Scott & June Hendren

 

We want to apolgize for not getting the word out about this for so long. Our computer got hit by lightning and we temporarily lost all access to our email distribution lists and were without Internet access at home. And, then there was the slight issue of Scott not feeling well enough to mess with it! If you are a facebook friend, you at least got the essentials. (If you're not a facebook friend, we hope you'll add us soon!)

 

We appreciate so much the prayers of all who did know what was going on and were praying specifically for us during this time. And, as always, we appreciate those who did not know but continue to pray for us regularly. 

 

We'll provide just a quick overall summary of what's been going on and then try to address more specifics for those detail hounds who may have questions. We know, most of you aren't interested in all the details. But some people are. And, as always, we're always glad to hear from you via phone or email. We'd be happy to elaborate more if you'd like!

 

On Thursday, August 13, 2009, Scott was told by a family physician that the results of an MRI of his head showed a 4.5 cm "mass" on his brain. This was after about 5+ weeks of Scott not feeling quite right and about 10 days of being home sick feeling really lousy. The doctor said he didn't know much but that the radiologist thought it was most likely a malignant but nonaggressive tumor. Sort of a "good news, bad news" thing. The doctor said that Scott needed to see a neurosurgeon and an appointment was made for the following Tuesday. It was a long four days between Thursday and Tuesday.

 

On Tuesday, August 18, we saw the neurosurgeon. He said he thought it was a hemangioblastoma, a nonmalignant tumor. The tumor itself was only about 1.5 cm with a fluid-filled cyst that was 4.5 cm. It was in the cerebellum and was putting pressure on the part of the brain that controls balance. That explained most of Scott's symtoms. He said he felt like the prognosis was good but that it needed to come out "sooner rather than later." His nurse was going to be out on vacation on Thursday, their normal surgery day, and Hayley was leaving for college on Friday. So Scott was scheduled for surgery the next morning at 7:30 AM.

 

On Wednesday, August 19, Scott had surgery to remove the tumor. The surgery went off exactly as planned, and he spent the first night in SICU more as a precaution than anything else. On Thursday he was moved to a regular room and was able to begin walking and actually felt like eating. On Friday evening, he was released from the hospital and we were able to be home by dinner time. Amazing!

 

Since the surgery, Scott's recovery has gone very well. We visited the doctor for a follow-up and to have stitches removed on Friday, August 28, and Scott was able to begin spending a few hours back in the office starting August 31, after almost four weeks out. The doctor doesn't need to see him for a year!

 

Our prayer request now would simply be that Scott's recovery continues to go well and he would remain complication-free. He isn't back to full-speed yet but is able to do most things he wants or needs to do. He is trying to be a compliant patient and take it slowly like the doctor wants even though most of the time he feels good.

 

What an amazing little journey this has been. At this point, we can't begin to explain what God has been up to through it all. But we have seen God at every turn. From the Chris Tomlin concert just hours after we received the news about the brain tumor, to the selection and confirmation of the surgeon, to the scheduling of the surgery, to the textbook surgery, to the overwhelming support of friends and family, we are confident that our God never left our sides. We consider ourselves to be incredibly blessed. We have felt the presence of God and his love and care through this entire ordeal. The outpouring of prayers, encouragement and tangible physical acts of kindness has been overwhelming. Thanks so much to all our friends.

 

Sometime in mid-July, Scott started having some dull headaches in the back, lower part of his head as well as some neck pain. Having just returned from 4 days in a college dormitory with a bunch of teenage boys at soccer camp, he just figured it was fatigue or that maybe he picked up a little bug. Scott's history has been that he sometimes gets just a touch of whatever is going around that makes others much sicker. And there was a virus going around. So we figured it was probably something like that.

 

After a couple of weeks of that and then him starting to notice that sometimes he had some dizziness, he began to wonder. And then, he just seemed to be tired all the time. The weekend of August 1-2, he took a nap both afternoons...something he NEVER does. The best way he could describe his symptoms at this point was that most of the time he just felt like he'd ridden that ride one too many times and was feeling a little nauseous and dizzy. We decided it was time to see the doctor...something else he rarely does.

 

The doctor couldn't really tell much from Scott's symptoms. Big surprise. He did lots of blood work and a chest x-ray. His blood work all looked "perfect." The doctor thought his lungs looked a little cloudy in a couple of spots and decided that he must have "walking pneumonia." He put him on some sort of butt-kicking antibotic and told Scott that he needed to spend at least three days at home on the couch in order to get better. Scott wasn't happy about that, but agreed. By the next day, Tuesday, it really didn't matter what he agreed to. He felt so lousy that he really didn't have the energy or desire to do anything. Over the next couple of days, he did not improve at all. June called the doctor and they said to come back on Monday if he wasn't feeling better.

