Dear Friends,
We went to Vanderbilt yesterday to see an oncologist and Hannah's surgeon. The visit with the oncologist was standard protocol and the visit with the surgeon was because of a recurrence of back and leg pain.
Here's what we learned from the oncologist. A grade 2 tumor is the lowest grade(least aggressive) of spinal tumor. Grade one tumors are found only in the area of the brain. He ordered an MRI of Hannah's entire central nervous system because rarely a lone cell from the tumor will travel through the cerebral spinal fluid to another area of the central nervous system and begin to grow there. This MRI will be done in Knoxville while Hannah is home for Christmas break. The oncologist spent about 2 hours with us, examining and questioning Hannah thoroughly. We liked him a lot.
Dr. Cheng, Hannah's surgeon, decided that there are two things going on which are causing her pain. She does not have leaking spinal fluid, which had been a suspicion, although there is a pocket of fluid from the surgery which is resting in the soft tissue of her back. This however is not the cause of her pain. Dr. Cheng said that Hannah is experiencing lumbar strain as a repercussion of the surgery. He placed her in a back brace that she will wear consistently for 2 weeks and then as needed. He expects this, along with time, to resolve the problem. The leg pain is being caused by the nerves that are in the area where the tumor was removed. He said the nerves are "scarred together". The MRI shows them somewhat matted rather than trailing from the base of the spinal cord. Dr. Cheng did not give Hannah any hope that the leg pain would subside and she was discouraged by this news.
Hannah will resume physical therapy in the near future. We know that God is sovereign over her physical body. He can quiet the pain in her legs and for that we will keep asking. So many of you continue to tell us that you are still praying for Hannah. Thank you so much. We will keep you posted as we have news.
Love, from all of the Lees,
Lisa
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Wednesday, August 5th
Hello all,
Hi there, Hannah here again. :-) I haven't been able to update the blog in awhile, but life is getting back to normal for me and I thought I'd give you guys an update on how things are going. First of all, thank you all so much for your prayers. I am confident that the peace I felt even as we reported to the hospital early the morning of surgery was the result of many people praying for me, and I can't thank you enough.
We actually received the pathology report on my tumor yesterday, and while there is a lot we still don't know it was somewhat informative. On a scale from 1 to 4, 1 being the least and 4 being the most aggressive type of ependymoma cell, my tumor received a 2 on the report. Dr. Cheng's nurse said that this means my tumor was fairly slow growing, and probably was the result of at least several years. This was encouraging in that we think this means that the tumor is not very likely to return and if so would not return quickly. She also told us that the next step is to have a consultation with a neuro-oncologist and be advised as to whether or not any further treatments are necessary at this time. Hopefully this is something we can do before my post-op appointment on August 27th. Overall we are encouraged and ready to hear more about what the future will look like for me in regards to follow-up.
Yesterday was an exciting day for me because it was the first time in weeks I didn't have to take any prescription medicines! I finished the steroids Monday, and we are still waiting to see how my back and legs respond. I had some tingling in my left calf Monday evening, but since it stopped a few hours later the nurse said I didn't need to continue the steroids at this point. Please continue to pray that the steroids took care of the inflammation in my spine and that I don't have any complications as a result of the nerves being agitated by the surgery.
And as far as recovery, I'm mostly feeling like myself again. I can definitely tell I'm regaining strength in my back muscles which makes movement much less painful. My incision has been causing the most pain, but over the next week or so the absorbable stitches should disappear. I am restricted to lifting about five pounds and am supposed to avoid bending my spine as much as possible since they did have to remove some bone from my spine. Since recovery is going so well I'm planning to return to school in about two weeks, and I'm really excited about that. I might have to do some physical therapy after my post-op appointment on the 27th, but other than that hopefully this fall will be mostly a normal semester for me.
Al of that to say, these last few weeks have felt like a dream and I can't believe it's all over. I think that the further removed I am from this surgery the more time I've had to realize how inexpressibly blessed I am. The doctors were very up front with us that without this surgery I would eventually be paralyzed and that with the surgery nerve damage was a high possibility. In many ways I'm still processing in my own head and heart that I'm okay, that it's over, and that God has shown me abundant love and grace beyond what I could have imagined. It is my hope that your faith and trust in our God has been challenged and strengthened by such an evidence of His greatness. I know mine has, and to Him be the glory.
Much love and many thanks to you all,
Hannah
Hi there, Hannah here again. :-) I haven't been able to update the blog in awhile, but life is getting back to normal for me and I thought I'd give you guys an update on how things are going. First of all, thank you all so much for your prayers. I am confident that the peace I felt even as we reported to the hospital early the morning of surgery was the result of many people praying for me, and I can't thank you enough.
