November 4, 2008

Today is a little bitter sweet. They took the catheter out by the time I got to the hospital. When Nicole and I got here, they were getting ready to take the stomach pump out. My dad is feeling a lot better and looking great. He is a little tired today. He said they turned his pain medicine off accidentally at 7am. Nicole and I got here about 12pm. They turned it back on about that time so he's feeling better. He's getting some cold chills today and feeling a little down. It's expected when you have major surgery. Tomorrow will be better.

November 3, 2008

My dad is doing even better today. He walked 4 times and walked even further. All the nurses love my dad. They all say he's the best patient they have. I think it helps that Carol and I are here every minute assisting my dad with everything. He's very hopeful today. I took two magazines from the family waiting area for my dad to read. It figures he already had one of them and the other has a picture of a huge steak on the front of it. Oops. Dr. Miller says the catheter can probably come out tonight or tomorrow morning. As soon as he shows signs of his intestine working, the stomach pump can come out, too. Dr. Miller should be in later tonight with the test results from the biopsy. Cross your fingers and pray for good news!

November 2, 2008

My dad is doing great today. He walked 3 times which is a lot better than most people. He has a device to help him expand his lungs to help prevent pnuemonia. His nurses are all really nice. He is occassionaly getting cold chills but that's normal when your body is fighting to get back to normal. The doctor says the catheter can probably come out tomorrow. He still expects 6 months of chemo in case any microscopic cells of cancer left the stomach and went anywhere else.

November 1, 2008 11am

I fly in from Dallas to be with my dad after his surgery. He is going to be moved from ICU at about 12pm. I get to the hospital at about 1pm. My dad looks great. He's got great color in his skin, meaning he doesn't look pale at all. He can't do much today, which is expected. He has a lot of machines hooke up to him to help put fluids and nutrients into his system and take out any waste. He has a stomach pump, saline IV, catheter, epidural, oxygen, and feeding tube in right now. He is in high spirits which is great.

October 31, 2008 5am

My brother gets to the hospital at 5am to support my dad for his surgery. My dad and Carol arrive at 630am. The surgery starts at 9am instead of 8am. At 11am my brother calls to say dad is still in surgery. 1pm I call my brother back to see what he knows now. No answer. I call my Grandma and she has no new news. At 2pm John calls back. The surgery went well. Dr. Miller is confident he got all the cancer. Dad will stay in ICU overnight just so the doctors and nurses can monitor him and make sure nothing goes wrong. They took a lot less of his stomach than they originally planned. They left a baseball sized stomach instead of a golf ball size.

October 30, 2008

My dad is on an all liquid diet to prep for the surgery. He has to be at the hospital tomorrow at 630am to prep for his 8am surgery.

October 29, 2008

2 days until surgery. Dad, Carol, John and some of Carol's family go out to eat at Fuji Japanese Steakhouse as kind of a 'last supper' before the surgery.

October 24, 2008 3pm

I call dad to see how he is feeling. He says he is feeling fine. I ask him if he's nervous that he only has a week left until surgery, then kick myself for even bringing it up and possibly making him nervous! He says he's not. I told him he better get in all the running, food, hikes and whatever else he wants to do because he will be out of commission for the next few months. He says he already did a 5k last month and is just eating like normal for now.

October 20, 2008 12pm

I call dad to see what the surgeon said about the cancer/surgery. The 4-6 hour procedure is set for 8am on October 31,2008. That won't be a hard day to remember! The cancer is rather large and covers most of the stomach. They will have to do a roux en Y procedure, much like agastric bypass surgery(for someone who doesnt want or need it). Dr. Miller spent 2 hours answering any questions dad or Carol had.

October 18, 2008 9pm

I call dad to see how the wedding went. He said the ceremony and reception were beautiful. A lot of people were able to make it on a 3 day notice!

October 17, 2008 2pm

I call my dad to see how wedding plans are going. He and Carol are getting married tomorrow! They have been together almost 5 years and finally decided to tie the knot. They plan to have the wedding/reception at Nick's Grove. Carol's brother owns the restuarant so that makes it easy. Almost all the arrangements are made. Aunt Sioux, Dawn, Elaine and Grandma are coming down for the wedding. I wish I could be there...

October 16, 2008 3pm

I tell my boss at work about my dad. He says everything will be fine and they can accommodate whatever I need. I knew this would be the answer. I work for a great company.

October 15, 2008 9am

I call my dad to see if he knows anything else. Has the cancer went through the walls of the stomach? Has it touched another organ? How big is it? Are they going to use part of the intestine to make his stomach a normal size? Will he have chemotherapy? No answers. He's not really sure...

October 14, 2008 9pm

My dad calls to tell me he has Stage 1B stomach cancer. I'm in total shock and don't really know what to do or say. I'm confident everything will be ok. I leave my fiancee's house in disbelief. I drive home and think of all the things that could happen both good and bad. I go home and stay up half the night researching the death rate, recurrence rate, treatments, surgeries and any thing else I can find out about the cancer. We're going to beat it, I tell myself.