Cancer Update

Because so many family friends read our little blog, I'm adding an update on Dad's cancer surgery yesterday. I'm still a bit raw, but this sure beats answering an ever-ringing phone.

First of all, Dad is so very blessed to have such a strong network of friends and family. He had friends waiting on him when he got to the hospital at 5:15am. By the time of surgery, our crew had outgrown his hospital room. By 9:30, we packed his room AND the surgery waiting room. Seriously, I kept a ledger to record his visitors. And, I spent all last night and this morning answering phone calls. Literally, at least four calls an hour. Dad is loved.

The surgery itself, meaning the slicing and dicing, went well. Dad breezed through it and is doing great. There was a minor injury during the procedure that will keep in the hospital through the weekend. He is NOT happy about that - or that he can't eat anything at all for another few days.

So, the not-so-great news: the cancer has spread outside of his prostate. The surgeon removed anything that was visibly cancerous or looked suspicious. He sent everything to pathology to get a better sense of what we're dealing with. We won't know exactly how far until the pathology report comes back in 6-9 days. The bottom line is, no matter what the report says, he is scheduled for aggressive chemotherapy. Yuck.

From the minute they rolled him out of recovery, he was cracking jokes. Granted, he was still under anesthesia, so he made them several times. Still, he had been thinking about them for a while and they were quite funny and timely... even the third time.

This wasn't the news I was hoping for - or expecting. I truly thought the doctor would tell us that the cancer was still deep inside the prostate and that once it was gone, the risk of it spreading was zero. That's not how it happened, so we have to take a deep breath, accept the new reality, and develop a strong plan of attack.

Cancer will not win!