We actually received the pathology report on my tumor yesterday, and while there is a lot we still don't know it was somewhat informative. On a scale from 1 to 4, 1 being the least and 4 being the most aggressive type of ependymoma cell, my tumor received a 2 on the report. Dr. Cheng's nurse said that this means my tumor was fairly slow growing, and probably was the result of at least several years. This was encouraging in that we think this means that the tumor is not very likely to return and if so would not return quickly. She also told us that the next step is to have a consultation with a neuro-oncologist and be advised as to whether or not any further treatments are necessary at this time. Hopefully this is something we can do before my post-op appointment on August 27th. Overall we are encouraged and ready to hear more about what the future will look like for me in regards to follow-up.
Yesterday was an exciting day for me because it was the first time in weeks I didn't have to take any prescription medicines! I finished the steroids Monday, and we are still waiting to see how my back and legs respond. I had some tingling in my left calf Monday evening, but since it stopped a few hours later the nurse said I didn't need to continue the steroids at this point. Please continue to pray that the steroids took care of the inflammation in my spine and that I don't have any complications as a result of the nerves being agitated by the surgery.
And as far as recovery, I'm mostly feeling like myself again. I can definitely tell I'm regaining strength in my back muscles which makes movement much less painful. My incision has been causing the most pain, but over the next week or so the absorbable stitches should disappear. I am restricted to lifting about five pounds and am supposed to avoid bending my spine as much as possible since they did have to remove some bone from my spine. Since recovery is going so well I'm planning to return to school in about two weeks, and I'm really excited about that. I might have to do some physical therapy after my post-op appointment on the 27th, but other than that hopefully this fall will be mostly a normal semester for me.
Al of that to say, these last few weeks have felt like a dream and I can't believe it's all over. I think that the further removed I am from this surgery the more time I've had to realize how inexpressibly blessed I am. The doctors were very up front with us that without this surgery I would eventually be paralyzed and that with the surgery nerve damage was a high possibility. In many ways I'm still processing in my own head and heart that I'm okay, that it's over, and that God has shown me abundant love and grace beyond what I could have imagined. It is my hope that your faith and trust in our God has been challenged and strengthened by such an evidence of His greatness. I know mine has, and to Him be the glory.
Much love and many thanks to you all,
Hannah
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Dear Friends,
This is Lisa.I am so sorry for the lapse in posts to this blog. We are at home now and I want to bring you up to date.
On the day of surgery, Hannah was taken from recovery for a post-surgery MRI. By the time we saw her in a room that evening, all of the laptops were inaccessible. Nathanael entered the previous post from my Mom's computer while he and Meredith were making their way home from Vanderbilt.
Hannah is making a good recovery. She has the normal struggles with pain management and such that occur after surgery . We have so much for which to be thankful and your prayers meant the world to us. The MRI showed no evidence of the tumor after the surgery! We are still waiting for the pathology report. The doctor explained that the tumor is considered benign because these tumors do not metastasize to other parts of the body. The pathology report will grade the tumor. We will then know how fast the tumor grew and whether or not there will be a need for follow-up radiation. There is a risk that there are a few cells lurking around. We pray this will not be necessary.
Hannah is still taking steroids which will taper off for the next two weeks. We are praying that there will be no swelling or inflammation in her spine when we cease the steroids. Apparently there is some risk of this which could cause complications.
Our Lord has been so near to us and I know that your prayers were crucial. In the days leading up to surgery, I really did experience His peace in a way that was incomprehensible.
I write irregularly in my journal. While waiting to hear the facts of Hannah's surgery, I was in the hospital chapel reading and praying when I read an entry that I wrote about 14 years ago. Here is that entry.
"Luke 7:11-17, is the account of Jesus raising from the dead the son of a widow. The truth of her situation seemed to be, "My son is dead; I am alone". When the disciples were in a storm at sea, Jesus was asleep in the boat and the truth of their situation seemed to be, "We perish". I am so conditioned to believe that facts point to or lead to the truth that I often miss The Truth, the person of Jesus. I must look to Him, not the facts surrounding any given situation. Jesus raised the widow's son back to life and Jesus calmed the sea."
God used that entry to minister to my heart and it was shortly after when the doctor gave us the facts of Hannah's surgery. He told us that he was encouraged but he made no promises. We had to wait.
I can't tell you how wonderful it was to see Hannah returning to normal during the next day. I wanted to cry from the relief.
