Update on Dad

Friday, November 28, 2008

Cancer. It's getting easier to say, although it still sounds odd being in the same sentence with my dad. I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love from my amazing friends and I love and cherish each of you. Thank you for your love and concern.

We don't know any more than we did, but we do have an appointment with the oncologist. After gathering recommendations from friends, my parents chose Dr. Johnson in Chattanooga (yes, we are doctor snobs, as my husband says, and pretty much go to Chattanooga for everything) as my father's oncologist. The only caveat? They couldn't get an appointment until December 15th. I was absolutely livid (along with everyone else...except Dad) that there would be an almost three-week wait between the diagnosis and the appointment with the specialist, but Dad has been assured that that is actually a fairly normal wait time and he wants us to quit freaking out about it.

Dad's attitude about this whole thing is just amazing. He has been very nonchalant and matter-of-fact about it. "It is what it is," he keeps saying. That was his mantra in the excruciating period of time between when we first knew there were lesions on his liver and the time that we actually got the diagnosis. He will be a great patient. Physically, he feels lousy, of course. The main symptom (other than general malaise) that he has been having is a persistent nausea. The nausea isn't so bad that it causes vomiting or anything like that, but he has a hard time working up an interest in eating. If you know my dad, you know that he has pretty much always been thin as a rail, and he has lost 20 or 30 pounds so far, just due to his lack of appetite. The method of choice so far in dealing with the nausea has been Phenergan (a miracle drug, in my opinion!), but it hasn't done much for him, so his gastroenterologist gave him a prescription for Zofran, which is actually a drug that chemo patients commonly use to control nausea and vomiting. He said it hadn't done much for him when he took the first one, but I haven't asked him about it since.

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner last night. Mark, Dan, Kate, Laura, Eric, Luke, Emma, and I all gathered at Mom and Dad's for ham, fried chicken, Mom's delicious broccoli casserole, and a bunch of other yumminess. It was a good time of fellowship.

Above all, we just continue to ask for prayer--prayer that Dad will remain in good spirits, that his energy level will increase, that the nausea will taper off, and that the oncologist will have the wisdom to choose the best course of treatment for him.

I will keep you posted as things develop.