How we got here. Wednesday February 26th

We wanted to have a way to document our journey through this battle, keep family and friends updated and most importantly be able to share messages your messages with Billy (dad).

Dad, Becky, Charlie & Bessie Nov. 2013

On Thursday Feb. 13th, dad was scheduled to have his prostate removed due to prostate cancer. This was the morning following a massive snow storm, at least massive for Shelby. Dad spoke with the Dr.'s and decided to make the early morning trip through snow, sleet and rain to have the surgery proceed as scheduled. As a side note, Dad wanted Dr. Gosset to assist with the surgery because he has been his urologist for a long time.

The surgery itself was supposed to be done laparoscopic, but due to excessive bleeding during the procedure they had to take his prostate out, the "old fashion way', by incision. He also received 4 units during the procedure but other than that all went well. After a couple of days post-op he had to deal with a painful gout flare up but by Monday morning dad was feeling great and ready to go home.

Later during that week dad started having pain in his right side that was getting worse by the day. Becky contacted Dr. Gosset and he thought his symptoms were suspicious of gall bladder problems. On Wednesday morning (Feb. 26th) when I picked dad up, it was the first time I had seen him since he had gone home from the hospital. I was surprised by how much pain he was in. I took him to Dr. Gosset's office for the CT scan and from there we were sent across the road to the Emergency Room for more testing.

The ER Dr. saw him right away and an ultra-sound was ordered. After the ultra sound we still were not sure if we were dealing with a gall bladder problem or not. The Dr. was very concerned about a mass that was seen on the ultra-sound. Of course we were concerned to and the Dr. wanted to do more testing and therefore dad needed to be admitted to the hospital.

The very worst part of the day was dealing with the pain and waiting. We we were also extremely concerned for Becky's mom. Becky had just left at 4am to go be with her mom who was in ICU and not doing well. We never expected to end our day in the hospital. Finally 5 hours later we were in a room and the process for the next test had been started. by 8:00 that night dad had his second CT scan of the day, this time with the dye.