I cannot place a value on your friendship and your prayers. I wish I could hug and thank each and every one of your personally. We will continue to update the blog when we have news. If God brings Hannah to your mind, you know how to pray.
Lisa, for all of the Lees
This is Lisa.I am so sorry for the lapse in posts to this blog. We are at home now and I want to bring you up to date.
On the day of surgery, Hannah was taken from recovery for a post-surgery MRI. By the time we saw her in a room that evening, all of the laptops were inaccessible. Nathanael entered the previous post from my Mom's computer while he and Meredith were making their way home from Vanderbilt.
Hannah is making a good recovery. She has the normal struggles with pain management and such that occur after surgery . We have so much for which to be thankful and your prayers meant the world to us. The MRI showed no evidence of the tumor after the surgery! We are still waiting for the pathology report. The doctor explained that the tumor is considered benign because these tumors do not metastasize to other parts of the body. The pathology report will grade the tumor. We will then know how fast the tumor grew and whether or not there will be a need for follow-up radiation. There is a risk that there are a few cells lurking around. We pray this will not be necessary.
Hannah is still taking steroids which will taper off for the next two weeks. We are praying that there will be no swelling or inflammation in her spine when we cease the steroids. Apparently there is some risk of this which could cause complications.
Our Lord has been so near to us and I know that your prayers were crucial. In the days leading up to surgery, I really did experience His peace in a way that was incomprehensible.
I write irregularly in my journal. While waiting to hear the facts of Hannah's surgery, I was in the hospital chapel reading and praying when I read an entry that I wrote about 14 years ago. Here is that entry.
"Luke 7:11-17, is the account of Jesus raising from the dead the son of a widow. The truth of her situation seemed to be, "My son is dead; I am alone". When the disciples were in a storm at sea, Jesus was asleep in the boat and the truth of their situation seemed to be, "We perish". I am so conditioned to believe that facts point to or lead to the truth that I often miss The Truth, the person of Jesus. I must look to Him, not the facts surrounding any given situation. Jesus raised the widow's son back to life and Jesus calmed the sea."
God used that entry to minister to my heart and it was shortly after when the doctor gave us the facts of Hannah's surgery. He told us that he was encouraged but he made no promises. We had to wait.
I can't tell you how wonderful it was to see Hannah returning to normal during the next day. I wanted to cry from the relief.
I cannot place a value on your friendship and your prayers. I wish I could hug and thank each and every one of your personally. We will continue to update the blog when we have news. If God brings Hannah to your mind, you know how to pray.
Lisa, for all of the Lees
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Post Surgery Day 2
Hey everybody,
Nathanael here. Mom and Dad are still in Nashville. They asked me to update everyone. The official word on the tumor was "total gross removal." This means they are pretty sure they were able to remove it completely. (They never say one-hundred percent apparently.) This is good news and an answer to prayer. Also, they did not have to do any bone grafting or put in screws. This is good as if either of those was needed it could potentially have meant future limitations in mobility. We are still waiting for the report on the tumor type. That has to come back from a lab. We'll know more about that in a couple of weeks.
Right now we are taking things one day at a time. Hannah was allowed to sit up today at noon for the first time since surgery. She worked some with the hospital's physical therapist and walked on her own power. She was also able to change into some comfortable pajamas. We are anticipating she will be in the hospital for a few more days but will be discharged soon. We are praying for a speedy and safe recovery.
My Mom and Dad would want all of you to know how blessed they have been by your prayers during this time. Our entire family has felt God's blessings and guidance through this process. Thank you for your prayers for Hannah through this time and as she recovers.
Nathanael here. Mom and Dad are still in Nashville. They asked me to update everyone. The official word on the tumor was "total gross removal." This means they are pretty sure they were able to remove it completely. (They never say one-hundred percent apparently.) This is good news and an answer to prayer. Also, they did not have to do any bone grafting or put in screws. This is good as if either of those was needed it could potentially have meant future limitations in mobility. We are still waiting for the report on the tumor type. That has to come back from a lab. We'll know more about that in a couple of weeks.
Right now we are taking things one day at a time. Hannah was allowed to sit up today at noon for the first time since surgery. She worked some with the hospital's physical therapist and walked on her own power. She was also able to change into some comfortable pajamas. We are anticipating she will be in the hospital for a few more days but will be discharged soon. We are praying for a speedy and safe recovery.
