Tomorrow is the big day...

From Alyson:

It's 8:30pm... less than 12 hours until surgery time. Meredith is still getting things together for tomorrow, so I thought I would give you a quick update with some prayer requests for tomorrow.

Meredith, Mary (her mom), and I met with the oncologist, the surgeon, and the plastic surgeon on Friday. It was an exhausting day of appointments and paperwork but we all felt better prepared for tomorrow when we were finished. We got great news from the oncologist. All the labs and tests looking for metastases came back clean-there are no other obvious tumors in her body! Also, chemo will not start until 6-8 weeks after the surgery. That puts the first chemo treatment into early October which gives the doctors more time to get her eggs harvested and put them on ice (almost double the amount of time we originally expected)! As you can imagine, there was a deep sigh of relief (and thankfulness) when we got these updates.

Another story of God's faithfulness...Meredith has been very careful about when and how we have talked to Katie and Gracie about everything that is happening. (I am so thankful that she is a trained play therapist-she knows how to explain all this in ways they understand!) Since surgery was coming up, Meredith was looking for various supplies for "medical play" with the girls. The wonderful staff at the plastic surgeon's office were eager to help us get what we needed, but they ran into roadblocks as they looked for one item in particular- a JP drain. A single drain costs more than $50, so there were not many "spare" ones lying around. Earlier this week, I got an email from the nurse apologizing because they weren't able to get one for us. I was disappointed, but I knew God wants to protect Katie and Gracie's hearts and minds even more than I do. He knew exactly what supplies Meredith would need to talk to them. I left it at His feet. No more than an hour later, I got a second email from the nurse saying that the hospital GAVE a fully functional drain to the doctor to give to us! He owns the cattle on a thousand hills...and the medical supplies of a thousand hospitals! Yesterday, we had a sweet time of explanation and play with the girls as they played surgeon on their dolls. (see pictures below) Katie already says she wants to be a doctor when she grows up, so playing surgeon was VERY exciting!

Ok, now for info about tomorrow:

Meredith's surgery begins at 7:30 AM (that means an EXTREMELY early morning for all of us) and is expected to finish around 1:00 PM. She will be spending one or two nights at Houston Northwest Medical Center. We will know her room number when she is in recovery tomorrow. I will update the blog as we get information. Meredith's mom, Mary, will be wearing the prayer pager during the day tomorrow, so continue to page her as you pray! The prayer pager number is 713-200-0069 (just put in your zip code). I know it will be an incredible encouragement to all of us!!

Meredith is looking forward to seeing everyone again, but she has asked that visitors be limited to immediate family on Monday. On Tuesday, I'm sure she will enjoy having a few visitors. She is expected to come home on Wednesday.

If you would like to help with meals, a care calendar has been set up for Meredith. Email me at alysonjpmiller@gmail.com for the web address and code. If you would like to send her a note while she is in the hospital, feel free to email me at that address. I will print them out and share them with her.

Prayer requests:

1. Wisdom, energy, and expertise for all who are involved in the surgery. This includes respecting the "sterile field"...you can ask Meredith about that one later. :)

2. Peace and comfort for Meredith. This is MAJOR for her in so many ways. She has been in many hospitals as a nurse and done many procedures on patients, but she has never had an IV herself, never had stitches or a broken bone, and never slept in a hospital bed; so this is like jumping into the deep end...

3. For Meredith, a deep "heart" understanding that body and soul, she is marvelously made (Psalm 139:14 from The Message).

4. Strength and endurance for the rest of us (Mike, Mary, Nathan, Alyson, and anyone else I'm forgetting) as we sit at the hospital and as we care for Meredith in the coming weeks.