Not good news

Stephanie’s mother, the quilt maker, called us Saturday morning from Mt. Carmel East hospital (pictured)(where we visited my Aunt June this past fall), in Columbus, to tell us that she had been admitted to the hospital on Thursday with symptoms that led to a Saturday morning colonoscopy. Apparently a lab biopsied tissue that this procedure collected and concluded the growth in Nancy’s colon was indeed cancerous. So Sunday morning Nancy went back into surgery – this time for three hours – and had a cancerous growth the size of a baseball removed. Stephanie’s stepfather told us late today that Nancy might be released in a couple of days and that she would be back for chemotherapy in five or six weeks after she recovers from the surgery. In the interim, Stephanie researched colon problems on the Internet and found information about risk factors and survival rates. We’ve figured we might be going up to Ohio this coming weekend, primarily to pick Vincent up from half of spring break at his father’s, and now we may combine that with visiting with several people who have been ill, including Stephanie’s mother. Stephanie’s mother has been spending a lot of time helping take care of her mother, Stephanie’s maternal grandmother, who’s recently faced lung cancer. We may stay with Grandma Mary to be able to visit with her and visit with Nancy and Papa Bob without being a burden to them. Also on our list of people to visit are a number of older, but somewhat less sick people: Aunt Velma, Granny Love, and Grandpa Beck. But that may have to wait. There’s only so much we can do in one weekend. (In much happier news, the condition of Nancy and Bob’s neighbor, Ann, for whom some of you have prayed, is improving somewhat, and she is able to speak now. In addition, Stephanie’s student, John, made it to a connseling appointment last week that Stephanie helped arrange, with more appointments hopefully to come. Thanks for your prayers. Pray for Nancy, Bob, Grandma Mary, Stephanie, and the whole extended family (many of whom were at Mt. Carmel East this weekend.)