Page a Prayer for Justin

Justin and I ate dinner with my parents tonight in Lufkin. (Cheddars if you must know) While we were there my mom gave us a pager. Her church (FUMC Lufkin) has a Pager Prayer ministry which means when someone prays for you they dial your pager number and you will be notified (and encouraged) that someone just prayed for you.



It was very nice of my mom to think about giving us one. (but moms are nice that way, right?) So I wanted to extend the offer to you. If you are praying for Justin and want to let him know that someone just prayed for him just follow these simple steps:



1) Dial this Pager Prayer number: 1-888-210-1545.



2) After you hear the beeps, press "1"



3) Then, just hang up.



4) Your Pager Prayer is on its way! We will receive a message that says "New Prayer", but we won't know who did it.



Of course, if you want to pray for us and not use the Pager Prayer then that is ok too. I'm not trying to make this a contest to see how many times the pager will go off. But either way...PLEASE PRAY! We are getting up early tomorrow morning to drive to Dallas. We have to be there at 9:30 and his surgery starts at 10:30. (and those people are the most punctual people I know!)



I'll let you guys know what is going on. Justin will probably have me twittering on his new high-tech phone. Go until then....Goodbye!

Friday: 5/9

Justin was going to update everyone on last Friday's appointment over on his blog, but he now says that I "need all the posts I can get". We all know this isn't true. None-the-less I will give you guys an update...

As I said on my last "Friday Appointment" post we were going into this appointment with two possibilities in mind 1) there would be nothing else the doctors could do for Justin, or 2) they would be able to do surgery on him and fix his ciliary body. Of course, Justin was really hoping that they would be able to do another surgery.

After the doctor examined him, he told us that Justin's retina had partially detached. Think of it as an envelope. You know when the middle starts to bubble up, but the sides are still stuck down? That is how Justin's retina is right now--or at least when the doctor checked it. We don't know how long it was detached for because this past Friday was the first time the doctor has been able to see all the way to the back of his eye since the air bubble is almost gone.

As for the whole ciliary body surgery: there is NO way in heck that the doctors will touch it. Justin's doctor does want to go back in his eye, clear the scar tissue that is on top and behind the retina, re-attach the retina, inject silicone oil, and give him more steroids. Sounds like a lot doesn't it? It is. They are going to destroy the retina in order to repair it.

Justin had the choice of whether he wanted another surgery or not. He said yes. In fact, it is scheduled for this Thursday. If Justin doesn't get the surgery his retina will fully detach and without a retina you go blind.

The doctor said that because Justin is a rare case they have been very nervous every time they have gone into his eye. They described all of his surgeries as a "heroic cause" because it seems that there is a lot going against him. When the doctors look at the big picture they see that Justin wasn't suppose to have vision after the age of 10. He's 23! So I guess they kind of feel like they're skating on ice. Well, his doctor said that this upcoming surgery is very heroic because there is a large possibility that it won't work. That means that there is a large possibility that Justin will never see again.

Well we weren't sure what kind of vision the doctors were actually trying to save. Light perception only? Color and shapes? The good news is that if this surgery works they believe that Justin could go back to seeing things the way he was in December....which was GREAT! Also, the silicone oil bends light differently than the water that is normally in your eye, so if Justin does get to see again, the oil will actually magnify things so that he can see them even better.

There is a lot of uncertainty on our part as well as the medical staff's. We know that this is a huge opportunity for God to take something that so many see as impossible and turn it into something that is possible. We also know that this is an opportunity for God to use this as a tool to refine us so that we are more like His image...even though it may hurt.

Please pray for Justin, his mom, the doctors, and myself this Thursday. His surgery is at 10:30. I'll most likely let you know how everything goes via Justin's twitter.

A Long Due Update

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS!! I told Justin that I would post an update as to how his surgery went. His surgery was last Thursday so I'm a little late. For those of you who do not know that Justin had a surgery, read his latest post so you can see why he had a surgery. Everything kind of happened all at once so please don't be upset if this is your first time to hear about it.

I'm going to try my best to explain everything so those of you who have not spoken with us will know what is going on. And maybe this will clarify some things if some of you who have spoken with us are confused.

