Looooonnnnnngggg story short, I have a choleasteatoma in my right ear, or a benign tumor for my non-medical friends. It is near the sigmoid sinus which is a blood vessel that begins the jugular. There is a chance it may not "fully" be a choleasteatoma but just infection etc, but we can't tell from the CT scan and because of where its at so far back in the mastoid cavity they can't see it from looking in my ear. So I had two choices: wait and watch it, or go ahead with surgery and at the very least he can revise my ear anatomy a bit to make the opening bigger and easier to clean which would be beneficial and if it IS a choleasteatoma, remove it. Jord and I both felt confident in Dr. Jacob and the decision to proceed with surgery because we don't want to risk it growing and causing damage to the blood vessel and I have been having symptoms and ear pain since last May.
Where it gets complicated and I would love tons of prayer is my lungs and the fact that this doctor DOES have privileges at UMC still but he works at TMC and has no "OR block time" meaning he can't get a specific time for surgery which means then he can't have the scrub nurses and people that know what they are doing with ear surgeries in the OR so we are trying to see if UMC will give him a start time or if my sinus ENT who works there would be able to donate some of his OR time to me. If that doesn't work out, then worst case scenario, I would have to have the surgery and be admitted at TMC then transferred to UMC to be watched by my lung doc. Although this sounds simple, it very quickly gets complicated, especially when you throw insurance into the mix and then the two hospitals and their rules and policies so we are hoping and praying that UMC will give him a start time and that the scrub nurses that are familiar with ear surgeries would be there because that will minimize surgery time, which is crucial because I need to be intubated for as short a time as possible because the longer I'm under, the harder it is on my lungs.
I will also likely have to be desensitized to whatever IV antibiotic we chose so our ideal scenario would be to be admitted to UMC ICU to be desensitized, have the surgery, and remain there for however long my lung doc thinks my lungs need IV antibiotics to recover. Please pray for God's favor in all of this and for it to happen quickly and smoothly and for insurance to see the need for admission to a typically outpatient surgery.
Also, I won't go into details, but a dear family friend, Mark Voss, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 Prostate cancer and he is in his early 40's with a wife and two young kids. They were missionaries in Columbia and Jord grew up with his wife, Monica. There is also several other people very close to me that are dealing with life threatening health issues so it has been a VERY rough week emotionally for me. I'm thankful I serve a big God and He is mighty and in complete control and reigning on His throne even though we don't understand His plans for our lives this side of heaven, but we can trust that "as for God, His way is perfect" (Psalm 18) and "I have a good portion and inheritance from the Lord. You maintain my lot, the boundary lines have fallen to me in pleasant places." (Psalm 16) This world is full of sorrow and suffering and diseases because of sin, but thanks be to God that Jesus Christ conquered that sin on the cross and 3 days later rose from the grave and now sits at the Father's right hand and intercedes for those who repent and place their trust in Him! What precious truths and promises to cling to in the midst of difficult trials.
Thank you for your prayers and I promise I will write more "fun" stuff soon and give you lots of picture updates!
In His Mighty Grip,
Rachelle :)
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