Update Thursday March 13th

Hello everyone, I wanted to check-in and tell you how our last few days have been. I am sure many of you are wondering how our doctor visit went today so I will fill you in on that as well.

On Tuesday dad had his port put in and a laparoscopic procedure done. He has definitely been feeling the effects of being poked and prodded for the last month. It was just 4 weeks ago today that he had his prostate removed. Now he has about 3 areas that cause him pain. He is feeling better today than yesterday so hopefully by this time next week he will be ready to start his chemo.

Speaking of chemo, we did see his lead oncologist today. We were hopeful for more information, but we just didn't get much. I will tell you what I know for sure; We have 2 areas of concern, the most important is the tumor in the liver. The second area is the lymph node in the chest. Preliminary pathology tells us that these cancers are different but they could be related, or maybe not. The doctor's exact words were 'it's complicated' Although we really want to know as much information as we can, it doesn't really change the overall plan. Pathology is needed so the doctors will know exactly what kind of chemo to give him.

First things first, we need to treat the liver tumor with chemo and we need it to respond. So please pray that this tumor responds to chemo. If it does, then it will greatly increase the possibility of removing the tumor surgically. It is also our hope that the lymph node will respond to chemo as well.

We were initially told that the liver tumor was a type of cancer called sarcoma, there are at least 50 different types of sarcomas and with-in those types are sub-types. We have been given some more details about that, but he said that there is a chance that final pathology will tell us something different. I do know that this is a rare type of cancer, it is even more unusual to have this 1 single lymph node that just doesn't fit into the puzzle. I say all of this to tell you 3 things; (1) I don't want to post anything that I don't know for sure about, (2) I have asked every single question I can possibly ask and then some twice. (3) Although information is limited we are still very confident that the doctors have done the many necessary test that need to be done in order to give dad the best treatment available, and we remain hopeful that we will win this battle. We all know it won't be easy and that we have a long road ahead of us, but like anything else in life dad has done, he is ready to face it head-on.

Please continue to pray, there are daily needs for comfort and healing. Please pray that his liver and kidney functions will remain strong so that his body can receive the chemo. Please pray that the chemo will work. 

I will continue to post daily or every other day but he will not start treatments until next Thursday. We were hopeful to start sooner than that but his body does need time to heal from the recent surgeries. 

Dad is working from home, I am forcing him to drink
stuff he doesn't like, but he's trying and still smiling!