James & Carolanne

On Thursday of last week (Feb. 3) I received a call from the office of the specialist that we have been trying to see, telling me that they had an opening to operate on the following Tuesday (Feb. 8 ) and wondering if I could make it on short notice. Naturally I said yes and quickly arranged for a few days of sick leave from work. Though it wasn't ideal timing, I've waited for quite a while to have this surgery done and my boss has been very understanding and accommodating through this whole process.

My biggest concern was regarding the cold that Ben and Julia promptly got. Typically when they get sick I'm quick to follow. I could pretty much guarantee that the surgery would be cancelled if I got sick. We prayed very hard through the weekend that I would not get sick in spite of dealing with lots of sneezing, coughing and runny noses. The Lord heard our (and your) prayers and in spite of all the germs, neither Carolanne nor I got the cold. That was definitely a miracle in and of itself.

Another concern we had was how to get me there. The surgery was scheduled to take place in Burnaby at 10:45 am and I needed a ride to get there at 8:45. Though Carolanne could have driven me there with the kids and then driven me back again when done, it would have been a really long day for the kids as we had to leave at 6:30 in the morning. As it turned out, one of the pastors from our church graciously accepted our request for help and drove me out in the morning. (thanks again pastor Dave)

Going in to the surgery I really wasn't sure what to expect. Though my wound had been healed over for the past few months, I just recently had a scare where things started to swell up again and our family Dr. put me on antibiotics to help try to prevent a full fledged infection. (that's what this whole thing started with originally) I explained all this to the Dr. before the surgery, and after examining things he basically concluded that he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to do much or not. He told me he would decide how much needed to be done during the surgery.

Well the end result seems to be the best possible solution as far as I can tell. He did do some cutting so I have a small(ish) wound, but it doesn't appear to be really deep or big, and I don't have to go in for homecare every day. I would have been concerned if he didn't do anything since I know that there have still been problems with it. It also would have been frustrating if he had made huge incisions and I would have to take many months more of healing. Over all, it seems like quite a decent outcome. Thank you again Lord!

Thank you to all of you as well for your prayers and concern for us over the past year and a half. This whole thing started July 13'th, 2009 and many of you have been praying for us since then. Thank you very much! I really hope that once I heal up, this will be the last of the surgeries for a LONG while!