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