Difficult news

My mother (who lives in the Pacific Northwest) had surgery yesterday to remove her gall bladder. She has been ill since at least the beginning of the year and declining dramatically. There was some suspicion of something more when they detected a mass around her gall bladder in the screening. By yesterday morning she was so weak that she passed out on the way to the car. She required a blood transfusion.

The surgeon ended up removing her gall bladder which was by now a tumor as well as part of her colon. Turns out it's a rare type of the disease which started in her gall bladder.

She's in recovery now and will be in the hospital for several more days. The surgeon is conferring with specialists in this field and an oncologist will meet with my parents when Mama is feeling a little better. Dad says the outlook today is better than they thought at first, but we have no idea yet what to expect. Please pray for her!

I really want to be there. This is hard for me to be so far away at this time. My sister Dawn has been good at describing the family gatherings at Mama's bedside. My brother Jared, who is even further away than we are, is also experiencing feelings like mine.

We are still planning the reunion this August.