Breaking News!

Mom is back home in time to celebrate her birthday!!

Last Monday, April 11th, Mom went to Jackson Memorial Hospital for her big surgery.  About 2/3 of the pancreas along with the spleen were removed.  In technical terms, she underwent a distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy.  The doctors thoroughly checked the areas around the remaining pancreas and any necrotic (dead) tissue as well--everything came back free and clean of cancer!  Compared to the surgery they were expecting to do--the Whipple procedure--this is great news.  She is able to keep the healthy portion of her pancreas and the recovery from this surgery is much quicker than if the Whipple procedure had been performed.  She returned home this Saturday, April 16th, and is doing beautifully at home, looking forward to a speedy recovery, and being back on her feet and cancer free!!!  Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers.  They mean so much.

"We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not driven to despair;
persecuted, but not forsaken;
struck down, but not destroyed."
 2 Corinthians 4: 8-9

Surgery Update

The time for surgery has come!  My mom asked me to keep everyone updated with the details of her surgery on this blog since she will likely not be up to many phone calls or emails in the next few days.  She will have surgery at Jackson Memorial Hospital on Monday, April 11th at 8am.  The surgery will probably last several hours and they will attempt to remove what's left of the necrotic tumor on her pancreas (and possibly much of the pancreas itself).  It is expected that she will be in the hospital for at least 7 to 10 days and then return home for a slow recovery at home.  My Titi Delia will be flying in from Puerto Rico to help my mom out for a few weeks after her surgery.  We are all so grateful that she will be with her sister during that recovery period!

All of my siblings were able to spend this past weekend together with my parents.  They had a lot of fun hanging out and even though I was sad to miss the festivities, I had a great two weeks during my Spring Break in March and really enjoyed my mom and dad's company.  I promise to keep everyone up-to-date on Mimi's progress via the blog.  In the meantime, please continue to pray for my mother and hold her in the light.
My mom says that she is looking forward to the last stage of this chapter.  I say amen to that!

More soon -  Angie

Here's a shot of my mom celebrating her birthday a few days early.    She will probably be in the hospital still recovering from surgery so she and my dad decided to go all out with a Hibachi dinner.