Janie Update 1-14-2010

So its about 3:15 on Thursday, and Janie is resting comfortably in our living room recliner by the pellet stove with a drink and her ipod. She'd had a restless night and felt kind of funny this morning. "Is my breathing weird? Am I dizzy? Is this what shortness of breath feels like?"

She decided to call the cancer center to see if
she could get a chest x-ray to see if the lungs had collapsed any more. So we headed off to RRMC at 9:30 this morning and got the x-ray. Dr. Eisemann (the Oncologist) had a look and saw that the left lung was a little worse (at about 40% collapsed), and recommended a chest tube. He said it would be ok to wait if we wanted, but he also said that these things tend to not go back into place on their own very often. So we decided to go for it: put in the tube on the left side this time.

Dr. Louras, the surgeon, just happened to be in the hospital this morning and had a look at the x-ray and concurred that now would be a good time for the tube. So by 12:30 we were in the little outpatient procedure room...again! And that's when Dr. Louras announced that it would be good to put in two tubes: one on each side! "You're here, I'm here, we'll remove the tubes on Monday and we'll add a special medicine (on Monday) on both sides to try and get these lungs put back in place."

By 1:30 we were on our way home - you never know what a day may bring!

(If you are interested, I gave a little description back in December of the tubes and their one-way 'flutter' valves here.)

Prayer requests:
We would like to ask all of you to please pray that these tubes will drain all of the air out just like they are meant to, and also please pray against infection: the tubes are in for a little longer than last time.

Pray too that the procedure on Monday to remove the tubes and add the medicine to make the lungs 'stick' will go perfectly.

Please pray that her coughing will subside completely; its painful to cough with the chest tubes in and we kind of think that the coughing is causing at least some of the lung collapse.

Please pray that she will sleep...a lot.

Thank you all so much...your prayers on our behalf mean so much.

Janie sang these words to herself while Dr. Louras put the tubes in:

Beneath the cross of Jesus
I fain would take my stand,
The shadow of a mighty rock
Within a weary land;
A home within the wilderness,
A rest upon the way,
From the burning of the noontide heat,
And the burden of the day.


Upon that cross of Jesus
Mine eye at times can see
The very dying form of One
Who suffered there for me;
And from my smitten heart, with tears,
Two wonders I confess--
The wonders of His glorious love,
And my unworthiness.


I take, O cross, thy shadow,
For my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than
The sunshine of His face;
Content to let the world go by,
To know no gain nor loss--
My sinful self my only shame,
My glory all the cross.