A lot has happened in the last week. Here is an update of what is going on with Kelli. Wednesday we met with the oncologist. He was AMAZING! He talked us through the cancer, seemed very positive about a quick recovery, suggested removing the lymph nodes in her neck as a precaution, and wanted to set up a pre-op surgery for Friday. The four of us, Chad, Em, Kelli, and myself left in a pretty good moods. We felt very confident in his abilities. We “Yelped” a yummy Thai location near the hospital, had a fabulous dinner, and actual adult conversation, with no children to interrupting. It was AMAZING!

Friday, because the last few appointments have been so easy going, Kelli decided to have a friend take her to her pre-op appointment. They actually put her under with anesthesia, did exploratory work, even put a camera down her throat to see if the cancer had spread. We all thought it would be the same news that we had heard on Wednesday, as well as the week before, so we were all very surprised by the not so good news. To be honest, I didn’t think the doctor was actually going to give the results of the test that day. I don’t know what we were thinking not being there with her. Kelli’s friend did a wonderful job taking notes, and promptly called me after her conversation with the doctor. The good news: the doctor did not find any cancer in her throat. The not so good news, the tumor on Kelli’s tongue was a lot bigger than what they had originally thought. The surgery went from a 3-4 hour surgery, to a 8-9 hr surgery. Her hospital stay from 2-3 days, now 7-10 days. The surgeon will have to do reconstructive surgery on her tongue to recreate the part that they will be removing. The recovery, originally thought to be 6 weeks, now we are looking at a lot longer than that. This was devastating news, but the doctor continued to remain positive about her overall recovery. He mentioned that he had a patient a year ago, that he did the same surgery on, and he was speaking normally now. I immediately jumped in the car to drive to Kelli, to be the one to tell her the news. We spent the day together, catching up on t.v., and crying about the uncertain future, but confident that God has a plan in all of this. My personal opinion? My sister is an amazing writer, and I think she is going to have a TON of time on her hands to write her AWARD WINNING NOVEL! 🙂

Since the recovery is going to be an extensive amount of time, Kelli has decided to have her surgery in Sacramento, rather than Southern California. She had just recently moved back down here, with a job change, but Nor Cal is her home. It’s where my parents are, they are going to take such good care of her, and it’s where many of her friends and church family are, people that love her so much. My mom flew down on Saturday, and helped Kelli pack a few of her things to take with her. They drove home on Sunday. I am so sad that I’m going to be far away from her during this process, but I know that it is going to be the best place for Kelli to be able to relax, and recover. Now she just has to talk my dad into getting cable, we’ve both decided she needs to pull the “cancer card” on that one! 🙂

Tomorrow morning at 11 A.M., my parents and Kelli meet with another surgeon in Sacramento. The surgeon from So. Cal has sent all of this notes, and his plan on what he would do in her case, to this surgeon. Depending on how the appointment goes, she will possibly be scheduled for surgery soon. Please pray that God will give them all the wisdom to know if this is the doctor they should go with, or if there is another surgeon that would better fit my sister’s needs. We continue to appreciate your prayers for Kelli, all of your phone calls, e-mails, texts, etc. This has been such a crazy few weeks. We continue to trust in the One that holds all things in the palm of His hands. He is in control. Even when we don’t understand, why? He does.