 

(There is the somewhat humorous note here that one of the blood tests for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever came back positive. So, they thought that could have been the problem. Never mind that he didn't have either spots, a fever or any indication of a tick bite. But they conceded that it must have been a false positive.)

 

On Monday, August 10, he was actually feeling a little better, but went back to the doctor. The doctor said the antibiotic should have made him feel better (we actually think it was making him "feel" much worse) after seven days and that he could stop that. No argument here! More blood work and an abdominal x-ray. Tests for H1N1 and other types of flu. Blood work still perfect. No flu. Clean bill of health on the x-ray. Then the doctor said, "you have my attention." That's when he decided to order an MRI. Couldn't get that done until Thursday.

 

On Thursday, August 13, Scott was actually feeling pretty decent. We were scheduled to work as volunteers for a Chris Tomlin concert at the church that evening. So, Scott wanted to go by the office for a little while (the first time he'd felt like it in 10 days), then we'd go for the MRI and then come back to the church for a pre-concert meeting at 5:00. Things went pretty much as planned.

 

We'd gotten back to Scott's office from the MRI at about 4:30. We were sitting in his office when Scott's cell phone rang at about 4:50. Caller id showed the name of the clinic. We'd had lots of calls back and forth with questions, miscommunication, etc., so he figured, "what now?" When he heard, "Mr. Hendren, this is Dr. so-and-so at the clinic," Scott's first words were, "This can't be good news." That's when to doctor shared the news about the mass and discussed which neurosurgeon he would be referred to.

 

By the time he got off the phone, we had about 5 minutes before we had to go downstairs for dinner and our meeting with the volunteer team for the concert. We didn't have much time to process the news, but rather were thrown right into an opportunity of service and worship with Chris Tomlin.

 

Believe me, that was an interesting evening. As long as people asked the right question like, "How are you feeling?" we were able to honestly answer that Scott was feeling a lot better today. But, some asked the question as to whether we'd found out anything yet. So, word began to spread among the church staff and a few friends as we were working as greeters for the concert. Well, June worked, Scott mostly stayed near a wall or something so he didn't have to worry about wobbling too much!

 

Then we got to spend an absolutely incredible 90 minutes or so of being led into the presence of God by Chris Tomlin. Only by God's grace were we afforded that unique opportunity. I'm not sure there is anything that could have been better to help us through those first few hours after hearing the news and not knowing what the next weeks or months might hold for us. It was "indescribable."

 

As we said above, the time of worship put us in a really good frame of mind from which to approach this. Just as you would expect, we were a little shaken and scared. But God gave us both an incredible sense of peace. There was no panic, no trembling in fear, no crying out in disbelief or anger. Although there were tears and some hard conversations we had to have about things you never really want to talk about, we just felt God's presence and the prayers of many. One recurring thought through this whole thing was "How in the world do people who do not have a saving faith in Jesus Christ get through something like this?" It's hard to imagine.

 

We shared the news with the kids and tried to remain positive while being honest with them that it was not good news and that we were going to have a bit of a trial to go through. We stressed to them the importance of not letting their minds run too far ahead in thinking about the worst. At this point, we didn't know a lot and there wasn't much to be gained by speculating. We just had to wait until we saw the neurosurgeon to learn what we were up against and what the prognosis was. We all took comfort in knowing that the Sovereign God of the Universe was also in control of this situation. They handled it well.

 

But over these few days, Scott felt good enough (after not even checking email pretty much for a couple of weeks) to get some bills paid, catch up a little on email, etc. We were able to have some conversations about finances, location of documents, etc. Again, the kind of stuff you don't want to talk about but you know you should. (By the way, if you haven't already had this sort of conversation with your spouse, we'd encourage you to do it rather than waiting until you feel like you really "need" to.)

 

Interestingly enough, Scott started to get worse over the next few days. Breaking a 22-year streak of not vomiting (Scott really, really hates to vomit), Scott began each of the next four days that way. (Someone suggested perhaps he might be pregnant.) He also had a harder time walking...could have never passed a field sobriety test.

 

Like so many other things through this, it couldn't have gone much better. A lot of people had been asking us what doctor we were seeing and time after time after time, we got glowing reviews from those who knew him or knew about him. So that was great. We immediately felt at ease with both the doctor and his nurse. The doctor shared more about what he saw on the MRI, what he thought it was and that this should be "garden variety" brain surgery.

 

He said we needed to do surgery that week. His nurse was going to be gone on their normal surgery day (Thursday) and Hayley was leaving for college on Friday. The nurse really wanted a) to be there for the surgery ("he works better when I'm there") and wanted Hayley to be able to see me out of ICU and up and around before leaving for school. She left for a few minutes and came back having secured an OR for 7:30 the next morning.

 

Although we had discussed getting a second opinion, doing research, etc. (something that really comes second nature to Scott), we both felt such a peace about this and decided to go ahead and get it done...sooner the better and no reason to spend a few more days dwelling on it. Scott joked that he usually takes more time researching a book purchase on the web than we spent deciding to have brain surgery. But, again, it was just clear to us that God was in this.