First of all...Justin is doing well. He was in an intense amount of pain for most of Thursday, but now he is only dealing with a small amount of discomfort. Justin is having to stay on his left side for 3-4 weeks so that the gas bubble they put in his eye presses against the part of his eye they did surgery on. We thought he would be having to lay on his stomach like the last time he had retina surgery, but this surgery was evidently different. At first he was relieved that he didn't have to stay on his stomach...now he knows that it stinks to stay in one position all the time not matter the position! The gas bubble is blocking his vision so he can't see anything. Every now and then he can see a bit of shadow or faint light, but for the most part he doesn't see at all. Of course, that is to be expected considering he just had surgery and there are steroids and a gas bubble floating in his eye.

Findings...The doctor was hoping to find a microscopic tear in Justin's retina. I know that sounds weird that they were hoping for that, but at least it is mendable. Instead, he found scar tissue growing both behind and over Justin's retina. You could tell by the look on the doctor's face that this was bad news. The problem with scar tissue is that you can remove it, but it will just keep growing back. The other problem with this particular scar tissue is that it is pulling on the retina and could one day (if it is continually pulling) lead to a retinal detachment. So, the doctor lasered off as much as he could. There were parts that just would have made things worse if he had removed it. The good news is that they found that and fixed as much as they could. If they had not opted to do surgery it could have been very bad. The doctors injected steroids and placed crystal steroids in his eye to raise the eye pressure (which should result in better vision) and to slow the growth of scar tissue.

And that is where we stand. Justin has an appointment this Friday and we are praying that his eye pressure is higher. We don't know the "big plan" the doctors have for him from this point on. Or if there is one. We are just waiting to see what his eye pressure is on Friday, what his vision will be like once the gas bubble evaporates, and how fast the scar tissue grows back.

Justin is not only the funniest person I know, but he is also the bravest person I know. Before the surgery he was calm and at peace with the unknown because he knew that whatever would happen was in God's will. I wasn't the person getting operated on and I did not have that kind of peace about me! Although I believed that God was in control, I was not calm. Justin has always been the one to have hope for the future and move on. Nothing has gotten in his way. He has complete trust in God. This is one of the many reasons I respect and admire that man. If only everyone could be like Justin. I love you Justin!!

Just An Update

For your convenience I've split this post up into topics--which I'm sure that is how paragraphs are written anyway--so feel free to skip anything you already know. (afterall, I've neglected this blog for how long?) And I guess you can skip anything you don't care to know about too.



Married Life- I'm Angela Nicole Romack now! I love being able to say that Justin Romack is my husband, and I'm excited to experience life by his side. The wedding went by fast. THANK YOU to everyone that helped out and attended. The cruise was lots of fun! I think the ocean in Mexico looks like blue jello--so beautiful! It was my first cruise and first time to be outside of the US. I was a bit displeased with the only part I saw of Cozumel, because it was just one big tourist trap that had very little to do with the Mexican culture. We were both ready to get home, but there are days now that I just think, "Man I wish we were on that boat." Lots of pictures to come as soon as I get the film developed. Someone lost my digital camera during the hustle and bustle of the wedding planning so I had to resort to disposable cameras.



Justin's Surgery- The Wednesday after our cruise Justin had a cornea transplant and lens removal. The surgery was successful in the sense that there were no complications during the procedure. His vision is worse than it was before because there is so much blood in his eye, and it hasn't changed at all in the last couple of weeks. Justin had an appointment today and everything checked out ok. They did a lot of tests with flashy lights to make sure there is nothing wrong with his retina. The doctor said that some of his blood is absorbing!! They think as soon as the blood goes away his vision will be much better. Thank you for all of your prayers. Please continue to pray for Justin's recovery, and for patience for both of us while we wait to see what happens.

School- For the past few weeks the both of us have been preparing for school. I've been filling out paperwork for the big name change, and financial aid stuff. School started today for me. Just seems to be a bunch of busy work this semester. I'm very nervous about my webcourse just because I've never taken one before. I do like the idea of getting lectures in advance so I can stay ahead of everything. I thought the professor forgot me on his role when he didn't mention me in the J's.

Last year was full of a lot of first's. It was my first time living off campus, and the first time for me to live by myself. The first time to have a dog. (because I was living by myself) I worked full time while going to school full time--I had never ever thought I'd be able to that before. I took a night class for the first time. I'm sure this year will hold a lot more first's for me. I'm looking forward to it! Maybe this year will be the first for me to maintain a blog.....but we shouldn't get our hopes up just yet.