Sorrow/Strength/Enduring!

Yesterday, my dear first cousin on my Romney side, Robyn Curtis Anderson passed away after a valiant fight of ovarian cancer.  She is my same age and has been battling cancer for the last 4 years.  Here is a picture of her with her 2 youngest kids.  Her smile radiates the love she had for the gospel and for everyone.  Her mother, my Aunt Carrol passed away when Robyn was only 15 years old.  She has been a great example to me of strength and enduring to the end.

I would be lying if I said that this didn’t affect me.  I cried as I read her blog. I have always felt a strong love for her.  Here is her blog www.robyncurtisanderson.blogspot.com.    It’s hard not to compare my situation with hers!  However, I do know that we each are given trials so that we can become stronger.  I have faith that the Lord will give me the strength and courage to face my challenges as valiantly as he did Robyn. 

I am continuing to heal, but it is not without its ups and downs.  Each day seems to be a good/bad day.  Either I feel good in the morning and bad at night, or vice versa.  The other day I was feeling good and there was some laundry on my bed so I decided to stand there and try and fold and put it away.  Within 2 minutes of doing that, I was feeling weak and queasy and I had to stop and go lie down.  As the afternoon went on, I wondered if it was the Lord‘s way of HELPING me heal, by allowing me to continue to feel weak.  If not, knowing my personality, I would totally overdue and make my recuperation period l a lot longer.

 It will be 4 weeks on Monday since my surgery.  It’s so hard not to get discouraged and think that I should be doing so much better.  Every time I talk to the doctors, they remind me that I had a “HUGE” surgery and that it will take a long time to heal.  When I was first married my mother gave me a plaque and it said, ‘LORD GRANT ME PATIENCE….AND I WANT IT RIGHT NOW!!!!!’  I guess this is one way that I am having to learn to gain patience and it is not coming right now!!!

Craig goes in for surgery this Wednesday – November 2^nd.  I’m nervous!  He has been so precious to me and our love for each other has grown so much!   I continue to pray that his operation will go well and that I will be strong enough to go to the hospital and be there when he comes out of surgery.  And I pray that I can have the strength to love and care for him like he has me. 

Again we want to thank all of you for everything you have done for us.  The calls, emails, flowers, cards, facebook messages and visits have meant so much to us.  The meals we have received have been so amazing and we feel so blessed to be living in this great ward in Lindon, Utah!

May the Lord bless each of us with strength to endure our trials.  I’m so grateful for my testimony of the Plan of Salvation, for Priesthood Blessings, for the comforting companionship of the Holy Ghost and for the grace freely given to each of us by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  This is the only way we can make it through the trials that will face us in these last days.

Love,

Michele

Thanks from Michele

Dear Friends and Family,

If I could be made well from all the kind words from so many of you, I would be up and running a marathon right now!!!!  Today I finally had the energy to read some emails and get on facebook for a few moments.  I was overcome with the love and support of so many.  Tears ran down my cheeks as I read your messages.  I’m so grateful to have been able to cross paths with each of you on this journey of life!  They say there are only 2 things we can take with us when we die and that is 1) our knowledge and 2) our relationships.  How blessed I feel because of my association with each of you.   Thank you, thank you, thank you!

This surgery has literally knocked my socks off!  I still marvel that I am alive after all the things they took out of me.  I am learning the new definition of patience and long-suffering.  I remember one of my Sunday School teachers asked our class, “How do you acquire long-suffering?”  I was waiting for some profound answer and no one had one.  Finally the teacher said, “By suffering LONG!”  Well, I am finding that to be true.  My biggest struggle right now is my bowels.  Because of how much they took out and all the manipulation, it has been a hard path to have them start working correctly.   I am gaining strength from my testimony of Jesus Christ and the enabling power of the Atonement.   I have come to know that He is not just there to make up the difference, after all we can do, but He is there with us WHILE we are doing all we can do – to bless, comfort and heal each of us!  How grateful I am for that knowledge.