My Mom and Dad would want all of you to know how blessed they have been by your prayers during this time. Our entire family has felt God's blessings and guidance through this process. Thank you for your prayers for Hannah through this time and as she recovers.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Thursday's appointment at Vanderbilt
Dear Friends,
Thank you for your prayers for us. Your love and concern for our family has been overwhelming and extremely encouraging.
We went to Vanderbilt on July 9th for Hannah’s preoperative evaluation. We do not know the results of all of the tests yet, but there were no immediate problems. Unless we hear otherwise from Vanderbilt, the surgery will be this coming Friday, July 17th.
While we were at Vanderbilt on Thursday, many of the nurses and technicians spoke highly of Dr. Cheng; some had worked closely with him. We are less than a week away from surgery and ask for your continued prayers for our family and for the Vanderbilt surgical team. We learned during our previous visit that Dr. Cheng is a believer.
Hannah’s tumor is thought to be benign myxopapillary. It is less likely to be benign meninginoma but Dr. Cheng said that it “would be great if it is meninginoma”. He said this type of tumor is easier to remove. Dr. Cheng said that the surgery will take hours “unless the tumor just pops out”. When he said that I spoke up and said, “That is what I’ve been praying.”
Please continue to pray that God would protect the nerves that are in the area of the tumor between now and surgery, that these nerves would receive ample blood supply. Hannah is visiting friends in Dayton this weekend. Summit Ministries is hosting Worldview Conferences at Bryan College during the month of July. You may remember that Hannah was prepared to be a counselor at these leadership camps. The discovery of her tumor changed the course of her summer. Ibuprofen is the medication that has best helped Hannah’s discomfort these last few weeks. She has had to discontinue it for the week prior to the surgery. She remains active as the pain allows, now taking only Tylenol.
We are continually reminded that Hannah belongs to God and she is in His hands. Knowing that some aspects of her future lie in the hands of fallible men, we are looking to God in prayer. Alexander Carson said, “If we need the protection of men, let us first ask it from God. If we prevail with him, the power of the most mighty and of the most wicked must minister to our relief.”
Lately I have been reminded of the Old Testament story of Queen Esther. Haman, as head of the King’s officials, was in a position to affect the future of the Jews. Since going before the King without being summoned would mean certain death for her, Esther asked the Jews to fast and pray on her behalf. Will you fast and pray on Hannah’s behalf on July 17th, from 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Central Daylight Time if you are able and led by the Lord? These are the hours she is scheduled to be in surgery. Even though we believe that the Lord is sovereign and in control of Hannah’s life, there is an aspect of Hannah’s future which lies in the hands of Dr. Cheng and his surgical team. We are asking God to give these men superior skill and wisdom as they perform surgery and make judgments that will affect Hannah.
Thanks for being faithful friends.
Lisa for the Lee family
Thank you for your prayers for us. Your love and concern for our family has been overwhelming and extremely encouraging.
We went to Vanderbilt on July 9th for Hannah’s preoperative evaluation. We do not know the results of all of the tests yet, but there were no immediate problems. Unless we hear otherwise from Vanderbilt, the surgery will be this coming Friday, July 17th.
While we were at Vanderbilt on Thursday, many of the nurses and technicians spoke highly of Dr. Cheng; some had worked closely with him. We are less than a week away from surgery and ask for your continued prayers for our family and for the Vanderbilt surgical team. We learned during our previous visit that Dr. Cheng is a believer.
Hannah’s tumor is thought to be benign myxopapillary. It is less likely to be benign meninginoma but Dr. Cheng said that it “would be great if it is meninginoma”. He said this type of tumor is easier to remove. Dr. Cheng said that the surgery will take hours “unless the tumor just pops out”. When he said that I spoke up and said, “That is what I’ve been praying.”
Please continue to pray that God would protect the nerves that are in the area of the tumor between now and surgery, that these nerves would receive ample blood supply. Hannah is visiting friends in Dayton this weekend. Summit Ministries is hosting Worldview Conferences at Bryan College during the month of July. You may remember that Hannah was prepared to be a counselor at these leadership camps. The discovery of her tumor changed the course of her summer. Ibuprofen is the medication that has best helped Hannah’s discomfort these last few weeks. She has had to discontinue it for the week prior to the surgery. She remains active as the pain allows, now taking only Tylenol.
We are continually reminded that Hannah belongs to God and she is in His hands. Knowing that some aspects of her future lie in the hands of fallible men, we are looking to God in prayer. Alexander Carson said, “If we need the protection of men, let us first ask it from God. If we prevail with him, the power of the most mighty and of the most wicked must minister to our relief.”
