Surprise!

Since Dad was doing so well from the surgery on the leg Saturday, they bumped up the surgery on his arm to today. During the surgery they removed the tumor and put in two plates and several screws and packed e tumor site with cement. He is in recovery right now for at least an hour and then we will get to see him. The doctors did hold off on putting the rod in his other leg at this time.

Surgery Complete

Dad was taken in for surgery this morning right around 9:15, the surgery took about two hours. During this time they put the rod in his leg and pinned it. The doctor was pleased with the way it went he said he was able to pin it well. He was in recovery for several hours and is now back in his room. If all goes well over the next couple days the plan is to continue on to the arm on Tuesday. During this surgery they will remove the tumor from his arm and put plates in.

On Tap this Weekend...

The doctors have conferred and surgery on Dad's leg will be sometime tomorrow. Please say a prayer for everything to go smoothly as possible and the doctors do the best job they are capable of. I also ask that you say a prayer for my cousin Marvin, who was taken from us too soon. Also for our entire family to find peace and healing.

Not a good day...

To say today wasn't one of the best days ever would be an understatement. It started around 3:00 this morning when Dad woke up in severe pain. New pain meds didn't do anything to ease the pain much, so a mobile X-ray unit was sent to do X-rays. Late this evening they returned the results that Dad has a broken femur. This is not good. Right now they are loading Dad in the ambulance to head back to the hospital.

Hi hi, hi ho back to the hospital we go...

This weekend was busy. We had a baby shower for Kristi, little Langley will be here in six short weeks! Then we had a little birthday party for Dad. It was great, most of our family was there. But during the party Dad was in a lot of pain and had a lot of swelling in his feet and legs, especially the right foot and leg. So when the home health care nurse came, she confirmed with the doctor what we had probably suspected but just didn't want to say out loud...it was time to head back to the hospital. So, that is where Mom & Dad are now. Dr. Beinart wanted him to come in via the ER, we are just waiting to hear what is going on, what is causing the swelling, and what we need to do next. So, at least Dad got to be home for a few days before he had to go back to the hospital and he got to attend the services for Brandy, Jaydin & Devian and I know that was important to him as hard as it was for all of us to bear. And hopefully this will be a short hospital stay and he will be back home in a day or two or even three. It is just so very difficult right now for our whole family.

Dad is home!!!

It's been a rough week for our family. We are still reeling from what happened to Brandy, Jaydin & DD. we love them, and will forever miss them, they were a beautiful family. But during this week we did get a wonderful blessing DAD CAME HOME!!! Yesterday evening our whole family and some of our many wonderful friends were there to welcome him home. I believe this and three very special angels will be the key to dad's healing.

The Good, The Bad, The Other Bad & The Ugly

So, the good...Dad is coming home next week. He will get to be at home and go back and forth to Houston for treatment. We are a little anxious as well as happy, there are no nurses and PCAs to lean on at home like there are at the hospital. The bad, the tumor in dads arm has not responded to treatment and is growing. The other bad, the surgery has been canceled because the arm tumor has weakened the arm which is imparative to rehabilitation of the legs. The arm will not be surgically remedied because the doctors feel that it would do more harm than good at this point and put dad in too much pain. Since the arm tumor has not responded to the treatment, the doctors are also concerned that there may be other microscopic areas that they cannot see on the imaging that are continuing to grow as well. Tomorrow morning, dad will start a new chemo drug called gypsum (my spelling may or may not be correct). It will be administered once a week for three weeks and then a week off. That is one round and at this point we should be able to tell if the tumor is responding (we are praying for it to respond well). If it does we will continue with this chemo drug. If the tumor is unresponsive to it, the doctors will give him something a little different called Strontium, but this cannot be used in conjunction with chemo because it drops blood counts. The ugly, there is no cure for the type of stage four cancer that dad has, aside from a miracle (for which we are all actively praying/begging God for). Until today, I really didn't understand that there are some types of stage four that are more treatable than others or that there even were types. I am so angry and why 1. This happens to anyone, and 2. Why we are having to go through this again. Wasn't once enough? And I am devastated beyond what I can even write down to express.