We hope everyone had a safe and fun New Years Eve celebration and is ready to dive head first into 2012. Looking back, 2011 was by far the best year personally for both me and Rion, at least up until November. But as our faith in God grows more and more, I can't help but wonder what exactly God has planned for us. He is a wonderful and awesome God and I am just blessed for each and every day that Rion get to spend together learning more about this crazy journey we call life.
But I digress, my real intentions for this post was to bring everyone up to speed as to what is going on with insurance, surgery, Duke, etc. I know that when I last posted we were on vacation- surgery had been scheduled and then canceled because our insurance couldn't be verified until it was processed and I was told processing could take weeks. I was discouraged and angry and honestly ready to just blow everything off and try to forget about it while we were on vacation. But one (of many) of God's angels intervened and when our plane touched down Friday, December 23rd, Rion and I both had voicemails from the insurance company that his application had been approved and all they were waiting on was our 1st payment to finalize everything and give us our policy #. WOW!! If you aren't following along, what should have taken weeks and possibly monthly, took a little under 48 hours. But I didn't want to jump the gun yet and get back in touch with Duke, blog, book hotels, etc, because I wanted to make sure this time everything was a done dear.
I am getting ahead of myself slightly, I realize we never shared that after Duke canceled the surgery for January 4th, they called back later that day and told us the neurosurgeon wanted to go ahead and schedule a date for later in January which would give us time to (hopefully) get our insurance in place as well as not prolong the surgery too long to the point it might get dangerous for Rion. The new date they gave us was January 26th with all of Rion's pre-op on the 25th. But we would still have to get them our insurance policy # with plenty of time for them to call the insurance company and pre-certify that the surgery would be covered by insurance. At the time we were still operating under the assumption that we would have to go through the normal channels to get our policy issued and that 4-6 weeks was our best guess as to when we would have the information to give to Duke. So we hesitated to tell everyone the new date.
December 24th we over nighted the payment to the insurance company knowing that they wouldn't receive and process it until after Christmas. Over Christmas weekend Rion started having some serious doubts as to whether or not he wanted to move forward with the surgery. He spent most of last week on the internet doing research and corresponding with people who have been through various treatments for brain tumors. Meanwhile the insurance company inevitable come up with some loose ends pertaining to our paperwork that had to be tied up before they could get Rion's policy issued. However, on Thursday, 1 week after the nice congressman got involved, we were given our policy # and the phone # for Duke to call & verify coverage. Additionally Rion made a final decision that moving forward with the surgery is his best option so we are all set to head back to Durham January 25th for surgery on the 26th!
We hope that everyone can understand why we've waiting so long to update the blog and/or FaceBook. The emotional let down of having surgery scheduled and then canceled was indescribable. As much as we are apprehensive and scared about removing Morton, we know in our hearts and minds that is Rion's best chance for survival and to live a happy, healthy life. Will he be cured? No, you can't be "cured" of a brain tumor. But can he live a somewhat normal life? Yes, he can, many people that have brain tumors go on to live long, healthy lives with the occasional disruption of a follow up MRI or round of chemo. But we'll get through this, and as long as Rion is happy and feeling good then everything we are going through now, and about to go through with surgery and follow-up treatments, will be well worth it. We simply have to place out trust in God that He is in control and that His will for Rion be done- whatever that may be- and that we have the grace and faith to accept what ever comes our way.
Unless something comes up pertaining to the surgery I may not post again until we get closer to traveling back to Durham. If anyone feels led to send Rion a card or letter in the mail, please send me an e-mail and I'll give you our mailing address. We are keeping all of the cards/letters we receive so we were are feeling particularly alone or scared we can re-read them to remind ourselves how many people are praying for us and how many people love us.
God Bless you all in this new year!
Emily, Rion (and Morton)
Dear Emily and Rion, I am Mary Ann Henderson, a friend and fellow musician, of Dana and Al. Rion, I don't know if you remember me or not. I talked with you one night at the "jam" at Ellijay when you were leaning against the back door of the room. I didn't know at the time that you were David's twin. You had long hair and a beard. After seeing you new photo I can certainly see the "look alike" of David.
ReplyDeleteI learned of "morton" from Dana and immediatly started a silent prayer for you ever since. Our God is a mighty God and is in control of every situation. My prayer is that he will give you and your wife and family much needed courage and peace during this time. I pray for your doctors that will be performing the proceedure and for all those caring for you.