cancerschmancer - 2nd appointment with the UCI surgeon

here's an update from jamie, regarding our second appointment with the nasal surgeon at uci.
as you can imagine, yesterday was quite another roller coaster ride.

Hello All,

Well, today was another visit to UCI to see the nasal surgeon. He did another nasal scope and he was very pleased with what he saw. His words were, "you couldn't get a better result than what you have here." The tumor has decreased in size by 70-80% from his last examination of Matt in October. PRAISE THE LORD!! So he described the size of it as being the size of an almond or brazil nut. In measurements, it would be 1 1/2-2 cm. The doctor was impressed at the tumor's response to the chemo/radiation treatments. In addition to this great news, the doctor was confident that the tumor was only compressing the bridge of the nose/edge of the forehead bone. There has been no erosion of bone or optic nerve. We, without hesitation, gave glory to the Lord! We shouted, "Our God is BIG, and we have thousands of people praying!"

The doctor's plan was to have Matt get an MRI and PET/CT scan in about four weeks. (allowing the effects of the radiation to subside a little more) He would see where the tumor was at based on the scans and at that point do some biopsies, if there was any of the tumor left. He stated that the non-surgical treatments have been very successful so he stated that "surgery may not even be necessary." He took the "let's wait and see" approach. And while it would be easy to be fearful with the rare and aggressive nature of this cancer, we have to continue to trust that the Lord is working here!!  

So, we left the doctor's office praising the Lord for good news!

And just when we thought that was it...about an hour or two after leaving the doctor's office, Matt received a phone call from his medical oncologist here in Riverside. She told him that she talked to the doctor at UCI and she wants to see him as soon as possible to begin chemotherapy again. They both believe that Matt should begin chemo again to continue to kill and shrink the tumor since non-surgical methods are working really well. We don't have all of the information from the medical oncologist as to why there was such a shift in opinions from just hours before, but we do trust that they have Matt's best interest at heart...and more than that, we are trusting the Lord to be in all of the details of Matt's care. 

Please pray for wisdom for the doctors, a clear plan, and for this to be completely in alignment with God's plan for Matt, Sarah and the kids. 

Thank you all! Your prayers are coveted.

Jamie