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{pretty}

 The view from the window of Brian’s hospital room.

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It has been a crazy last few days and I am actually typing this now in the hospital as Brian is trying to rest. Here’s the scoop in a nutshell. Brian has been sick on and off for awhile. He had a few infections but antibiotics took care of them. However, he was still getting pain in his stomach and sides. On Friday he was scheduled to have some testing and procedures done to check everything out. They found three polyps (an abnormal growth of tissue) and were able to remove the two small ones during the procedure. The third was larger and suspicious for cancer. He would need to schedule surgery in the next week or so and have it removed and analyzed.

He came back home that afternoon but by the evening he had a high fever and severe chills. He went to the ER and they suspected a perforation from one of the procedures. They kept him overnight. In the morning his fever was down and the chills stopped but he was still in some pain. They decided to do surgery right away and take care of all the issues he’s dealing with. So tomorrow/Sunday morning at 7:30 AM (PT) he is having surgery. Please pray that all goes well, that he recovers quickly and that the polyp is not cancerous. (Update: It was cancerous but the surgery removed it all.)

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As a side note, my sister BC called me Wednesday night and said she and my other sister JC wanted to make a last minute trip from So Cal to spend the weekend with us. I told them that we’d love to have them. I told her that Brian had some tests on Friday but he was scheduled to be back at work on Saturday so that wouldn’t be a problem. Little did I know I’d actually be sitting in a hospital room on Saturday instead!  The Holy Spirit must have prompted their trip because he knew I could really use their help with Brian’s unexpected situation. And thanks to my sister BC’s generosity, she rearranged her work schedule so she could take time off and stay here to help me with the kids while Brian is in the hospital. (His surgery’s recovery time is 3-7 days.) I told Brian God was making arrangements for us before we even knew we needed them!

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{happy & funny}

I haven’t taken many photos this week but I borrowed these that my sisters took while I was in the hospital with Brian. I am incredibly happy to know the kids are in good hands while I am busy.

Matthew is exclaiming his new favorite phrase, “I did it!”

Andrew was having a blast.

 My sister said, “This picture was taken before Matthew had his feet in John-Paul’s food!” (JP was not very pleased!)

My sister said, “Matthew could not believe Captain America was in the house!”

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{rea}

This is an old photo but I brought Brian our favorite small icon to his hospital room. I asked Our Lady to watch over him and Our Lord to give him strength and peace of heart.

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At 9:30 PM tonight Brian received the strength he needed at that moment. Our parish priest came by to see Brian and give him Anointing of the Sick. I am so glad I happened to be there so I could join them in prayer. Brian was really touched and I know it gave him peace.

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Speaking of peace, I am not sure what is wrong with me. Normally I would be completely stressed out over all this and dramatically picturing the worse case scenario as a funeral scene plays through my head. (Remember when I thought Matthew was going to die?) But strangely, I have not been worried at all. I have been praying but haven’t freaked out once. (If anything, I am freaking out because I am not freaking out.) I told my sister that either God is pouring buckets of grace down on me or I am in a huge state of denial. I think I’ll go with the grace. At least it has allowed me to stay upbeat with the kids so they are not worried and just think daddy is having a reeeeeally long doctor visit.

Please keep us all in prayer and for those already praying, thank you so much! I’ll keep you posted.

UPDATE: An Update on Brian (1/15/13)