Grandpa Update

My grandpa is doing great!!!

After three hours Dr. Nguyen was able to remove 75% of his stomach and 80% of the tumor.

The other 20% of the tumor was near important veins and arteries, and so he could do nothing there. He also biopsied the liver and found a rice size legion on his gall bladder.

The doctor was very pleased with the surgery saying that he was able to do far more than he thought he was going to be able to do. His last words were "We did all we could do. The rest is in God's hands."

We got to see him around 3:30pm for the first time since leaving him around 9am. While he was quite tired, his spirits were good, his grip was very strong, his vitals were stable, and he was even talking and joking a little.

He has a long way to go to recover from open chest surgery. His stomach is painful, as well as the skin on his chest, but right now it's about letting him rest and get his strength back up.

The doctors expect he'll be at the hospital for a week to 10 days.

Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. My aunt is right when she said that God's good hands were all over yesterday's events.

Also, and most importantly, after talking about Christ to him on the way home Thursday night and on the way to the hospital Friday morning, my grandpa expressed his desire to repent of his sins and trust Jesus for salvation. There is a really great story here, but nevertheless, we prayed a simple prayer in his hospital room about 2 hours before the surgery.

I'm off to the hospital now, and plan on spending most of the day there. I don't want him to be alone in any of this. I told him yesterday that throughout my life he has been my biggest fan so now it's time for me to be his biggest fan.

Thank you again for your prayers. Please continue to do so for his recovery. The effects of your prayers were obvious in the weeks leading up to and during the surgery.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.