Last Monday I got my staples out (45 of them!)  My incision is healing very well.  I am scheduled to start Chemotherapy on November 15^th here in Provo with Dr. Wallentine (oncologist).  Craig goes into surgery next Wednesday, November 2^nd.  He will be having the DaVinci Robotic Surgery and it will be up in Salt Lake with Dr. Bishoff.  I am praying hard that the Lord will bless me with enough strength to be able to go and be with him on the day of his surgery.  Our children have been sent by God to us and every one of them has played a very important role in my recovery and will be there for Craig as well.  Here is a picture of our sweet family as of December 2010.  How richly blessed we feel to have a righteous posterity!!!!!  Thank you again for all of your faith and prayers.

Love,

Michele

Bedroom Makeover!

Mom and Dad’s room has definitely been the neglected space in their new house after moving in this past June. We couldn’t stand the thought of them having to spend so much time in their sterile and boring room after coming home to recover from surgery and through the next several months of treatments. So, us kids decided to surprise them by redecorating (or perhaps just decorating!) their room while they were still in the hospital. We had a lot of fun planning and carrying it out, but the best part by far was how excited and shocked they were to see it when they finally came home. Definitely worth it!

Here are the BEFORE pictures:

And now the AFTER pictures:

We still have a few little finishing touches we weren’t able to add yet before she got home, but all in all, we were pretty excited with how it turned out.

Visit in the hospital with Amy and family

On Day 8 (Sunday) of Mom’s hospital stay, my family and I came to visit her in the hospital. It was the first time for my girls to see Grandma after the surgery, and they were anxious to see how she was doing after all the prayers of “Please, please, please, please, PLEASE, bless Grandma to get better!” Natalie and Brooke gave her hugs and kisses, and Brooke even snuggled up on the hospital bed with her, but Mya was a bit petrified of the whole situation. She whispered to her daddy “I need to get outa here!” when we first came in. She warmed up a little by the end.

Amy and Mom

Mya, Amy, Brooke, Grandma, and Natalie

Not willing to actually touch Grandma, Mya finally settled on blowing her kisses while Steve held her.

Grandma got up and strolled down to the elevator with us as we left. It was a great visit!

Charlene’s visit to Utah

Charlene and her two youngest children drove up to Utah from Las Vegas the day of Mom’s surgery and were able to stay here for a week.  It was great to have her here to spend time with and help Mom during those hard days, and I know Charlene was happy to get to be here with her as well, as it is difficult for her to be so far away during this time.

On her way back out of town, she stopped at the hospital one last time so the twins could see Grandma before leaving.  They were so sweet to give her kisses and say hi, and then had fun riding in the elevator with Papa.  They also brought a gift of a homemade necklace and bracelet for Grandma from their older sisters, Allie and Kara, who stayed with their aunt in Las Vegas for the week.

Cassidy and Cooper giving Grandma kisses and a gift from their sisters

Charlene and Mom modeling the beautiful homemade necklace from Allie and Kara

Hanging out with Papa in the hospital room.

October 15, 2011 - Michele is Home

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for your prayers, concerns, phone calls, emails and patience. These past 12 days have changed our lives! Needless to say we were not expecting the extensive surgery that Michele went through. She has had a tough go at it but she is hanging in there and doing her best to stay positive. This experience has already brought us much closer.

We were able to bring Michele home from the hospital after 10 long days. The doctors felt that she would heal better at home and so that he why they finally sent her home. She has a long road to recovery. She will have a good day and then a bad day - I guess it’s the typical ups and downs of surgery. She still is quite fragile and not up for many phone calls or visits. She does enjoy me reading short emails to her from many of you.

My surgery was scheduled for October 19th, but with the seriousness of Michele's condition, i decided to postpone mine until November 2nd. We hope that Michele will be feeling better by then and be able to help me recover. However, the oncologists what to start chemotherapy as soon as possible, to try and stop any new growth of cancer. We think she will have her first chemo the week after my surgery.

We apologize for not being able to respond to each of you personally. We are touched by the love and care we feel from all of you. Our children are in the process of setting up a blog that will help keep you posted. The address is craigandmichele.blogspot.com


May the Lord continue to bless each of us in our different trials. We testify that Jesus Christ suffered for each of us and has felt everything we all will ever experience and will be there to give us strength in times of need.

