Family & Friends,
It has been a wild ride since our last update with some very unexpected twists and turns. Some of you know that we had been battling a raccoon family in our home for the past few months. We had tried to remove them on our own only to end up making the problem much worse than it was initially. In the end we had to hire a company to come and remove them and seal up the house. During that time because of some of the missteps we had made, a baby raccoon ended up dying in one of our walls. EEEEk! You can imagine the smell that began to fill our home (I noticed it ON surgery day of all days). Thankfully, through some sort of miracle, our amazing small group leader Cory was able to remove it from the wall cavity the day we brought Stephen home.
Unfortunately, however, that was the beginning of further problems. FLEAS. We discovered later that week that our cat and home was infested with fleas. A million loads of laundry plus a very expensive vet bill later we are still battling the flea invasion. To top it all off, our septic pipes decided to back up a few days after the flea discovery. I have to say, while this sounds like a lot it feels like a solid representation of what life has been not only these past few years but especially these past few months.
Last Monday, Stephen went in for a follow up appointment to have the stitches removed. His left eye is still shut most of the time and is not functioning normally so they referred him to a neuro ophthalmologist. He will be seeing one next Tuesday, July 26th.
Yesterday afternoon Stephen received a phone call with the pathology results. The tumor was found to be cancerous. This was a shock to both of us in many ways, and in other ways it was not. There had been small things along the way that seemed to indicate that it might not be the classic meningioma they thought it was but that it could possibly be something else altogether. The name we were given for it is a Solitary Fibrous Tumor. There is not a whole lot of information about this type of tumor because it is extremely rare, and even more rare for it to be malignant. We do not know anything else at this time besides that name and that we will be hearing from oncology soon for an appointment with them.
We are finding hope in the fact that the tumor was pretty much completely removed thanks to Dr. Dunn and his team’s incredible skill. We don’t know what that will mean for treatment options moving forward but we have some alternative options we are considering taking before the follow up MRI is done.
We appreciate your continued prayer for Stephen, our family, and our home. Please pray for wisdom and clarity on what to do next. We also appreciate prayers for provision and possible photography or editing work to help provide some income during this time.
We love you all and don’t know what we would do without your continued love, care, and support through prayer.
Laura (& Stephen)
P.S. We are SO incredibly thankful for the generosity we have experienced through gift cards, delivered meals, and unexpected monetary gifts. If you feel led to provide a gift card (no expectations or pressure!) some of the most useful options right now would be Instacart, DoorDash, Whole Foods, or Target.
Continuing to pray with the army of prayer warriors walking this journey with you. We pray for healing, bringing glory to Almighty God, in the powerful name of Jesus. Much love to you all!🙏🙏🙏
Wow! Continuing to pray that in it and through it all God’s goodness shines through! May He give you strength! Praying for all the details and your family as you process and move forward into next steps!