Many Thanks!

I am so thankful to everyone who has been praying for my mom and her recovery! I apologize that my lack of a computer has kept me from allowing me to share the wonderful news that her surgery was a great success!

After a very long and scary surgery, Mom was taken to the ICU where my Dad and two sisters were able to go check on her (several hours later) and then begin taking bedside shifts. One of my sisters ended up fainting when she saw mom lying there ashen and cold with catheters draining the blood from her chest. The doctors had removed a tumor that was larger than a softball. It had been wrapped around her arteries cutting of her circulation and around muscles and the nerves of her vocal cords.

They had to cut open her sternum to remove all of it, but they did an incredible job and, by the grace of God, she is doing miraculously well! It was unsure if she would ever be able to speak again or if she would lose the muscles in her face and limbs. Thanks to all the prayers, she made it out with out any major side effects! The tumor wasn't even cancerous!!!

She is still in a lot of pain even though its been over a month since her surgery and the doctors suspect that it will take a few more months before the pain is gone (If only the hospital bills would disappear so soon! Anyone who has the ability to help can donate to mom's hospital fund at the website created by her friends www.susanbrindle.org ). She has sharp stabbing pains and every time she coughs she has to clutch a pillow to her chest. It has been rough, especially her inability to lift and care for her grandbabies, but she is just so grateful that God has given her more time with family and friends and that God allowed the tumor that had been growing for years to suddenly be discovered.

On behalf of all my family, thank you for your prayers and support. We are eternally grateful!!!