Sincerely,


Craig

Michele's incision - WARNING: GRAPHIC!

If you know our mom, you know she loves details! If this were her following someone else's blog, she would LOVE to see a good gruesome picture of the aftermath of their surgery. If you do not share her interest in this, we apologize!! But for all those who ARE interested, here is a picture of Michele's incision. It extends a bit further, both up and down. Pretty amazing what she has been through! And for all those who are disturbed by this graphic image - our apologies! :)

Email update Oct 9th

Dear family and friends,

We just wanted to give everyone an update on Michele's status. It has been an interesting week filled with many ups and downs. Here is the latest.

Michele stayed in the ICU for a few days and then was moved to another floor of the hospital. After a day or two of feeling a bit better, she has since had a few days of feeling pretty poor. Besides the obvious pain from her surgery, she has also struggled with nausea, headaches, foggy-headedness from the different drugs, hot flashes, inability to sleep, a bit of anxiety, and more.It is such a guessing game of playing around with the different medications and weighing the good and the bad that comes with each, and whether or not they are worth the negative side effects.

Today, Michele was having increased pain and heaviness in her chest and labored breathing, so they ordered a CT scan.They found some fluid around her lungs and had to remove almost a quart of fluid. We are hoping this will help. They also inserted a PIC line into her heart since her IV's are causing trouble. Tomorrow they might insert a feeding tube to help her get more nutrients as she has no appetite and is struggling with nausea.

This has been far more difficult than she or any of us realized it would be. She is such a strong person, however, and has impressed us with her resolve to do anything and everything she is asked or recommended to do, even when it's hard.

We still aren't sure when she will be discharged from the hospital. It is looking like it might be even longer than the original 7-10 days we were first told. We are hoping to get a good balance between the different medications with limited side effects so that she can continue healing.

Once again, we want to thank everyone for their kindness and thoughtfulness on our behalf. We appreciate all of your love and support and feel the strength from your prayers.

Love,

Craig

Email directly after Michele's surgery

We wanted to give everyone a quick update on Michele’s surgery. The procedure took longer than was originally planned, as they found more than they expected. It is definitely cancer. They completed the original hysterectomy, and in addition were forced to remove five inches of her colon, her spleen, part of her diaphragm (the muscle that helps your lungs expand and contract) the majority of her peritoneal wall, and all of the tumors they found. The doctor is confident they removed all of the cancer.

Michele is experiencing quite a bit of pain right now. She is currently in the ICU, and is expected to be in the hospital for 7-10 days, as it was a very aggressive surgery. Thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and concern on her behalf, and we will keep you updated as things progress. It is at times like this that we are especially grateful for our Savior.

Please feel free to share this information with anyone who might be interested.

Thanks again,

Craig

Letter from Garvin Kids to Family & Friends

Dear Family,

We just wanted to share some recent news with you all regarding our parents, Craig and Michele, and ask for your prayers on their behalf.

As some of you may know, our Dad was recently diagnosed with Prostate Cancer, and will soon be undergoing surgery to have his prostate removed. His cancer was caught in the early stages and he should be completely free of the cancer once it is removed in a couple of months.

This week we just had another big blow to our family. Our mom has been diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. It looks to be Stage III cancer, which is fairly advanced. On Monday she will meet with the surgeon to schedule her radical hysterectomy which should take place within the week. After her recovery period of 4-6 weeks, she will immediately begin chemotherapy treatment. They anticipate her undergoing 6 rounds of chemotherapy spaced three weeks apart, so about 18 weeks long.

We are still trying to digest all of this information and get a full understanding of what we are dealing with. We hope to have a more complete picture once they complete the surgery and can tell us more about what they find.

At this time, we would ask that you remember our mom and dad in your fasting and prayers. This coming Sunday, our parent's ward has their Fast and Testimony meeting and will be having a special fast for them. If you'd like, you can join in this Sunday, or on your next Fast Sunday. Please keep them in your prayers as much as possible. I know they will appreciate it so much, and so will we.

Love,

The Garvin Kids