Dad's surgery posted

Late afternoon today - the Lord's day - we had a small conference in room 505 of Bethany Hospital.  Dr. Stephen Alfred was doing his evening rounds and reviewed Dad's condition with us.  He was happy that the bile drainage was taking place and that Dad has not shown any further sign of infection.  Dad's liver function test this morning showed that his direct bilirubin count has come down to 10.  So in consultation with Dr. Kannan, Dr. Stephen feels that we should use this window opportunity to do the surgery.



Sheba and I had talked with Dr. Stephen about this last night - and then I had a heart-to-heart with Mum and Dad this morning.  I told them that we are doing this procedure because we see it as the best opportunity to extend Dad's life given the reality of a pancreatic cancer.  The surgery is complicated but is being done by a a skilled surgeon who does this procedure regularly.  There is every possibility that once the opening is made, the tumor is discovered to be inoperable after all - but this is the time when doing a surgery will have a positive impact.  Later when the tumour spreads the day of surgery will have passed.  

I also talked to Dad and Mum that we really do not know what the post-operative challenges of healing will entail.    We expect a number of days in the ICU and then more days of healing in the wards of Bethany hospital and physiotherapy before Dad can be discharged home.   Our hope is that there will be no complications - that God will protect from infections and allow the newly stitched together organs to work with each other - and that healing of body will accompany the healing of soul and spirit that Dad continues to experience in this process.


Dad's response was that we are fully in the Lord's hands - and that He is absolutely good and totally in control.  And that over the past few years Dad has said hundreds of times that we are totally in His hands.  Mum and Dad expressed their confidence that God would see them through - and so we prayed together this morning - holding hands and committing ourselves to His hands.

Sheba and I had talked this morning that we want to trust God.  We know that there are many potential complications in store - but we want to express our hope and faith in the Lord to see Dad and Mum and all of us through with this.  When patients whom Sheba treats told her that they trusted God and asked her to do whatever was possible to help them, it gave her the confidence to move forward.  We sensed that God was asking us to do the same for Dad - to entrust him into God's hands and the hands of the surgeons that God has provided for us.

 
Dad expressed this thought in a communication to a very special person in His life earlier this evening: "As I go under the knife in the morning I know my life is in the Lord's hands.  My whole confidence is that the Lord is in total control." 

A few minutes ago Dad told someone "I feel like I am flying at 30,000 feet with all the prayers of God's people supporting us."

And so the countdown has begun. The bed in the ICU was already been booked for Dad this morning.  The lady from the blood bank has also come with the forms for the frozen blood plasma that Dad will get tomorrow.  Dad just got a body shave.  As I write this, Stefan will have landed from Delhi and is wending his way across the Mumbai traffic to be with us tonight.  Premi wrote a special letter to Dad which I was able to share with him and Mum this afternoon.  The prayer engines are revving up - I have just written a letter that we will be sending tonight to all the people on Dad's email list.  

We expect Dad's surgery to start at 9 AM Indian Standard Time.  How long will it last?  Perhaps 4-5 hours.  

Thanks for being along with us on this journey.




This lily bloomed at our house yesterday...  a sign perhaps?