasted in nearly 12 years. Surgery date remains at Oct 27th. Jeremy is supposed to hear confirmation from the insurance company tomorrow regarding payment. Our church families, and Christian brothers and sisters are ministering to us and God is providing our every need. Even the nurses on the 7th floor have donated to our fundraising for my surgery and recovery!

Psalm 40:11 1 As for you, O LORD, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!

NEW SURGERY DATE!!!

2009-10-02T19:09:00.000-05:00

Just when we thought we were blessed beyong measure, Ann Marie emailed Jeremy today and offerred a surgical date of October 27, 2009! 38 days closer than the original day of Dec 4! I remain hospitalized on day 5 of this trip to Forrest General with severe pain, nausea, and vomitting. As my sufferring continues, God's providential hand continue to lead and guide my life. His plans are being fulfilled both now and for my future. We are so thankful!

GOT A DATE FOR SURGERY

2009-10-01T19:02:00.000-05:00

Praise our God! We got an email from Ann Marie today offering me a surgery date for December 4, 2009! We are excited and didn't expect the surgery until late Dec. God is soveriegn and He continues to provide. We expect to arrive in Minnesota on Dec 2 and have all day clinic consultation on Dec 3.