So first the bad news. Dad has Esophageal Cancer. For the last few weeks he has had trouble swallowing. He went in for a surgery to have a stent put in and they found a growth. They took a biopsy and on Wenesday night we heard the news that it was malignant. Not a fun night for us. It is very interesting to me the different reactions that my siblings and I went through. Prayers, Tears, Laughter, Anger, Denial, Finding Information, Counseling mode, and Shock. We went through the weekend full of fear! The diagnosis and prognosis on the cancer internet sites was not good. It was horrible in fact.
Dad went into organization mode. He updated his will, wrote letters, planned his funeral and talked to everyone. His heart was soft and he was full of love for us all. It is amazing the spin that a lot of the LDS Conference talks took when we were thinking of all the "What Ifs?" Mitch and Andrew gave him a couple of wonderful blessings! What a great thing to have these worthy, soft hearted men in our lives. I am grateful for good brothers and brother-in -laws. All of them are a blessing in my life!
Now the Good News. He had his tests (CT and PET scans) on Monday, 8th and on Tuesday met with his "Team" for the prognosis. We found out that he is between a stage 1 and stage 2! Wow. We were fearing a 4, expecting a 3, and hoping for a 2! What great news. The surgeon is very confident that with surgery they can cure him! It doesn't look like it has spread although there are some signs of something on his pancreas and a lymph node. They will check that out when they do the surgery. He goes in for a EUS (Endoscopic Ultrasound) today and then they will schedule the surgery. The surgery is horrible. It takes 7 hours and he will be hospitalized for almost 2 weeks for recovery. They are going to remove 2/3-3/4 of his esophagus and pull the stomach up high to meet the stub that is left. Not a pleasant sounding thing is it?
So after thinking we could be so close to losing Dad, it is nice to have him back with us! We hope and pray it will be a great while yet.
3 comments:
Holy Cow! I'm glad the prognosis is good. Please keep us updated!
Hey, Kelli this is great to see what you are writing and posting. You are wonderful with all that you do for others and for your family. I was extremely blessed when you entered our family and made the way for the others and now are taking care of all of them. Love you, Mom
Kelli, how did you being a blogger escape me for so long? Welcome to the blogging world! Brenny and I blog too, do you have our addresses?
Thanks for the update on Irv. I called Alli when Horace called Dad and she told me about the individual reactions of each of the kids--I had to chuckle since each reaction personified each individual. I sure love you guys!
I'm glad to know you're a blogger and will add you to my 'favorites' list! Please please please keep us updated on Irv. We will definately keep him in our prayers.
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