31 Days

Yesterday marked 31 days of Dad being in the hospital, so we decided to take some counts...dad has moved rooms 6 times, that's a new room every 5.17 days on average. Today alone Dad had his blood drawn 4 times, and Dad IS NOT fond of needles. Dad & Mom have pretty much sampled the entire Methodist cafeteria menu. Some is pretty good and some leaves a lot to be desired. Dad has had interaction from at least 22 different doctors! Dad has probably seen more different doctors in 31 days than in the whole rest of his life (56 years and 8 months in case you are wondering)!! He has also had in excess of 100 nurses, PCAs, and student nurses. The nurses all LOVE Dad! When Mom sees nurses in passing, they all ask how Dad is doing. In addition to the nurses, PCAs & student nurses, Dad has also had numerous transporters, housekeeping staff & food service staff to assist him. He has had 10 radiation & 1 chemo treatment. And finally, in 31 days, every single day that has gone by Dad & Mom have had either visitors, phone calls and texts and sometimes all three to check in on how they are doing. We are all so fortunate to have such a support system. Tomorrow is Dad's next dose of chemo. I pray that it continues to go well for him, and does what it is supposed to do.

A Little Less of This and That

A little less of this, radiation is done! A couple of weeks after his next chemo a series of tests/scans will be completed to see how Dad is responding to treatment. We are praying for the best results possible. Physical therapy and occupational therapy will continue. Right now there is no timeline for when he may get to return home. A little less of that, Dad is losing his hair. It started coming out a lot Thursday and Friday, so he asked Kara to bring her clippers. So, today Kara took her clippers when she went and gave Dad a new do. I am sure he looks great! I looked at Kristi's blog a couple of days ago. The blog she had posted 4 weeks ago was about the reveal party and pictures from it just before all of this started. Just four weeks ago we were "normal". So much has happened since then it seems like ages ago and it seems like yesterday. I hate cancer.

How's Your Dad?

That is the number one question I am asked now, and I hate the reason it has to be asked, but I love that so many people are thinking of him and praying for him! So, how is Dad doing? Well, he still continues to look great, but he is tired more easily from the radiation and chemo. We enjoyed the weekend at the hospital, first celebrating Korben's first birthday there with Mom & Dad. We brought Pappasito's for lunch and cake from The Sweet Tooth in Rosenberg. The hospital food is reasonably good, but once you eat something three times a day every day, a change is good. Then on Sunday we had Easter lunch with BBQ and even an egg hunt in The Healing Garden. Kellen loves for us all to go to The Healing Garden so the egg hunt for her there was extra fun. The waiting game from the last blog also ended, at least in regard to the room change. Dad and Mom are all moved over to the skilled nursing unit. The room is a lot smaller! And getting to it is like going through a maze, but after a couple wrong floors and turns I can eventually get there. Some new news from the doctor, from additional testing it now looks like the cancer may have stemmed from the bladder, which is better than it originating from the lung. I had always thought that these things were more direct, it either stemmed from this place or that, but it doesn't seem that it is so, at least not in Dad's case. Bladder is more treatable or responds better to the different treatments, so it is a better bad. The rounds of radiation are almost complete as well. They are hitting six spots each week day and if I am counting correctly Dad should be done this week with that part of the treatment plan. I am not sure if they will move to other areas then or if we will be in a holding pattern with that phase of treatment.

It's A Waiting Game...

Probably just about the time Dad and Mom get completely settled in the new room, it will be time for another change. This time it will be a move to a room in the skilled nursing section. Here the physical therapists and occupational therapists will be working more with both Mom and Dad to help them learn to deal with and adapt to Dad's mobility issues. Mom says they are both eager and hesitant for this step, the new life we are facing is a little scary. But again, it's a waiting game. We have to wait for a room to become available to take this next step. From Mom & Dad: "We would both like to send our thanks for all the thoughts and prayers, the visits, phone calls, the cards, gifts and words of encouragement. There aren't enough words to describe our gratitude."

Weekend Review

Easter at the Methodist Hospital Healing Garden

Dad & Joleigh

Well, this weekend brought some changes, Dad is no longer on the orthopedic floor. He was moved very very early Saturday morning to a small room on the oncology floor. A very small room, fortunately his stay in that room was brief and Sunday afternoon he was moved to a larger room on the oncology floor. Saturday morning was the first round of chemo, and so far he is not suffering from any side effects from it. Yesterday was also the first opportunity to get out of the room without having a test or a treatment to go to. Kara & Michael were in EC for the weekend and picked up some Hinze's barbecue for lunch for all of us to enjoy, so we had a nice family lunch down in the lobby and then went out to the garden at Methodist, it was really nice for Mom & Dad both to be able to get outside for a little bit. On another note, I want to say thank you for all of the prayers, thoughts, visits, concerns and actions that have been had for my Dad and our family. It is really touching and humbling to know you all care so much.