Update 3/23/23: Cleveland Clinic

Romans 8:28 "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

It has been a few whirlwind days. As I mentioned in our last post, God opened the doors for us to see a doctor at Cleveland Clinic on Tuesday. The day started out very early. We got up at 4am and were on the road a little after 5am. It is about a 5.5 hour drive, but we wanted to build in some time for traffic and pit stops. Unfortunately, about an hour outside of Cleveland, we hit terrible traffic. There were two accidents that made traffic stop completely. It was terrible seeing our ETA increasing and inching closer to Wayne's appointment time. Thankfully, we arrived about 20 minutes before Wayne's appointment.

God works in such amazing ways and really cares about the details of our lives. Monday I was trying to work out the details of how we would keep Micaela and Joella busy while at Wayne's appointment in Cleveland. The hotel didn't have check-in until 3pm and we weren't sure what to do with them. We enticed Shan to come along by offering him two meals at Culvers, since that is his favorite place to eat. We figured at least he is 16 and could "babysit" them for us during the appointment. Instead of all the crazy scenarios I had been trying to figure out, God worked His own miracle out. My friend, Sarah, saw that I was coming to Cleveland and said that she wanted to drive and come see us. She drove over 3 hours to come see us! It was such a blessing to our family to have time with her and her daughters. The best part was that she was able to take the kids to the Cleveland Natural History Museum while we were at the appointment. It literally brings tears to my eyes to think about how much God loves us and takes care of us. I'm also beyond thankful for friends who are willing to go out of their way to love on us and care for us.

The appointment at Cleveland Clinic went well. We loved the doctor that we met with on Tuesday. He took his time to listen and ask questions. We were able to ask him some harder questions that others have avoided, such as, what could be causing these sudden changes and cysts in Wayne's brain. Not only did he answer questions, he offered us viable solutions and options to consider. We left the appointment with the following plan: we will forward the MRI from Northwestern tomorrow to Cleveland Clinic. The tumor board, which is comprised of about 60 different doctors ranging from neurologists, radiologists, oncologists, and surgeons, will look over and discuss Wayne's last two MRIs and come up with a plan for us. Lord willing, we should hear something by the end of next week from Cleveland Clinic about what steps they suggest next.

After Wayne's appointment at Cleveland, we went out to dinner and ice cream with my friend Sarah and her girls. After being up over 18 hours, sleep felt wonderful that night. We took our time heading to Chicago after such a long day. The girls were a little disappointed because they were losing time with their friends, but it all worked out. A large chai tea later, and we made it to Chicago. We enjoyed spending Wednesday night at our old church with friends.

Fun random fact: this is the 3rd time Shan has eaten Culvers in six days! He said he could eat there every day!

Thursday has been a nice, relaxing day. The kids have been enjoying time with their friends and I have been catching up with mine. 

Meanwhile, Wayne will have his MRI tomorrow morning at Northwestern and we will meet with his neuro-oncologist. I have some questions I want to ask him and we are hoping that he will be as transparent as the doctor at Cleveland. Ideally, Wayne would love to have the same surgeons operate on him again, since they did such a fabulous job. But at this time, we are just asking God to give us wisdom to know which way to proceed. Please pray with us that God gives us patience as we wait for answers and that He gives us clear direction for which way to proceed. 💖