Lately I have been reminded of the Old Testament story of Queen Esther. Haman, as head of the King’s officials, was in a position to affect the future of the Jews. Since going before the King without being summoned would mean certain death for her, Esther asked the Jews to fast and pray on her behalf. Will you fast and pray on Hannah’s behalf on July 17th, from 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Central Daylight Time if you are able and led by the Lord? These are the hours she is scheduled to be in surgery. Even though we believe that the Lord is sovereign and in control of Hannah’s life, there is an aspect of Hannah’s future which lies in the hands of Dr. Cheng and his surgical team. We are asking God to give these men superior skill and wisdom as they perform surgery and make judgments that will affect Hannah.
Thanks for being faithful friends.
Lisa for the Lee family
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Wednesday's Appointment with Dr. Cheng
Dear Friends,
Hello, Hannah here. My family is mostly managing this blog, but Mom suggested I update you all on the appointment at Vanderbilt today. Because the surgery is so complex and they needed to assemble a team and make sure they had the facilities available, my surgery is scheduled for July 17th at 8:30am CST. While it was great getting to meet Dr. Cheng, who seemed very knowledgeable and experienced, he was very honest about the risks involved with this type of surgery.The size of my tumor (5cm x 2cm) is unusual, and given its placement at the very bottom of my spinal cord there are a number of complications that can arise. Besides the fact that if the tumor is too close to the cord he might have to remove a small section of the cord itself, Dr. Cheng is quite concerned that the nerves will be too caught up in the tumor. Dr. Cheng said that my risk of nerve damage is pretty high, and he wanted me to know that it's a very real possibility they will either have to leave part of the tumor knowing it will grow back or sacrifice some nerve function. Neither of these is optimal, so please be praying that Dr. Cheng will be pleasantly surprised and the tumor will be easily removed without nerve damage.
In addition to the risk of nerve damage, Dr. Cheng will have to remove a section of bone and possibly joints along my spine to access the tumor, and while he hopes that my spine will stabilize on its own he will have to monitor me after surgery. If my spine doesn't stabilize, he might have to do a bone graft (which would require fusing my bones and prohibit movement in those joints in the future) or place rods and screws in the bones. Between now and the surgery, the immediate concern is for the nerves in the area of the tumor because the tumor could be restricting the blood flow to the nerves and causing damage to the nerve function in the lower half of my body already.
Please Pray:
1) That God will protect my nerves from being damaged by the tumor between now and surgery, and that I don't have any further symptoms (Dr. Cheng said that if any new symptoms arise or my current symptoms worsen they might have to postpone the surgery).
2) That the tests during my pre-op visit with Dr. Cheng's nurse will not make postponing the surgery necessary.
3) That the surgery won't keep me from completing my senior year of college on time. I asked Dr. Cheng and his nurse about the likelihood of me being able to return to school in the fall, and both of them said they were
hopeful I would recover that quickly but they couldn't promise anything. My hope has been all along that if I took the summer to have this surgery and recover I'd be able to go back to school, and the thought that I might have to graduate a semester late is discouraging.
4) Please pray for peace for myself and my family. Now that we have the surgery scheduled, all we can do is wait, pray, and try our best not to worry about all of the possible complications and unknowns. Pray that we will rest in the fact that God brought us here and we are in His keeping.
5) Finally, I would ask you to pray that I would be able to bring glory to God in the midst of everything. The Lord has brought to my mind on many occasions these last few weeks Psalm 19:14, which reads: "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." Please pray that my words and heart would be pleasing to God through this time.
Thank you all so much for your prayers. As we sat in the waiting room this morning my dad leaned over and whispered, "Do you know there are hundreds, maybe thousands of people praying for us?" Your love and
encouragement has been such a blessing to us all, and we can't thank you enough. May God bless you for loving us so well.
Hannah for the Lee Family
Hello, Hannah here. My family is mostly managing this blog, but Mom suggested I update you all on the appointment at Vanderbilt today. Because the surgery is so complex and they needed to assemble a team and make sure they had the facilities available, my surgery is scheduled for July 17th at 8:30am CST. While it was great getting to meet Dr. Cheng, who seemed very knowledgeable and experienced, he was very honest about the risks involved with this type of surgery.The size of my tumor (5cm x 2cm) is unusual, and given its placement at the very bottom of my spinal cord there are a number of complications that can arise. Besides the fact that if the tumor is too close to the cord he might have to remove a small section of the cord itself, Dr. Cheng is quite concerned that the nerves will be too caught up in the tumor. Dr. Cheng said that my risk of nerve damage is pretty high, and he wanted me to know that it's a very real possibility they will either have to leave part of the tumor knowing it will grow back or sacrifice some nerve function. Neither of these is optimal, so please be praying that Dr. Cheng will be pleasantly surprised and the tumor will be easily removed without nerve damage.
