Millar Moments: VISITING AN ONCOLOGIST AND A SURGEON AND HAVING A PET SCAN LED TO A MONTH OF PRAYER

As mentioned last month, the CT scan at the emergency room revealed a carcinoid tumor in Paul's abdomen, pressing against his small intestines. We were referred to an oncologist and went to see him shortly after our visit to the emergency room. He agreed with the ER doctors that this was a carcinoid tumor and that it needed to be removed. He sent us to a surgeon who informed us that the tumor could be removed but that it would entail a pretty major surgery and at least 5 days in the hospital. The tumor is attached to the tissue surrounding the small intestines and which feeds the intestines with blood. This tissue will have to be removed along with the tumor as well as the intestine which it feeds. This procedures is called a bowel resection. The surgeon assured us that he has done many of these and that there should be a full recovery with no restrictions to his digestive system. The long stay in the hospital it to make sure the bowels are functioning properly before he goes home. We appreciate this conservative approach.

The oncologist wanted a special kind of pet scan where a radioactive dye is injected into the blood stream. The dye attaches itself to any tumor in the body. The procedure was not hard at all but in reading the results our minds conjured up all sort of complications. Luckily, when we revisited the oncologist, he said there was nothing to be concerned about and that the surgery would take care of all of Paul's symptoms. We were so relieved. I don't think we have prayed so hard about anything in a long time. Our prayers were heard and answered. So grateful for knowing Heavenly Father has plan for each of us and that with faith in Him and our Savior, Jesus Christ, we can face anything. I was also grateful that in Come Follow Me we were reading about the faith and courage of the 2000 stripling warriors. My motto became 'Faith, Courage, and Exact Obedience."

Signing in at the oncologist

The imaging department at the hospital

At the first of the month, Charlotte and her roommate came to spend the weekend with us. They had been staying in Maggie and Kasey's apartment in Provo and needed a change of scenery. We were glad they would want to come here to stay. I tried to spoil them with good food, of course. That was a little trickier than usual as Isabella is severely lactose intolerant. I had to make sure I didn't cook with any milk products and to use only her special lactose free butter. They had a great visit, spending a lot of their time in the basement studying. ( We also had the privilege of having Aubrey stay with us for a weekend as she was between apartments.)

We took them to Subway for lunch on Saturday.
Isabella couldn't even eat a chocolate chip cookie because
they are usually made with lots of butter.

Isabella's special butter

Shortly after their stay, we attended a funeral for the husband of a sister to whom we minister. She and her husband were separated but she couldn't divorce him when he got terribly ill. She would go the St. George where he was living and clean his home and try and take care of him while she was there. Finally, he got bad enough that she brought him here to Provo where he was in the hospital for a couple of weeks. He was then sent to a care facility which he hated and begged her to take him to her home so he could die there. He had been on dialysis for a while and wanted to come off it. By doing so, he would be sure to die quite quickly, which he did. We went to see her the day after his passing and, thankfully, she was surrounded by family. The funeral was beautiful, especially her former bishop's talk which offered much hope for the family. I helped serve the family luncheon after the service.

The lunch crew

The next thing happening in the month was Paul's class reunion. It was held in American Fork at a local restaurant there. It was well attended and everyone seemed to have a good time. Paul had to conduct the evening. This was a reunion between reunions, being held only 3 years after the last one. It was deemed a good idea as everyone is getting older with many having already passed away. In fact, a week after the reunion, Paul found out that a classmate who had attended the dinner died. How nice that her friends could see her one last time.

Then, there was our little retreat for 4 days to Eden, Utah to stay in the Worldmark there. We invited Deon and Gary to come with us for a couple of the days. It was great to just relax - watching movies, reading a book, sitting in the hot tub. Of course, we had to have lunch at the Mad Moose Cafe. An ice cream cone from there was also a must. On Wednesday, we drove to Ogden to attend the Ogden Temple. We were glad to be in the temple to experience the new changes that have been made to the endowment ceremony. They are wonderful changes that shorten the presentation to an hour and ten minutes. It was good to be in the temple and feel the spirit there.

At the end of the month, we celebrated Todd's birthday. On the Sunday before, I made his favorite dinner of Hawaiian chicken and for dessert we had to have a Dairy Queen ice cream cake. Jon and Mindi were in town so they joined us, along with Olivia, Carly and Clark. It was a great day to have both Jon and Todd and their families together with us.

We had a second celebration on the day of Todd's birthday. Kailee invited us to join them and Jon's family at PF Chang's for dinner. Jon's son, Braydon, even came and it was so good to see him. Kailee insisted that this was her treat and gift to Todd. We all has a wonderful time full of much laughter and good food.

One of the Sundays, when Todd's family came to dinner, the girls built forts up in the playroom. Aria collected everything she could that was red and Avery found all things blue. They had such a good time building them that when it came time to clean up the room, they asked if they could leave the forts the way they were. The problem is that they didn't come back up to dinner for two weeks so the playroom was in disarray for that long. When they came a couple of weeks later, the girls were happy so see their forts still there as they had left them. This time they did clean up the forts before going home but as I was up there the following day I noticed a note on the bookshelf saying, 'do not clean up.' Under the note I found lots of purple things Aria had collected. I left them on the shelf. We love that the girls are excited to come to Grandpa and Grandma's home.

Aria's red fort

Avery's blue fort using Paul's favorite BYU
blue blanket which he patiently did without
for two weeks.

Paul started harvesting many thing from our garden this month. The beets have come off and have tasted wonderful. The beans had a hard time this year so we only got one serving. Thankfully Deon sent some of her beans over for us to eat. The best thing off the garden is corn which he started harvesting. Sad thing is that Paul cannot eat it as it is too hard to digest. We don't want him to get a bowel blockage which would require emergency surgery. Consequently, we have given a lot of corn away to neighbors.

Peaches are also a thing in August and early September. To get a head start on them, we bought some early Elberta peaches from Allred's orchards. We usually wait till the Lemon Elbertas come on and I wish we had. The ones we bought were not that sweet and were a pain to peel. The skins never did slip like that should have. Luckily I was only freezing them for slush. I ended up with 19 bags of slush to go along with the five I have from last year. That should last us.

On the last day of the month, we drove with Deon and Gary up to Brigham City to buy peaches from a relative of Ed and Debbie's. Ed and Debbie met us there. The peaches were beautiful but ripened way too fast, probably because they had been in cold storage. I canned 18 bottles of peaches which we hope will be firm and not mushy like the ones we have from Allred's in previous years.

And finally, Paul ordered some new license plates for our car. He had wanted the new black plates that are now available in Utah. He ordered two specialized plates with Heeree 1 on them. He was so excited when they finally came in the mail. Oh the small things that bring us joy.