 

We're glad you asked. As you might imagine, after we got out of the doctor's office around noon on Tuesday, the rest of the day was kind of a whirlwind. We had legal documents to get updated, people to notify, kids to get ready to start high school and college on Wednesday and Friday, respectively. It was crazy.

 

The evening was kind of funny as it turns out. We had an attorney friend bring some legal documents by the house to sign at about 5:30, someone bringing dinner about 5:45 and the elders from our church coming by to pray with us at 6:00. Well, a little before 5:00, the toilet overflowed in the bathroom. I mean really overflowed. Towels, shop vac, the hole deal. June's scurrying around trying to tidy up a bit (we are having "company" after all), so the kids were great helping clean up.

 

As Kyle had the shop vac finishing up the bathroom, just a little after 5:00, completely without warning, there's this huge clap of thunder and the power went out. Lightning apparently struck the transformer on the pole right out front. Our attorney friend shows up and we visit and sign papers by candlelight. Then the rain comes. Boy, does it come. The lady bringing our dinner gets soaked bringing it in the house. Then people begin showing up for prayer. We were able to explain what was going on to most of them but the latecomers walk into what they probably thought was a seance or something. No lights and a bunch of candles. With no power comes no air conditioning. So, once we get about a dozen or so people in our living room, things really start to heat up. And, meanwhile, Kyle is woofing down supper standing out on the deck so that he and Hayley can leave right in the middle of it to get him to soccer training. Oh, and then Scott's parents show up a little while later. We couldn't help but smile as we thought about how disappointed Satan must have been that his little schemes would not deter those gathering around our family to bring us before the throne of God. It was another moving experience.

 

Thankfully, the rain cooled things off a bit and we were able to get a bit of a breeze going with some windows open. We were without power until 10:00 that evening. Then when we did get power back, we learned our computer, modem, router and two phones were fried. We're thinking that this isn't the best way to spend the evening before surgery. But it actually turned out to be fine. We were blessed by a great time of prayer and were able to spend the evening talking instead of watching television or something. We can look back on it now and laugh. Come to think of it, we were laughing then, too.

 

After a less than restful night's sleep (at least we did have the AC back on), we arrived at the appointed time and away we went. The surgery went as planned and only took about 90 minutes. They were able to go in behind his left ear. He's got about a 3 1/2-inch incision that will leave a nice scar...but it will pretty much be hidden by hair once it completely grows back. From the front, you'd never even know he had surgery. Yes, there was a saw involved.

 

Immediately upon coming out of the anesthesia, Scott felt better. He still didn't feel like eating, but he was awake and alert. And the room didn't spin if he moved his head too quickly! He spent the rest of the day and Wednesday night in SICU mostly as a precaution. The doctor clearly wasn't expecting and problems. He was moved to a room on Thursday morning and was up walking a bit that afternoon. On Friday he spent a good deal of time walking in the halls and the doctor released him to go home that afternoon. The first walk he took, he was walking better than he was when he came into the hospital. He was a little weak, but he could at least keep it between the ditches!

 

Yes. We can't imagine it going much better. The biggest challenge is keeping from doing too much. He's been up and around since the very first day home, going for walks and gradually adding to what he's able to do. It's been a hassle for June as she's kind of had to juggle her schedule. Even though Scott's "doing okay," there were several days where we felt like he didn't need to spend too much time alone or try to do things like shower without someone around. Add the fact that he hasn't been allowed to drive and it means June has really been running. God has provided for us abundantly  through the school where June works and Kyle attends being just 5 minutes from our rent house (which we had no intention of still being in 6 months after we sold our house), through wonderful landlords and neighbors helping meet practical needs around the house, through the meals that friends have brought, and more! We have been blessed beyond what we deserve.

 

Scott went back to the office for a few hours on August 31, spending a few hours at work each day that week. He plans to return pretty much full time the week of September 7th. And, June even let him drive by himself by the middle of the week, so his independence has returned. 

 

Everything looks really good at this point. This is something the doctor wants to monitor for several years. I think he usually sees patients for a second follow-up in a month, but he said that wasn't really necessary unless I had problems. Otherwise, they'll schedule me for a follow-up MRI in a year and he'll see me after that. Again, we couldn't have hoped for anything better.

 

The tumor was confirmed to be a benign tumor called a hemangioblastoma. These apparently occur either alone as isolated cases or they can re-occur over time as part of a condition known as von Hippel Lindau disease. The doctor feels 80-90% certain that I do not have this condition but feels it would be imprudent not to check for it periodically. Tumors related to this condition generally occur in the brain, the retina, the pancreas or the kidneys. So, Scott will be having routine retinal exams as well as an occasional MRI and abdominal ultrasound just to keep an eye on things.

 

More to come...