In addition to the risk of nerve damage, Dr. Cheng will have to remove a section of bone and possibly joints along my spine to access the tumor, and while he hopes that my spine will stabilize on its own he will have to monitor me after surgery. If my spine doesn't stabilize, he might have to do a bone graft (which would require fusing my bones and prohibit movement in those joints in the future) or place rods and screws in the bones. Between now and the surgery, the immediate concern is for the nerves in the area of the tumor because the tumor could be restricting the blood flow to the nerves and causing damage to the nerve function in the lower half of my body already.
Please Pray:
1) That God will protect my nerves from being damaged by the tumor between now and surgery, and that I don't have any further symptoms (Dr. Cheng said that if any new symptoms arise or my current symptoms worsen they might have to postpone the surgery).
2) That the tests during my pre-op visit with Dr. Cheng's nurse will not make postponing the surgery necessary.
3) That the surgery won't keep me from completing my senior year of college on time. I asked Dr. Cheng and his nurse about the likelihood of me being able to return to school in the fall, and both of them said they were
hopeful I would recover that quickly but they couldn't promise anything. My hope has been all along that if I took the summer to have this surgery and recover I'd be able to go back to school, and the thought that I might have to graduate a semester late is discouraging.
4) Please pray for peace for myself and my family. Now that we have the surgery scheduled, all we can do is wait, pray, and try our best not to worry about all of the possible complications and unknowns. Pray that we will rest in the fact that God brought us here and we are in His keeping.
5) Finally, I would ask you to pray that I would be able to bring glory to God in the midst of everything. The Lord has brought to my mind on many occasions these last few weeks Psalm 19:14, which reads: "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." Please pray that my words and heart would be pleasing to God through this time.
Thank you all so much for your prayers. As we sat in the waiting room this morning my dad leaned over and whispered, "Do you know there are hundreds, maybe thousands of people praying for us?" Your love and
encouragement has been such a blessing to us all, and we can't thank you enough. May God bless you for loving us so well.
Hannah for the Lee Family
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Dear Friends,
We are still out of town but we have an update.
Eddy called the insurance company this morning (Tuesday). He was told they received the request for out-of-network benefits at in-network rates on Monday. It was APPROVED on MONDAY!!!!! We had been told that it would take two weeks! Thank you for praying for us. Our God does indeed hold the hearts of kings in His hands! We have an appointment with Dr. Joseph Cheng at Vanderbilt Hospital on July 1st. I cannot begin to convey how much it means to us that you are upholding us through your prayers. We ask that you pray for wisdom for Dr. Cheng.
(We would love to see God remove the tumor so that Dr. Cheng does not need to.) Please continue to pray that Hannah and all of the Lees will be faithful and thankful in this assignment
from God. We know that he is in control.
We love you all,
Lisa
We are still out of town but we have an update.
Eddy called the insurance company this morning (Tuesday). He was told they received the request for out-of-network benefits at in-network rates on Monday. It was APPROVED on MONDAY!!!!! We had been told that it would take two weeks! Thank you for praying for us. Our God does indeed hold the hearts of kings in His hands! We have an appointment with Dr. Joseph Cheng at Vanderbilt Hospital on July 1st. I cannot begin to convey how much it means to us that you are upholding us through your prayers. We ask that you pray for wisdom for Dr. Cheng.
(We would love to see God remove the tumor so that Dr. Cheng does not need to.) Please continue to pray that Hannah and all of the Lees will be faithful and thankful in this assignment
from God. We know that he is in control.
