Saturday, January 10, 2009

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Honestly...if it wasn't so frustrating, it might be amusing. As I said, Dad had 3.7 L of fluid drained from his abdomen yesterday, so his belly feels great! Woo-hoo, he can finally eat! Except...no, he can't. The chemotherapy has given him a bad case of thrush in his mouth and throat, so he is in a lot of pain and eating, although now not painful for his belly, is very painful for his mouth and throat. Ahh, one step forward...you know the rest.

He is on medication for the thrush, so let's pray that it resolves itself quickly so that he can begin eating a bit more heartily and perhaps put some weight back on. He is entirely too thin.

There is happy news to report today, though. I know I probably sound like a broken record in regards to the general awesomeness of friends and family through all this, but I have to just say again that we have some AMAZING friends and family! My parents' dear friends, Darrell and Teresa Widner, Mark and Mindy Murphy, and Tim and Sherry Bryant all gave up their Saturday morning and spent it in my parents' wet, smelly basement ripping up carpet and padding. No one ever goes down there anymore, so there is just stuff piled everywhere--and all of it had to be moved as they moved through, ripping up carpet and padding along the way. My Mark and Mark Murphy then went outside and raked and shoveled all the dirt and leaves that have built up at the end of the house and cause the water to stand and then back up into the house. I wanted to help but we had our kids there with us, so mostly I just "supervised" the process (haha) while watching the kiddos. Dan and Kate were cute as they rode the Gator outside and watched with big eyes from the stairs as the adults pulled the carpet up. By the time they left, the house smelled SO much better. My parents are so blessed to have such wonderful people in their lives. It did my heart good to see these amazing friends work so hard to help Mom and Dad out. Thanks, guys, if you're reading this! We love you!

3 comments:

A. Davis said...

You really do find out who your friends are in times of trouble, don't you? Glad you all are so blessed.

Holly said...

It has been so amazing, Athena. People are just coming out of the woodwork--cooking, baby-sitting for Laura and me, and so on. I suppose there is a silver lining to everything...

Beach dreamin said...

Holly, I came across your blog several months ago. I have a subscription to Google alerts for cholangiocarcinoma and I get alerts whenever something gets posted to the internet on this subject. My family too has been turned upside down with this disease when my father was diagnosed with this awful disease. I know exactly what your going through. Just wanted to let you know that I am praying for you and your family. If you haven't come across the www.cholangiocarcinoma.org website yet I would recommend that you get on that site. It is a wealth of information and the message board is wonderful.

Keep praying and savor every moment you can spend with your dad.