Martin update in his words

1 Thes 5:18
"In everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you
in Christ Jesus."

Rom 8:31 & 32
"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us
who is against us?

" He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over
us all, how will He not also with Him freely give is all things?"

Phil 2:14
"Do all things without grumbling or disputing."

Phil 3:13b
"forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead."

II Cor 4:18
"while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not see; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

Hi everyone,

Here is a brief update regarding myself. It has been 2 weeks since the "cracking noise" event that has altered a lot of things. The CT scan results showed two areas of concern that could either be ORN (osteoradionecrosis), an infection or cancer recurrence.

The areas are located on my lower jaw and the 'hinge" which allows the lower jaw to move up and down.

My surgeon ruled out cancer and is focusing on the ORN and infection as being the problem.

My mouth mobility which had been increasing has decreased again to 1-2mm. At this time, I am unable to remove the mouthpiece or obturator. The pain factor has also returned and I have had to start using pain medications again.

Over the next few weeks, we will be meeting with the surgeons regarding how to proceed. At this time, surgery is the only remaining option that I have. We hope to accomplish several goals;

1. Remove the dead and dying bone
2. Remove the scar tissue
3. Regain some mouth mobility

At this time, we do not have a confirmed surgery date yet, but it will be sometime in November.

As to replacing any bone tissue, we have ruled out using any donor tissue from a "jack--s" because all those jawbones are still in use in Washington DC and not to mention that they come teleprompters....

In the midst of all this, you have to keep a sense of humor and to focus on what lies ahead. Gunnar had informed us some time ago that I would be able to open my mouth when he turns 9.....now that is two years away. To think that I would cheat on his prediction and undergo surgery just to prove him wrong He also has been trying to get the whole family booked on an earlier flight to heaven....by that I mean he announced that he was tired of waiting on the Lord to take us to heaven and he was going to let the Lord know how he felt. At least one thing is for sure, we will not be flying standby That is a wonderful moment of comfort to know that as a believer, you will never have to fly standby to heaven. Your flight is guaranteed and in a twinkling of an eye, you will be face to face with the Lord.

I have attached a photo of a famous print called "Grace" by Eric Enstrom. The history of this print is fascinating. Eric Enstrom made the print in 1918 and took it to a convention. He wanted to take a picture that would show being thankful even in a time of war, in this case it was the last year of WWI.

The simplicity of the photo is wonderful and it illustrates being thankful in a great way.

Thanks again for your prayer support

Semper Fi

Martin, Traci, Gunnar, Winston and Tessa