More than we could ask or imagine....

Ephesians 3:20-21

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory...."

Today was Matt's post-op appointment with his doctor, exactly 1 week from surgery. The doctor kept saying over and over again how amazed he was that Matt was healing so fast after such a major surgery. He did go over the pathology reports with us. They didn't find any cancer in the lymph nodes and salivary gland that he removed; however, the doctor believes Matt should still radiate the area (as well as his tongue) to "get ahead of the cancer". The best way he explained it to us was the cancer is like a dandelion. He pulled it out at the root and by the root, but doesn't mean that pieces of it didn't go anywhere else. Matt needs to do the radiation to kill any of the seeds that might have planted in his mouth or neck. The doctor removed the steri strips from Matt's neck, so we got the first look at his incision. Matt's doctor is a plastic surgeon, so he did a great job in sewing Matt up. I don't think his incision will even be noticeable in a few weeks.

I think about this very time last week and Matt was in pain and absolutely miserable. We had no idea what the week was going to have in store. We had no idea how much speech would remain for Matt. I remember sitting in the hospital room just waiting for him to be more alert to hear him try to talk. When he did become more alert, I was able to tell him that the doctor only had to take the margins once which meant, he took the least amount of his tongue that he could have. Matt just gave me a thumbs up in his drug induced state. :)

I am so blessed to report that Matt is doing great! Due to his love for food, he's been trying to sample almost every dish that has come to our house the last 3 days. He has to take it slow and very small bites and his taste buds aren't quite up to par, but he can eat! He also is speaking remarkably well. I really can't believe how well he is speaking. He can't wait to go to church on Sunday!

From here.....Matt will most likely start radiation in 3 weeks. He has one more appointment where his doctor will release him to start the radiation therapy. As he started looking at the calendar today, he immediately pointed out that Easter would fall before week 3 which is when the pain that comes with the therapy will most likely start. He really wants to be able to speak on Easter.

All I can really say is that WE ARE BLESSED! God has given us strength to get through this first portion of this journey. Even in the moments when I felt like I couldn't take another step, God did something, sent someone, or led me to Scripture to remind me He is here with us.