"Pappy Is Very Sick"

I have to confess that part of my reasoning for beginning this blog a couple of days ago, was to distract myself.  Without getting into another "Andrea Novel", in short, I was up all night running scenarios through my head.  A long time ago Dad dubbed Mom as "Scenario Sam". Apparently I am Scenario Sam Jr.
At any rate, we found out early yesterday morning that Dad's CT scan showed cancer on his hip.  Later that afternoon, when he and Mom met with his PCP, she explained that the cancer on the hip had metastasized. The CT scans showed cancer surrounding his pulmonary artery.  Possibly in his gall-bladder (not sure if it's just sludge). And the spots on his lungs, that the x-rays showed last week, are indeed cancerous.

They need to do a biopsy of the hip to determine what kind of cancer he has; lung or prostate. I think it's ten yrs ago this month that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer (October is not just full of b-days and beautiful trees, but it tends to bring us bad news as well). Dad had been having problems for some time, but his PSA tests had all been negative.  Finally the Dr. decided that they'd better do surgery to provide dad with some relief.  The routine biopsy that was taken during that surgery showed cancer.  They removed Dad's prostate, and he has appeared to be cancer free since then. All of his PSA's have come back negative... but false negatives happen 20% of the time... as it did 10 yrs ago.

Dad also has been smoking non-filtered cigarettes since he was a small boy.  He cut down dramatically about 4 yrs ago, but perhaps that wasn't enough? 

He has to wait until next Thursday for the biopsy and then he can schedule an appointment with the oncologist.  In the mean-time, I just ask for prayer... for everyone.  Mom especially. As some of you know, she has had mono (not a typo, mononucleosis...go figure!) for the past several months.  She has been extremely ill from that and seemed to be on the mend last week. I think that this news sent her into a relapse, as she has been very ill these past couple of days.  Apparently the mono never leaves your system once you've contracted it.  In most adults it remains dormant and never re-occurs.  Stress is one factor in it's surfacing.  There's also the possibility that it can become chronic after 6 months of being active.  Mom has been sick for 4.  She wants to be there for my dad.

There's so much more... I will keep you all posted.  Thank you for your prayers.


Peace and Blessings,
~ Andrea