Basically, post-surgery there was just healing to be done and results waited on. That's made up much of the last month. My dad spent about a week in the hospital after his surgery and then headed home to mend. After being home a week, he braved a stay at our house for more "recovery"... change of scenery, etc. He stayed with us for 4 days. That was the week the kids were off-their-rockers-crazy. I'm still embarrassed. That was an amazingly conducive environment to rest and heal... NOT. My dad did have the whole basement to himself and naptime is always quiet here and post 7:30PM things are calm too, so it wasn't all nuts, but uh, I'm sure he welcomed back his quiet house at the end of that week. Still, it was nice having him and he went on a bunch of outings with us and the kids which was cool, a break from the norm.
He's been gaining strength and letting everything adjust and heal completely since then. He saw the surgeon and oncologist this week and found out it is Stage II. The surgeon had all good things to say. The oncologist was a positive experience too and many of the diet changes and supplements they would have put him on, he was already doing (go Mom, for being the researcher and implementer for all that!!) The concern for diet and supplementation is not for the current cancer, but for recurrence. If it recurs, it will recur likely in a less favorable organ and won't be rainbows and butterflies... it will be scary. We got lucky with an organ that could be operated on and removed, while still letting my dad live his life. If something like the liver gets hit, no bueno. SO, keeping the body to a point where it's not "feeding" cancer cells is the key, from what I'm hearing. Otherwise, they are just waiting on results from one more test and that will determine whether he needs chemo or not. My mom said it looks likely that he won't need chemo (fingers crossed!) and if he does it should be a lower dose for about 6 months. On the "now" end of things, my dad says he feels pretty good day to day. Some times he still feels "recovery" going on and sometimes he feels like himself. You can't really beat that.
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| How cute are they? :) |
God is good, man. This was caught so so randomly. The whirlwind of information and news kicked off so quickly, but there has been pretty positive news at every turn since then. I pray that it stays this way and my dad is one of those stories of survival. I remember seeing a colon cancer bracelet on Etsy and you could choose the charm "remember, strength, or survivor." I remember my heart dropping when I read survivor. It was almost one of those sucker punch feelings. "How dare she offer a survivor charm... must be nice, eh?" I didn't really think you could survive cancer. I thought there was no way that was an option for us, whether we had months or years, there was always an end-point in my mind. God willing, survivor really could be a term we use for this cancer. That still amazes me because I really didn't see that coming, at all.
Granted, we aren't 100% out of the woods.... there could still be chemo and recurrence will always sit on the back burner, but I can't complain. My dad handled the major surgery and is healing well without a single hiccup. His cancer was low stage and the outlook looks good. He is healing well and doing well and good news has been slowly coming in.
Deo Gratias!
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| This is our whole crew... not a shabby looking bunch, eh? L to R: Back row: My brother Mark, his girlfriend Melanie, My sister-in-law Jess, my brother Jimmy holding Zachary, me with Emily, Jim L to R: Front Row: My mom, June, Elizabeth, Josh, and my dad. |
3 comments:
GREAT news! I was hoping he was doing well when I saw you posting pictures of him with the kids. :)
Couldn't be happier to hear this good news. Continue to keep your Dad in my prayers. The family pic is just beautiful!
Aunt Vicki
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