Second Surgery

This is the most recent letter I wrote to Ryan. It has all my updates!
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Dear Elder Williams,

Well, I’ve been out of the hospital now for a couple of days and am feeling well enough to write,
so I thought I would give a rundown of the past 10 days.

Several nights before I went into the hospital, I had Poppa Clair, Blake, and Ben give me a
priesthood blessing (Ron was sick or he would have been there. What a blessing the priesthood
is. So many times I’ve been fortunate to be on the giving side but there is something very
humbling that comes when you are on the receiving side. I’ve also been lucky enough to have
my name put onto the First Presidency Prayer Roll along with multiple temple prayer rolls
throughout the world.

I must say this was one heck of a surgery. Even though it was a lot more invasive than the first
surgery, I was able to manage through it much easier. This time around I knew much more
of what to expect as far as surgical outcomes, pain, (i.e., how to manage the pain), and most
important of all, I knew the value of time. What I mean is that “with the passage of time comes
healing”. That includes physical, mental, emotional and spiritual healing. Time is one of the
greatest gifts God has given us and He is the only one that runs the clock. It would be a disaster
if we as humans could control the clock. We would stop it in the midst of pain which could
slow down (or even prevent) healing. We would start it at times when others were not ready
thus, taking away their free agency or prevent them opportunity. How grateful I am for an all
knowing, all loving God who can see from the beginning to the end and knows how to function
perfectly in the middle.

First of all, before I get into the details of the surgery, I need to say that Mom (i.e. Susan) was
once again a superstar. I could not have had anybody more comforting by my side than her. As
great a comfort as she is to me, there were others at the hospital that were equally as comforting
to her. Grandma Vicki was there along with Poppa Clair and Grandma Joyce. Randy was there
too. In fact Randy told the doctors he was my Psychiatrist and so they let him into the recovery
room before anyone else! Anybody other than Randy would have experienced “the wrath of
Mom”, but because it was Randy, all she could say is “Randy….you never cease to amaze me”
and then hugged him. I think the hug was the only physical contact she could render that would
not have included a smack upside the head!!!

But enough of that for now, it’s time for the “blood and guts” (literally) of the surgery.
My incision is 14 inches long (see enclosed photo). It starts at my right pelvis bone, runs
horizontally to my belly button and then takes a 90 degree turn north to up to the bottom of my
sternum. I think Maddux and Beckam could have played hide and seek inside (quite frankly, it
feels like they did!!).

The first area Dr. Sorenson went after was my liver. Altogether, approximately 60 percent (pr
more) of it was removed. Most of it was on the right side. The original right side tumor was
about the size of a lemon. During the treatments it shrunk down to the size of an olive. The left
side of the liver had quite a bit of scar tissue from a tumor that at one point been there but the
only visible thing left was the scar. The doctor decided to remove the visible scar tissue. The
pathology report showed after the surgery that there were no remaining cancer cells left in the
liver. As a reminder, the liver is an organ that will regenerate itself. Dr. Sorenson tells us that it
will take approximately 5 weeks to completely regenerate (which blows me away it can happen
so fast). The resection of the liver was so successful that they did not even put in a shunt to help
it drain. The liver is one of the most vascular organs in the body and is generally very bloody
when it is cut into, therefore, to help the excess blood drain, a tube is inserted (i.e. shunt) which
comes out of the body and allows the excess blood to drain. Also, the patient usually looses
a lot of blood during a procedure like this, so they need an infusion of several pints of blood.
Fortunately, for me, I did not need any infusions at all.

I’m not sure what order the other procedures went from this point, so I will lay it out the way that
makes the most sense to me.

As you recall the only visible tumors from the PET scan were in the liver (which I just
mentioned) and a lymph node located right between my spine and aorta (which is a very delicate
spot). In fact, as of a few years ago, technology was not available that enabled a surgeon to
remove a tumor located in this particular spot. But because of Dr. Sorenson’s skill, and the
technology he had available, he was able to quickly locate the lymph node. At this point, he
was also able to identify that the lymph node was NON cancerous. This was later on validated
by the pathology report. It sounds like this lymph node might possible have been there my entire
life and not caused any problems.

Dr. Sorenson went on to remove my gall bladder because of some possible gall stones. He then
searched through my abdominal wall were there had been a variety of inoperable tumors during
my first surgery. Also, during my first surgery, 20 lymph nodes had been removed from this
general area (i.e. abdominal wall), 10 of which were full of cancer. This time, when Dr Sorenson
examined the same area he found NO SIGNS OF CANCER. In other words, as a result of faith
in God, the world’s best medicines, and the world’s most skilled physicians, the inoperable
tumors have disappeared and my body has no signs of cancer left. Now, that doesn’t mean all
cancerous cells are gone. There could still be cells that are undetected either by the human eye
or electronically, but as of right now, things are looking very very good.

OK, that is more than enough about home. We only have a few short months till you’re home.
I’m sure you know better than anybody how short that time is. As I mentioned earlier time does
not stop for anyone so use all of your collective skills to push harder, run faster, teach more truth,
and bear a stronger, more pure testimony than ever before. As I’m sure you’ve learned the Lord
will take all of that effort, magnify it to his liking and work mighty miracles through you. We’ve
seen evidence of that over and over again with the people you’ve found, taught and baptized.

I love you dude….remember …..kytbdu …….

Love Dad