I have had many people asking me what is going on with my health, so I thought I would blog the story. I have been wanting to get back to blogging, so this is a nice jump start :)
In August of 2007 I was admitted into the hospital for what they thought was appendicitis. While looking at a CT scan they happened to notice a “blip” on my pancreas. From there I was referred to Mayo Clinic to have an endoscopic ultrasound and biopsy of the mass. The biopsy was benign (Praise God!) and I was told that I would need surgery to have the tumor removed. Since I was getting married 1 month (to the day) from the biopsy they said I could wait until after the honeymoon to proceed with the surgery.
After the honeymoon they rescheduled me to meet with the surgeon in April 2008. The day before my appointment I found out I was pregnant! Obviously, this was a HUGE surprise. Since I was pregnant I couldn’t have surgery or even a CT scan to see how the tumor was doing.
On December 27, 2008 I gave birth to my beautiful little girl, Tatum Elizabeth. After I recovered I started the whole process again to get the tumor removed. In January 2009 I had another CT scan to determine if anything had changed. The tumor had grown a little and they also found another mass in my omentum. In February I had a bunch of tests / scans done to try to determine if the mass in my omentum was related to the tumor on my pancreas. Those tests came back negative, which was a good sign that the tumor on my pancreas wasn’t spreading.
They decided before I had the surgery to biopsy the mass in my omentum to determine what they were dealing with. I went in for the biopsy and they couldn’t find any tissue to biopsy! Thank you Jesus! When I spoke with my doctor today, she said that she thinks it could have been something related to my pregnancy or it could possibly be a ruptured ovary.
Bottom Line: I will be having surgery on March 26 to have 1/3 of my pancreas removed and possibly my spleen. They will also take some samples of my omentum to confirm that everything is OK there.
I want to say thank you for all the prayers and support. There have been times through this almost 2 year process that have been very unsettling and scary. I never thought in a million years at age 27 I would be dealing with tumors.
The silver lining in all of this is that I have learned the hard lesson of what it means to give yourself completely to God and trust Him with the things you cannot control. I hope this doesn’t come across as cheesy Christian talk because God has done something in me that has forever changed my faith and my life. My one prayer is that God is glorified in me no matter what the circumstances might be.
6 comments:
we will be praying for your upcoming surgery and as always let us know if you need anything! love you.
I know what a challenge this is for you. My first experience with tumors was at the age of 18. After all was said and done 7 doctors agreed that I could not have children. During my third pregnancy my doctors were telling me something had to be done to stop the miracles. That 3rd child is Andrew Snyder. God's plans don't always go as man thinks they will. The most important thing to do is trust in the Lord and lean not on our own understanding. Acknowledge Him and he will direct our paths.
So awesome Darieth! I understand what you're saying about facing experiences where having faith in God is the only choice. I had a similar experience when one of my daughters got a corneal infection and three eye doctors told us she would lose her eye. God is amazing and I am so thankful that He is in control of our lives. We will keep you and your awesome family in our prayers!
Wow! You have had quite the journey with this.... We will definitely be praying for you! if we can so anything at all please let us know! Love ya girl!
There is no doubt about it... you show people who God is through your approach to all of this. It is a beautiful display of leaning on God for strength and perspective. We, of course, will continue to pray for you.
So glad to know that you have a blog! FB is fun, but I love keeping up with all my friends through their blog events and thoughts. I will definitely be thinking of you this week as you undergo surgery. God is definitely in control and will be with you and your family throughout everything. God is good, all the time, all the time, God is good! Love ya girl!
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