We love you all,
Lisa
Friday, June 19, 2009
June 19th - Recap
Bringing you up to speed,
For those of you who are wondering how we got to this point: Last August Hannah started experiencing back pain. She had returned to school early to work in the admissions office and had moved some things out of storage by herself. She was not aware of causing any injury to her back but this stayed in our minds as a possible cause of the pain. While she was home for fall break a physical therapist friend checked her briefly and gave her some stretching exercises to do. During Christmas break our friend evaluated Hannah again and tweaked the exercises toward what appeared to be hyper mobility of the lumbar spine. This is a very common condition in young ladies Hannah’s age. Hannah took a weight training class as a college course beginning in January and her back showed some improvement on and off. However, by spring break the pain was worse and accompanied by upper thigh pain so while she was home for break she went to see her doctor. He ordered X-rays and referred her to a spine doctor. The X-rays showed no problem with her spine so he ordered eight sessions of physical therapy and scheduled a follow-up visit in May. When Hannah came home for the summer, we went back to the spine doctor and he said that we needed an MRI. Hannah was scheduled to be a counselor at Summit Ministries so we asked if she could take a steroid dose pack to get ahead of the inflammation so that the exercises might have a chance to help. He thought that was a reasonable course to pursue. One week later, the pain was much worse in her back and legs. I called the spine doctor to schedule the MRI so that he could read the results before Hannah left for Summit. The pain increased and we were back in his office two days later because I was scared, Hannah was miserable, and I thought she might need to cancel her plans for Summit. The doctor said the leg and back pain was no big deal and perhaps she had a herniated disc but that this type of pain is not uncommon among girls her age. He said that Summit would be great for her and to go ahead and plan to attend and he would see her in one week. He told her to take ibuprofen for the pain which actually did help some. Five days later, the MRI session was very long which made me a bit suspicious but I blew it off. Two days later we went to the spine doctor’s office. He said that he had been dreading telling us the results of the MRI since he read them the day before. The MRI showed what he thinks is a benign tumor at the end of her spinal cord. That was Friday, June 12th and on the 17th we were in the neurosurgeons office. That’s it. Now you know what preceded the June 17th appointment with the neurosurgeon. We covet your continued prayers. We will be out of town attending two family gatherings for the next 7 days. I will update again when we return home.
Lisa
For those of you who are wondering how we got to this point: Last August Hannah started experiencing back pain. She had returned to school early to work in the admissions office and had moved some things out of storage by herself. She was not aware of causing any injury to her back but this stayed in our minds as a possible cause of the pain. While she was home for fall break a physical therapist friend checked her briefly and gave her some stretching exercises to do. During Christmas break our friend evaluated Hannah again and tweaked the exercises toward what appeared to be hyper mobility of the lumbar spine. This is a very common condition in young ladies Hannah’s age. Hannah took a weight training class as a college course beginning in January and her back showed some improvement on and off. However, by spring break the pain was worse and accompanied by upper thigh pain so while she was home for break she went to see her doctor. He ordered X-rays and referred her to a spine doctor. The X-rays showed no problem with her spine so he ordered eight sessions of physical therapy and scheduled a follow-up visit in May. When Hannah came home for the summer, we went back to the spine doctor and he said that we needed an MRI. Hannah was scheduled to be a counselor at Summit Ministries so we asked if she could take a steroid dose pack to get ahead of the inflammation so that the exercises might have a chance to help. He thought that was a reasonable course to pursue. One week later, the pain was much worse in her back and legs. I called the spine doctor to schedule the MRI so that he could read the results before Hannah left for Summit. The pain increased and we were back in his office two days later because I was scared, Hannah was miserable, and I thought she might need to cancel her plans for Summit. The doctor said the leg and back pain was no big deal and perhaps she had a herniated disc but that this type of pain is not uncommon among girls her age. He said that Summit would be great for her and to go ahead and plan to attend and he would see her in one week. He told her to take ibuprofen for the pain which actually did help some. Five days later, the MRI session was very long which made me a bit suspicious but I blew it off. Two days later we went to the spine doctor’s office. He said that he had been dreading telling us the results of the MRI since he read them the day before. The MRI showed what he thinks is a benign tumor at the end of her spinal cord. That was Friday, June 12th and on the 17th we were in the neurosurgeons office. That’s it. Now you know what preceded the June 17th appointment with the neurosurgeon. We covet your continued prayers. We will be out of town attending two family gatherings for the next 7 days. I will update again when we return home.
Lisa
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
June 17th - Doctor Appointment
Dear Friends,
Thank you so much for your concern for us. We are grateful to you for bearing this trouble with us through your prayers (Nahum 1:7). Hannah is doing well and her back and leg pain is manageable with her medication. She was scheduled to leave today for her job as a counselor with Summit Ministries. She loves this work but the doctor told her that the surgery is urgent. He said that she should stay home so that we can continuously pursue the surgical process.
We met with a neurosurgeon this afternoon. I’ll refer to him as Dr. J. He is thought by our doctors to be the best neurosurgeon in this area. We prepared 6 pages of questions for him because the location of Hannah’s tumor at the base of the spine is somewhat rare and we weren’t sure that he would be experienced with resection of this type of tumor. Dr. J was so gracious and humble. He told us very early on in the appointment that he probably would not perform this surgery. He said that he had done less than one of these per year and we got the impression that he had not performed this surgery on anyone as young as Hannah.
