Most importantly – our surgeon’s name is Kevin Jones… this is for those would like to pray for him by name. We have confidence in him – in fact, Mark will be the third member of our family I have entrusted to his care. He was the surgeon who was able to repair Greg’s broken prosthesis (see A Screw Loose) as well as remove a benign bone tumor from Jackie’s right arm a couple years ago.

Asking friends to pray for Dr. Jones has reminded me of our experience in 2014 when, after several hours of troubles, the doctors all agreed to not continue surgery on Jackie’s spinal tumor. Click here to learn more about that… The significant part of that story now is something I don’t think I mentioned at the time. My sister had been praying that the doctors would not only be led to know what to do, but that one of them would mention it to us. Later, while I was with Jackie in the ICU, one of the anesthesiologists came to tell me more of their experience (see Questioning Fingers). This was all at OHSU in Portland, OR. I do not believe that this doctor was a religious man. It left me with no question of who is really in charge. Not just in charge – but present in our lives and helping us along the way.

Today we are grateful that Mark is second case. He was scheduled to be first but the surgeon said that he wanted Mark to be second. Mark was scheduled for four hours but he expects it to be five to seven hours. His other case is scheduled for five hours but he thinks it shouldn’t be more than four. So we are the unpredictable ones today – and we get to go second. This is great news – meaning we do not checkin an until 11:30 and have been able to sleep in and lounge about this morning. We have been back at Hope Lodge since Sunday so we have an easy commute. I’ll talk more about the surgery later.

One thing we like about Hope Lodge is that we can bring our own food. His appetite isn’t great, but he has been craving filet mignon so we went for steak last night. He also loves a good piece of pie, but it turns out that his “pie” diner of choice (Left Fork Grill) closes at 3:00. Fortunately some friends recently took me to The Dodo – a little restaurant not far from here that serves up some pretty tasty pie. Mark managed to sit at the padded booth of the steak house but we had to take the pie to-go. We enjoyed a cozy evening watching a show on the couch and eating pie.

One concern we have had about surgery today is that his breathing has been getting worse again. No one seemed overly concerned at our pre-op visits so perhaps he will receive a chest tube? We just don’t want it to be postponed! We have enjoyed hearing from many friends and family members over the past couple of days and appreciate your well-wishes and prayers on our behalf! You are such a strength to us and we pray for you in return.