Janie Update from 12-7-09

This was sent in an email to friends who pray for Janie...I realized I needed to post it here for those who get news of her through the blog...

Merry Christmas-time!
Today Janie said, “I have learned that when I go to the cancer center on Mondays there is no such thing as an uneventful day.”  Today was definitely no exception to that little rule. We went in for a treatment today with a few questions, mostly regarding Janie’s cough. “Is it from mere(?) post-nasal drip or is it from a grapefruit-sized tumor that was maybe growing on her lungs?”

Well, Dr. Eisemann put in orders for a torso CT scan to get a good picture of her lungs. While they didn’t find any new tumors (for which we are relieved and praising God!) they did find that Janie’s right lung has separated a bit from its usual position (it has ‘sagged’ if you will) and as a result,
a little air pocket has formed above her lung. This is called a “Pneumothorax.”  So basically, Janie has a partially collapsed lung from all the coughing! Here’s (at least as pieced together by Dr. Chris) why that would happen:
-Head radiation (back in August) led to:
-Aggravated sinus membranes, which led to:
-Post-nasal drip, which led to:
-Coughing, which led to:
-More coughing, which led to:
-Continued coughing, which led to:
-Right lung became detached from the chest wall a bit, which led to:
-A partially deflated lung (pneumothorax), which led to:
-An air pocket above the lung, which leads to……………..
-A very basic, garden-variety out-patient procedure tomorrow.
Dr. Louras (the surgeon) will put a tube in Janie’s chest and will vacuum (really!) out the air in the pocket. The lung then should re-inflate to it’s normal size and assumes it’s original position.
So there is the reason for this email! We just want to ask you all to pray for Janie, that she would be peaceful and know the closeness of the Comforter as she goes in for this procedure. Please pray for Dr. Louras, that he would do a spectacular job on a routine procedure. We’d also want to pray against infection and that the lung would perfectly adhere itself back to the chest wall where it belongs. Pray too that the cough would go away completely!!
I’m sure you’ll all think of other things to pray as well, as the Spirit leads.
Thank you all so much!
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah 9:6
Love, Chris for all