Update on my Dad

As most of you know, my dad had surgery last Thursday to remove the tumor on his lung. He had eight weeks of radiation and chemotherapy prior to the surgery. The chemo and radiation were very rough for my dad. He did have a few setbacks and even wound up in the hospital. Overall, it was physically and mentally draining on him. After this treatment he developed radiation pneumonia, where he had spots all over his lungs (from the radiation). The doctor was unable to perform the surgery until all of the spots cleared up. My dad was put on medication to help make them go away. After a few weeks they finally cleared up and the doctor decided he would be able to do the surgery. The doctor said there is only a 5% survival rate if my dad did 'not' get the surgery. Obviously the surgery was necessary, but the timing was not great. I just had a baby and my brother just started a new job. (I was hoping he could have had the surgery prior to Mason being born). Not only was the timing bad, but he was also going to be at Northwestern Memorial Hospital (in Chicago) which would make it slightly more difficult for me to go and visit him (considering I had a newborn at home). He had been referred over to a top specialist at Northwestern because he had an extremely rare tumor and where it was located, it was wrapped up in all of his nerves. The surgeons at his hospital (Good Sam) did not have the expertise to perform the surgery.

So the surgery was set and scheduled for Thursday, July 26th at noon. Luckily my uncle was able to take my dad to the hospital in the morning. I felt awful that I couldn't be there, but with a one and a half week old at home, I would not be able to make it to the hospital. My brother was able to be there the whole time. The surgery itself lasted 6 hours and then he had to go to recovery for a few hours. The surgeon said it went as good as it could have, but he would need to focus on rest and recovery. My dad was in a lot of pain afterwards. He was in and out of sleep but had a general sense of what was going on (he was very heavily medicated). The short version of the story, the days that followed were extremely tough on my dad. He said this surgery was far worse than his quadruple bypass. He was having significant breathing issues and had to receive several daily breathing treatments (and he almost wound up back in ICU). He was on morphine. They had to reduce his pain medication because his blood pressure was getting extremely low. It was VERY difficult for him to move around, but the nurses made him get out of bed to sit in a chair or go for a short walk. I could see how much pain he was in and it killed me to see him like that. It probably didn't help that I am already emotional as it is just having Mason. If you know my dad, he is always Mr. Tough Guy, but this surgery truly beat him down. I definitely wasn't able to go see him as often as I would have liked and I feel awful, but my dad understands. My dad had AWESOME nurses and we are so thankful for them! As the days went on, he started feeling slightly better and his breathing improved (it is still not great, but it is better). He is still in pain, but it is being controlled with medicine.

I talked to my dad earlier today and he said the initial pathology report came back and he is cancer FREE (for now). The surgeon was able to remove all of the cancer, but they still need to determine if he'll need any follow-up chemo or radiation treatments. He also said there is a 75% chance that it will not return. Today, they also unhooked him from all of the IV's, tubes and machines (oxygen, catheter, etc.) he was connected to. He is able to get up on his own (with some assistance from the nurses). Overall, this was great news! As of now, he thinks he will be able to go home on Friday. We weren't sure if he would be going home or going to an inpatient rehab center, but it looks like he will be going home. He will still need a great deal of help once he is there though. He said they may send a nurse to his house daily to check on him. Once he is home, it will be much easier for me to go see him and help since he is much closer.

Thank you everyone for your kind words of support and prayers. It's been a difficult week, but hopefully my dad is on the road to recovery and will remain cancer free!! We need him to be healthy for his grand babies!