Finally an update!

Short and sweet just to say I'm still here! Will post more when the kids are back in school.

On March 17, at 735pm my dad lost his battle with cancer. It completely breaks my heart that after such a long hard fight, we lost him.

Thank you to everyone that supported me through this journey. When I update again, there is some funny things that came out of this.

Dad and The Surgery No Surgery

Last Thursday, dad had his surgery. The plan was to open him along the last surgery lines, take out the bone that was replaced, remove the rest of the tongue and replace the bone with muscle from his chest. I talked to him several times that night and up till he had to go to the OR. Just to back track a second, I spent all day Wednesday with him. It was very hard. We both cried, and he told me things that he thought I needed to know. Stories about before I was born and after.Things that he wished he'd done. So back to the surgery. They took him, cut him open and saw that the tumor has grown to his carotid. So they sewed him back up. They did take some tissue for samples. But there is nothing they could do. And surgery is no longer an option. No radiation either. We can try chemo again, but he hasn't responded the last two times. So who knows. I don't want to think of this as the end. I don't want it to be. I have no idea what I would do if I lost my dad. Though he was around alot when I was younger, I'm a daddy's girl through and through. And like we talked about the day before surgery, I want him to walk me down the isle when we renew our vows. He didn't get to do it the first time. I want other things with him too. Family pictures, Christmas, to sit on the beach and watch the water. And so much more. He said before surgery he was ready for what ever was going to happen. He really didn't think he was going to make it through. But he did. So he has to make it through this.

Really? I mean REALLY?!?

Well looks like we're back at it again. My dad is heading for that nasty battle again. The tumor is back. But this time the game plan has changed. He cant do chemo since he just finished a round and radiation is out of the question. So we are faced with two choices. One, being doing nothing and we have less then a year with him. Two, remove the rest of the tongue, replace it with muscle from his chest. He would be in the hospital for 14 days, then 2 weeks of rehab and then 4 weeks of recovery time. Oh, and the surgery would have to be done by the end of the month. So that's where it stands. We have lots of decisions and praying to do. I'm leaving it to God to point us in the right direction. All I know is I want my time with my daddy. And he knows that. I told him Im being stingy and not ready to let him go. He owes me some back time. And he agreed with me!

Life Happens

Well its been several months. And I can say not happy months. Little did we know that in a 5 day period we would loose a battle and start one all over. So here goes...

The last week of January sucked. There is no other better word to describe it. Johns dad was diagnosed with cancer in his shoulder which led to the finding of stage 4 lung cancer. 4 days later my dad announced that his cancer was back. 1 day after that my sister lost her baby.

My sister had a d&c and recovered nicely. My dad began the fight.Again. My father in law never got to fight the battle. He made it through 3 chemo treatments then ended up in the hospital for 10 days. In that period we learned that he had cancer in his hip,spine and back. And quite possibly in his brain. He was released and was home 2 days(one which was a really good day) before he ended up back in the hospital. After being there for 2 days the doctors concluded that there was nothing more that could be done and it was time for hospice. We  brought him home on hospice on a Tuesday, and one week later on Tuesday, at 7:01 am, he was called home. He never got to fight the battle. As much as it hurt, the suffering was over and that's what we wanted.

Life has yet to return back to our normal. Not that I think it ever will. We will have a new normal now, once we    find it.

Best Text Message Ever

Dad and I text each other or email quite frequently. Its just easier for us to communicate that way since hes been sick and had some slight speech problems. So this afternoon I got a text from him. Nothing unusual....Except what it said. All biopsies are clear!!!! That means there is no cancer! The PET and the MRI were wrong. What they showed was the inflammation that has been causing the bleeding for his last surgery sight. Praise the Lord!! Don't know what the game plan is going to be yet but will update when I do know!

Thanks to everyone for all the thoughts and prayers!

A Sad Weekend

This wasn't exactly how I wanted my weekend to be. Friday night we got the news that dads cancer has come back. We had just barely made it to the three month mark. Two scans picked up a tumor in his mouth. They also revealed that he has an infection in his spinal cord. Monday he will be admitted to the hospital. Tuesday he will have a biopsy on the tumor and infection. We know that the infection will require 6-8 weeks of iv meds. As far as the tumor, we wont know till Tuesday.

Last night we learned that two members of Cobb Island firehouse lost their lives. One got into some trouble in the water and the other jumped into save him. They both did not make it. Two young lives lost way to early.

Thoughts and prayers would be greatly appreciated at this time.

Happy Fathers Day

I'm a blessed that I have a father this Fathers Day that I can say that too. This last year six months it has been touch and go with my dad. But I can breathe easy knowing that right now he is cancer free. So I am ever so thankful that at midnight last night I texted him Happy Fathers Day (My dad still has speech problems due to the surgery so its so much easier to text him if I'm not in the room with him) I am hoping he is around for many more because I don't know what Id do without him!

Overwhelmed.....

With joy. And thankfulness. Yesterday I went with my dad to get his PET scan done. They inject him with dye and let it circulate his blood stream, then the scan him to see if the cancer is there. If it does, it turns green on the screen.The results came back today. Well guess what, ITS NOT THERE!!! ITS GONE! They still want him to do a round of chemo and radiation as a precaution. But its gone! I pray it stays like that. Thanks to everyone for all the prayers!

Update on my dad

Thursday I was able to spend the day with him and go to his doctors appointments. The appointments went great! Everything is looking good and he is healing just like he should. They are going to do a swallow test to see if he can start eating and have some speech therapy.Dad is a little concerned with his speech not improving. But I told him its better then what the outcome could have been. As well as meeting with the radiation team to see if he needs to have a round of that again.

It was GREAT spending the day with him. And we had Sara with us too. This is the first time in over two years that he hasn't been in the hospital, having surgery, drugged up or in pain when I have been with him. It was so awesome to spend the day riding around and talking to him. After the appointments we went back to the condo and just hung out. He even played cards with Sara. Just to think that in February, he couldn't hardly stay up  to even talk to us. God is good!