Serious Change of Plans

Tuesday (8/28) Matt and I headed down to Indiana University for Matt's surgery (on 8/29). The surgeon called to find out when we would be arriving; he asked to see Matt prior to surgery. Since we were arriving late Tuesday we decided to check in early Wednesday and go see the doc. We met with him just after 9am (surgery @ 1pm). The visit shocked us.

The AFP count in Matt's blood went from 233 to 600+ in one month. The tumor is nearly double in size. With this new info the cure rate from surgery alone dropped to 20%. The possibility of hitting the nerve that would not allow Matt to "release the little guys" (for Erica) also increased. The doctor wanted us to cancel surgery and start chemo immediately. Wow.

Everyone at I-U was great. They gave us time to talk about it and completely understood our desire to talk to our pastor. They let us speak with an oncology nurse, who gave us more detailed info. She even encouraged us to have our pastor come meet with us before making a final decision. They completely accepted our need for some time and addressed our concerns in a very understanding way.

To make a long story as short as possible, after alerting nearly EVERYONE on every prayer chain, Matt and I just asked God to give us His peace. After 12 months of "no" God gave us peace about chemotherapy. We cancelled the surgery, fed Matt TONS of food (since he hadn't eaten it 12 hours) and are now setting up everything for Matt to start chemo on Sept. 10th.

Our MAJOR deciding factor was the peace of God. If He had not comforted our hearts...well, I don't know exactly what we'd be doing! But He gave us peace and we are moving forward. As we looked at our options He also gave us some good information...things we thought we knew, but didn't.

First, the chance of Matt losing fertility is only 40%...and its technically not a total death of "little guys" (again...trying to consider my sensitive friends...hee, hee). Generally what happens is the number of "little guys" drops in about 40% of men. It doesn't usually end in total infertility. We also learned about precautions they take to protect Matt's kidneys. AND...they recommended three oncologists in TC who have worked with the leading testicular oncologist at I-U...and one of those doctors has agreed to see Matt. So we will be seeing a testicular cancer specialist in the area!

I wish we could tell you why things happened like this, why we've ended up right back where we started, but I can't. I can assure you, however, that Matt & I have peace from God. Our hearts have always been to follow Him. We want nothing more than to be obedient to Him, to love Him and to glorify Him in this. If we made any mistakes along the way, we thank God for loving us enough to draw us back into His will. We thank Him for getting us the correct information and for giving us His peace in knowing what to do.

Be blessed!