Today was a blessed day!

Hi all,

As Danielle said, our mom’s surgery went very well. Her procedure took almost 6 hours! We just left recovery and she will be staying the rest of the week in 7E in room 7621-1. Dr. Chambers was very pleased with how well our mom did and with the results of the surgery. Generally, surgeons are able to remove all but a centimeter of the cancer but Dr. Chambers was able to remove all the cancer down to the millimeter.

She will start chemotherapy in 2 weeks and now we have to decide if we want to stay the course of our original plan of chemotherapy or participate in a new ovarian cancer study. We should learn more information about our options later this week.

We were blessed today with the support from some very amazing people. My dad, mom, Michelle and I were joined in Tucson by our sweet uncle Jeff and friends John Shufeldt, Manny Molina, and Marie Costello. We are staying at a beautiful bed and breakfast named Casa Luna and the inn-keeper Nancy has really outdone herself in making us comfortable. We were also blessed to meet the head of oncology at UofA, Dr. Alberts, as well as Ardie Delforge who is in patient support. My dad spoke with Dr. Alberts this evening and he was very encouraged with the results of the surgery. Dr. Alberts confirmed my dad’s belief that our mom won “round one” of her fight against cancer. We also met a wonderful woman by the name of Paola Werstler from the Cancer Center who sat with Michelle and me for a while and had many wonderful and inspiring things to say. We look forward to working closely with all these amazing people during our many visits back to Tucson in the near future.

We appreciate all the love, support and prayers that were sent our way today. We even had the chaplain at the hospital give my mom the sacrament of healing before her procedure. It is amazing how the stars have aligned to put us in the best place in a difficult situation. From Dr. Shufeldt to Dr. Wendt to Dr. Barton to Dr. Chambers to Dr. Alberts, we have been placed in the care of the best of the best!

The only thing that would have made today better would have been the company of Danielle and Billie. Dani will be driving down in the morning and little Billie will be back in town on Thursday.

Our mom has a rough couple months ahead of her but she is both physically and mentally strong. She was ready for surgery today and is ready to face this head on.

Please pray that she has a speedy recovery!

All the best,

Nicole and Michelle