The beginning

There have been so many people asking what is going on that we figured that the best way to spread the word is for me to write a post so that everyone will know what we know and will hear it from us.

Here we go...

My mother-in-law, Janet, has been in moderate pain for the last 6 weeks. We haven't known the source of the pain and started thinking maybe appendix. She went to the doctor for the first time a month ago and they ordered an ultrasound to look at her gall bladder. The ultrasound showed that she had a kidney stone. Then she went to the Urologist and they sent her for an x-ray of the abdomen and it confirmed that there was no kidney stone but that something was irregular in her gall bladder and the pain was getting worse. She didn't want to give up. So the doctor scheduled her for a Nuclear Medicine test. She went for that on Jan. 23 and it showed that she basically only had 9% gallbladder function (50% or higher is good and what you want). So they sent her to a surgeon who said she was a good candidate with an abnormal ultrasound and NM test to have her gall bladder taken out. A week before her surgery she started getting severe pain in her left lower quadrant (the opposite side of where the pain had been). She went back to see the surgeon the Monday before surgery and had blood work and they thought it was diverticulitis and put her on antibiotics.

So that brings us to Thursday, when she went in for routine outpatient gall bladder surgery at 8 am. The doctor went in with a scope to check the diverticulitis and found her intestines had adhered to her abdominal wall, she was able to free some of them but in other places she had to leave it because it was unknown what was causing it. The doctor wasn't even able to get to her gall bladder and said that she could tell that there was a cyst on one of her ovaries and she couldn't visualize the other one and that her ovary looked abnormal. So she closed her up and transported her (by ambulance--she is claustrophobic and HATED it) to Mercy hospital to have some more tests run. She had some more blood work and a CT scan and then we WAITED, and WAITED for 24 hours...

The doctor just came in and told us what she knows. She sent tumor markers in to be tested. Janet's ovarian cancer marker (CA125) came back at 288. The normal value is less than 30. The doctor told us that she has seen values as high as in the thousands. The lab person that is looking at the biopsy thinks that it looks like cancer cells but he wasn't 100% sure and ready to say a definitive diagnosis of ovarian cancer.

So Janet is being discharged from the hospital and the doctor said she will call as soon as she knows for sure. The plan will be for her to see an OB/GYN Oncologist this next week if it comes back that it is cancer we should know tomorrow or Monday for sure.

We still believe in a God of miracles and are asking for your prayers. We know that He is the ultimate healer. Janet wants everyone to know that she wants God to be glorified through all of this and that she has hope in Him and that we serve a mighty mighty God.


As soon as we heard the news we read Psalms 121 and prayed together as a family.
¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
³ He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
⁵ The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

I will keep updating as we know more. Thank you so much for your prayers. We know that He hears every single one.

--Jenna