Dr J said that he would like for us to go to Vanderbilt to Dr. Joseph Cheng. Let me tell you why this is amazing then you will know that your prayers on our behalf for guidance were answered.
Eddy and I and others have spent the last two days researching and making contact with lots of people. A number of friends suggested Vanderbilt as the place to have this done. Vanderbilt is out of our insurance network, and that will be a prayer request later in this email. As I was researching, I found Dr. Cheng’s credentials and believed that he had experience in removal of this type of tumor. Today while in the waiting room, we received a call from a doctor’s office in Utah, recommending…… Dr. Cheng. When we got home from the appointment, Eddy received an email from a friend who knew of a very complicated tumor removal performed by …….Dr. Cheng.
Dr. J knows Dr. Cheng personally and agrees with his philosophy of neurosurgery, which is “you don’t sacrifice nerves in order to gain total resection of a tumor.” (That is also our philosophy of neurosurgery. ;) If a portion of the tumor is left, it may grow back. Either way, Hannah will have to be followed medically for this condition for the rest of her life.
The neurosurgeon said that he will write a letter to our insurance company referring us to Dr. Cheng. Here is the much needed prayer request. Our insurance coverage is such that we can go to Vanderbilt ONLY as an out-of-network hospital. We will have some coverage, but it will probably cover less than half of the expense.
Will you please continue to pray for us?
1) That our insurance company will be persuaded to cover this as though it is in network. Proverbs 21:1
2) That Hannah & the rest of the Lees will be wise stewards of this trial and this process, bringing honor to Him whom we love. Matthew 25:21; James 1:2-4
3) For Dr. J’s son who needs a liver transplant. Eddy told Dr. J about our faith and about all of you who are praying for us. I plan to send Dr. J a thank-you card and let him know that we are praying for his son.
Thanks again,
Lisa, for all the Lees
Monday, June 15, 2009
Background
Hi, this is Nathanael, Hannah's brother.
You may know that my sister has had back pain for about a year. Recently, she had an MRI done and the doctors found what appears to be a mass inside her spinal column. It is just below the spinal cord. What we know is that it will have to be removed. This will involve back surgery. We suspect that it is a particular type of tumor that is rarely malignant. However, this and most other details remain unknown at this time.
Our family will be asking for your prayers. During this time I'm going to be taking care of updating people over the next several weeks. There are a few ways to keep up with the details.
#1 Twitter
I would recommend Twitter. Follow "Hannahsback" on twitter.com. You will get real time updates and be notified when this blog is updated.
#2 Facebook
If you don't twitter and don't want to you might want to try Facebook. Add "Hannahs Back" as a friend to get the same information, real time updates and notification if this blog updates. You can even add the Facebook mobile application and get the updates sent to your phone. If you don't know anything about Facebook and Twitter and don't want to...
#3 Website
Just type in the website www.twitter.com/hannahsback. Yes, this is the twitter site but you don't need to know anything about twitter to use it. Just read updates when you're at the site. All of them are time stamped and you can click on any links you see. If this blog is updated there will be a link on the site. So check www.twitter.com/hannahsback for all the updates. Don't worry, if there is anything posted here there will be a post and a link on the twitter site directing you back here.
You may know that my sister has had back pain for about a year. Recently, she had an MRI done and the doctors found what appears to be a mass inside her spinal column. It is just below the spinal cord. What we know is that it will have to be removed. This will involve back surgery. We suspect that it is a particular type of tumor that is rarely malignant. However, this and most other details remain unknown at this time.
Our family will be asking for your prayers. During this time I'm going to be taking care of updating people over the next several weeks. There are a few ways to keep up with the details.
#1 Twitter
I would recommend Twitter. Follow "Hannahsback" on twitter.com. You will get real time updates and be notified when this blog is updated.
#2 Facebook
If you don't twitter and don't want to you might want to try Facebook. Add "Hannahs Back" as a friend to get the same information, real time updates and notification if this blog updates. You can even add the Facebook mobile application and get the updates sent to your phone. If you don't know anything about Facebook and Twitter and don't want to...
#3 Website
Just type in the website www.twitter.com/hannahsback. Yes, this is the twitter site but you don't need to know anything about twitter to use it. Just read updates when you're at the site. All of them are time stamped and you can click on any links you see. If this blog is updated there will be a link on the site. So check www.twitter.com/hannahsback for all the updates. Don't worry, if there is anything posted here there will be a post and a link on the twitter site directing you back here.
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