A Long Day Begins

This is a picture of 1 Peter Bay, Char and Michael's house on the island of St. John. The beach is just behind me in this photo. Char continues to be an invaluable resource in our battle against Val's disease. Enjoy the weather babe! A bit warmer than Colorado, eh?

As I write, Val, Chris, and Nancy are leaving for an 0930 appointment with Dr. Simon Lo at Cedars Sinai. An ERCP will be performed to remove and replace (3) plastic stents in Val's biliary tree. This is a long outpatient day. Although not as invasive as surgery, it is very difficult. A tube is sent down your throat and somehow finds it's way into the liver. It removes the old stents, inserts new stents, looks around, and performs clean-up operations. All in about two hours.

Even as I describe what I think happens, it seems surreal, unbelievable. All I know is that Dr. Lo is one of the best. Please pray that God would enhance his skills as this procedure is not straightforward.

Pray that Val would recover quickly and that these stents would perform flawlessly for their intended life of 3 months.

Pray also for safety for my daughter Julie, who, at this hour, is leaving San Luis Obispo by car. She is scheduled to arrive at Val's home in San Marcos at 2 pm today.

Finally, pray for my son, Jeff, a Lt. Colonel in the Air Force. He just received orders to report to the Korean Peninsula where he will be in charge of squadrons of F-16's. Pray also for his wife, Janet, and their children, Josh, Jessica, Jerrod, and Justus. Jeff is on the right side in the second row of the family picture at the top of the blog. Don't miss the fact that dad still has more hair than Paul and Jeff!

Godspeed