Hi,



Please pray for Al on April 21. He is in the hospital at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD. He will be having a two and a half surgary on his lungs. First the doctor will draw fluid off both of his lungs (4th time since the major surgary in Sept. A camera will be placed down in his lungs to examine them. A sample of tissue will be taken to check for cancer. There is a thin lining around the lungs. A liquid of some sort will be put in between the lining and the lung. This will make the lining attach to the lung hence solving the problem of fluid build up in the lungs. The problem is a result of the radiation treatments that Al had for the cancer. Al will be in the hospital for a week. He will be in a great deal of pain for awhile after the surgery. There will be an 8 week recovery time for this procedure. The doctor said that the hernia operatin will have to wait until Al's lungs recover.

I will let you all know what is going on with Al in a few days.


Thank you,


Sherry

Back to John,s Hopkins

Hello,

We are sorry that we have not gotton back to you all sooner but we did not hear from Hopkins until today. Al will be admitted to Hopkins April 20. He has fluid on his lungs once again. This will be the fourth time that he will have fluid taken off his lungs since the major operation. After he is amitted he will have chest x-ray, cat scan, blood work taken etc. On Wed. or Thursday the doctor will make two incisions on one of his lungs. He will drain the lung then scrape the lung. Then they will watch Al to see how he does with the procedure. After a few days the doctor will do the same procedure on the opposite lung. This will solve the problem of the lungs filling up with fluid. It sounds like Al will be in the hospital for about a week.

Please pray as the Lord leads,



With much love,
Sherry

Al's Progress



Al and I went to John's Hopkins on March 19. We were told that Al will have at least two more months to recover from the surgery that he had in September because he has had a few setbacks (fluid was taken off his lungs 3 times, 700 cc of fluid was taken off around his heart, A MIRACLE HIS HEART WAS NOT DAMAGED, problems with his blood pressure being low, and he has lost 50 pounds. He now weights 140 and other problems). As a result of these setbacks he is still very weak.

We also learned that he has a hernia the size of a baseball at the bottom of his stomach as a result of the radiation affecting the tissue in that area which cased the problem. Al will have to get another operation to take the hernia out as well as his gall bladder. He must get stronger before he can have the operation.

Al went to John's Hopkins again on April 6. He had tests taken concerning the hernia and gall bladder. We should know within the week what actions the doctors are going to solve the problem. He also has fluid on both lungs again. The doctor said that will have to wait a little to decide what to do about it.
We are sorry that we have not kept this up to date. It seems like life is so busy.
Thank you so much for your prayers. Our sisters and brother in Christ have been such a blessings to us.