Sitting here at this keyboard thinking about what to type is a bit overwhelming. It’s not that I’m suffering from writers block. In fact it’s the opposite. There is so much to be said, that I am struggling to put it all into words.
The most obvious thing to address would be Laura’s recovery. This past Friday, she had her six week post-op appointment. Dr. Yap, the GYN oncologist, said that everything looked great and that Laura no longer needs to see her! From here on out she will follow up with her regular GYN each year. Talk about an answer to prayer. On January 11, 2017 we had no idea what to expect. Six weeks later, Laura is healthy and happy and has a less than 2% chance of getting ovarian cancer. God is truly gracious.
With all that being said, there are some details that might be worth sharing at this point. Part of the reason for creating this blog was to share information for others who might be going through the same situation. For that reason, we will share details that might not always be of interest for everyone. That being said, you can see from the photo on this blog, Laura’s incisions have healed up nicely. They will continue to lighten over time. Immediately after surgery, Laura was prescribed birth control pills to manage her hormones that way. She had some GI side effects with that so during her first post-op appointment, she was prescribed an estrogen patch that she changes twice a week to regulate her hormones. So far she says that she feels like herself with that and has had no menopausal symptoms. During recovery, we found some creative ways for Laura to lift the boys, such as putting a stool in Asher’s crib that he could step up onto so Laura could just grab him instead of lifting him. Of course having young children added a different kind of challenge to recovery but it was definitely manageable. Laura was able to return to work after four weeks, working two nights a week at the hospital.
We have had some folks ask about our feelings now that the door to having children naturally has been closed for us. For some, this reality may be very devastating. For us, however, not having any more kids naturally was not soul crushing. Before the surgery, we were already at a place spiritually and emotionally in which we knew that the next step for us was adoption. There are 200+ million orphans in the world and we feel called to open up our hearts and home to at least one child, if not more. The fact that we no longer can reproduce children has served as a catalyst for us to move toward this goal more expediently. We are currently praying through when to apply, and looking at doing so sometime later this year. We are not sure how God will lead us, but we are open to whatever He deems best. Stay tuned for more on that.
Now that Laura is fully recovered from the hysterectomy, we turn our attention to the next surgery. Laura will be getting a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction on March 27. Even though we are confident in our decision to move forward with this surgery, there have been a lot of thoughts and emotions to process through. Laura will share another post later about how we arrived at this decision and share some of the neat ways that we have seen God answering prayer. This recovery will be tougher than the first surgery simply because Laura will be limited for a bit in her range of motion. It’s never easy to ask for or accept help but we know we will need it this time around trying to care for two little ones and deal with recovery. Our friend Corrie has graciously created a care calendar for us with dates for meals and childcare help. By childcare help, we simply mean we would love for people to just come over and even bring their kids to help entertain the boys. They will probably get bored at home since they are so used to being out and about with Laura! The link for the calendar is below. We are so appreciative in advance for any help we receive and for all your prayers!
https://my.lotsahelpinghands.com/community/echols-family
Beautiful In Time 
Leave a Reply