Love and unity across the miles

Today was a bit of an emotional day for the family. My sister Doris had surgery at the UCLA Medical Center for her brain tumor, which was discovered almost by accident in November. Doris has had epileptic seizures since her teenage years, usually controlled with medication. With some additional recent symptoms, her neurologist suggested she have an MRI of her brain (having passed many years since the last one), and the tumor was discovered. They said it's quite large as brain tumors go, and was technically a pituitary adenoma — almost certainly benign, but without treatment it would probably make her blind eventually.

The astonishing surgical procedure attempts to remove the tumor her nose and the roof of her mouth, leaving no visible scar. The consistency of the tumor tissue makes a big difference; the "cottage cheese" type is the best, and the "rubber" variety has a much higher risk of damage to the meninges and associated complications. So we had much to pray and hope for.

Many of the members of the family joined in fasting and prayer. It was a wonderful thing to contemplate, joining in that spiritual endeavor across the miles, and gave me an even greater appreciation for my wonderful family. In addition, Bonnie and I were able to take Matt back to the temple for a second visit during the time Doris was in surgery.

We came out from the temple in the early afternoon and there was still no report; but a while later, the good news came. It was a cottage-cheese-type tumor, and the surgeons were very positive about getting most or all of it out during the 5-hour procedure. There were only minor complications with some spinal fluid leakage which they were able to control. They'll be monitoring things closely for the next few days, but it looks like we have much to be grateful for!

Judy noted that each of us siblings have dealt with some challenging issues — Judy: hemangioma surgery; Chris: ruptured uterus; Dave: cancer and glaucoma; Doris: pituitary tumor; Angie: thyroid cancer. But we've all been blessed and still have much life ahead of us!