Update from Courtney's Mom

First of all, let me say thank you all so very much for every prayer that has been prayed for Courtney and our family. I could never express how much you all mean to us -- those we know and love and those we've never met and love as well.

Courtney's surgery went well. Dr Kelley, her surgeon, told us he was able to remove the 3 lymph nodes that lit up on the PET scan as being cancerous. One was difficult to remove as it was attached to a vein near the pancreas but he felt he was able to identify all 3 and remove them. He removed several other lymph nodes (about 15-20) that appeared normal and these also will be biopsied to check for cancer cells. The biopsy results will take 7-10 days. She went to SCU (what we call ICU) and the goal was to stay overnight, then go to a regular room, but things got a little tough. She had problems with dehydration which caused increased heart rate and decreased oxygen intake, so she didn't get out of SCU until Saturday afternoon. Things improved greatly it seemed and they removed her NG tube (stomach tube) and catheter. They started her on solid foods but her colon wasn't ready and by Monday she was in severe abdominal pain. After a sleepless night Monday, she had emergency xrays and it showed that part of her colon was "asleep". They took her off anything by mouth and put her back on IV pain medication. She had a really rough day on Monday and Monday night. But things have improved greatly today and we think her colon is beginning to work again -- slowly. She's still having some problems with low oxygen levels and is on continuous oxygen. Her heart rate is getting better. She has a lot of swelling from her tummy to her toes--she claims to have "Nutty Professor" feet! All in all, today she is much better and we are so thankful. She had another xray and her colon is beginning to "wake up", but it's a slow process according to her doctors. Her pain for the most part is controlled, and she is getting breathing treatments to help increase her oxygen intake.

The cards, gifts, flowers, balloons, phone calls/messages, emails and even a few surprise visits she has received here have really brightened her days. I can tell you first hand because I've seen her face light up when she gets them. God has truly blessed Courtney with such good friends and we are all blessed with such a wonderful support group of prayer warriors. On my lowest days here, I could just begin to feel God's love lift me up and carry me to a better place and my faith would be renewed. Please keep all those prayers and thoughts coming--I know that God is hearing them because we are blessed so abundantly.

Much love,
Melody Cook