Truly, I don’t know where to begin.  I am so overjoyed with our visit with Dr. Z today.  Nothing but amazing, miraculous news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the praise and glory be to God.  There is no other explanation.  Even our doctors agree.

NO MORE CHEMO!!!!!  That by itself is a huge praise.  Chemo has side effects that are undesir-able, as most of us know.  We continue to pray that Donnie’s side effects will continue to wane the longer he is off chemo.  There is no plan for future chemo.  I am beyond happy for Donnie!!

Dr. Z said today, “Chemo is good, but it’s not THAT good,” followed by a smile and a chuckle.  What he means is that he does not believe the chemo got rid of the metastasis that was first diagnosed on Donnie’s CT enterography back in December.  Looking retrospectively on Donnie’s findings, they really cannot explain why it “looked like metastasis” then, but when they did the surgery, there was NO metastasis, and no cancer even in the lymph nodes surrounding the pancreas.  He said to us, “Just keep praying.”  I told him, trust me, there has been a lot of that going on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Donnie had blood work drawn today to follow blood counts, evaluate chemistries, and check his tumor markers.  We will have results in about a week. In 3 months, Donnie will have a CT scan, more labs, and a visit with Dr. Z.  He will continue to be followed by Dr. Z for the next 5 years.  It was really awesome to hear him say THE NEXT 5 YEARS.  We asked him about Donnie’s prognosis.  He said, “At first, it was zero.  Now I would say its 50-50.”  It was his best educated guess.  WE KNOW, God has a plan, so it doesn’t matter what any of us think!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We will have to continue to live each day to the fullest, and praise the Lord for every opportunity we have.

Pancreatic cancer is agressive, so we will need to be diligent and watch for any changes.  Dr. Z did not say the words “cancer free”, but he did say this is the best possible news anyone could have hoped for.  Just fantastic!!!

We are so grateful to Dr. Shultz and Dr. LaPane (gastroenterologists) for getting Donnie diagnosed correctly in the first place (and not letting this go on and on). We are so grateful for our wonderful friends and family who have stood by our side through this challenging ordeal, praying for us unceasingly and untiringly! We are so grateful to Dr. Z for the care he and Rochelle (his P.A.) gave to us.  We are so grateful to our special nurses at the clinic and in the hospital, who are too numerous to mention, who made all the difference in our lives.  We are so grateful that Dr. Z was wise enough to present Donnie’s case to the tumor board, JUST IN CASE he might be a candidate for surgery.  We are so grateful that Dr. de la Fuente felt Donnie did not have metastatic disease and needed to have surgery to remove the cancer, and that the surgery went exactly the way he thought it would.  We are so grateful to our 4 precious children, Beau, Jeff, David and Rachael, who have been at our side helping us in any way that they could.  It’s amazing . . . we already loved each other so much . . . but something like this really makes you even closer.  Thank you God for our children, and their children, who make the difficult times sweeter with their hugs, kisses and little voices . . . and the sweet things they say when life is tough.

Donnie continues to recuperate slowly from his surgery.  He is still on a lot of pain medication, and he is quite weak.  He improves just a little bit each day. Please continue to pray for his healing and recovery.  I know you will 🙂

Donnie has loved the Lord ever since he was a child.  He grew up loving God, and loved Him through some difficult times, even through the death of his son, Brett. Sometimes during the difficulties of life, we might feel God has left us.  Donnie said to me when he was first diagnosed, “This is the most important time of my life to walk with the Lord, and I want to try to do it the best I can.”  I am grateful for the God-fearing example Donnie is to our family, even during the most difficult of times.  This is where you live out your faith.  I feel God has chosen to honor that, and I am grateful.

Isaiah 40:31:  They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;  they shall mount up with wings as eagles . . . ”  (Donnie’s life verse)  Praise to God from whom all blessings flow!

Much love to all of you, who have prayed and made the miraculous difference in Donnie’s life, in my life, and in our family’s life!  xoxoxo,  Donnie & Tina