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On October 21st 2019, my wife Laura Celly was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. Laura’s entire family is healthy- she has twelve living siblings and her parents who are 87 years young are still with us. No one in her family had any cancer history, but now she did. She was in shock and so was I. This hit us like a lightning bolt out of the blue-unannounced and unwelcome and definitely unexpected.
After many doctor visits, surgeon consultations, and insurance phone calls, fast forward to December 2nd.They were going to have to remove the entire left breast and then reconstruct it by doing a tummy flap. The surgery was expected to last about 5-6 hours and then she would be in the hospital for 4-5 days and then she would have to recover at home for about 6-8 weeks. This was major and was going to be a big change and disruptor to our regular life, schedule and routine. I asked myself multiple times-“Why her and Why Now?” What had she done to deserve this ? I kept reminding myself through this entire process that it is God’s plan and not ours. He has a pathway for us, which may not be what we had in mind, for ourselves, or on our timeline, but in the long run, his plan is better….
It was a long Mastectomy, but with God’s grace and blessings, they successfully removed the left breast and hopefully got all the cancer out. They could not do the reconstruction phase since the blood vessels did not flow through fully from the tummy flap and graft to the left breast vacated area. We will have to go back to get that done in early January 2020. Laura was discharged early from the hospital and we got home on the morning of Wednesday December 4th. Thanks be to God and we are so grateful for all the prayers and good wishes from family and friends.
I have been helping Laura at home and she has been improving and gaining strength. Our kids who had been staying with their friends while we were in the hospital, also came back home on Thursday December 5th, which also happened to be Laura’s birthday. With God’s blessings, we were able to celebrate Laura’s birthday at home and not in the hospital.
She has the tubes and bulbs and has a lot of painkillers to help-I am with her at home helping her walk about, go to the bathroom, sit, lie down, go to the bed, empty out the bulbs etc. I have faith and trust in God, that she will recover well and steadily improve each day. We will have multiple follow up doctor and surgeon visits in the next few weeks. Please continue to keep her in your prayers as we get through this phase in our life and come out stronger and more faithful, on the other side. I appreciate many of you asking how you can help. Laura has set up a meal train, which you can assist with if you’d like here- https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/q80gdl
The last few weeks have been challenging and I know that the next couple of months will be tough as well. But. I also know that God is kind and just and can move mountains. I keep reminding myself, that it is God’s plan and not ours. It is His way and path and not mine. Like Swedish Mafia in their song “Don’t you worry child” say, “Don’t worry child, heavens got a plan for you.” Your prayers, support and encouragement will continue to make a big difference and Laura and I thank you in advance for that. Praise be to God.
