Tuesday, April 21, 2009

not quite "vacation"


The trip home was full of reunions – most people we haven't seen since the wedding since we had not been back since the big move.

However, the main reason for the trip was less light hearted. We went to see my Dad – he has cancer, again. This is the third time since I was 5 years old, and it's been on a steady 10-year cycle ever since. This time though it came with a "benign" brain tumor (tell me what kind of brain tumor is benign!) and the cancer itself was peppered though his chest, lungs & neck. Previously it was concentrated in his stomach.

We received some really great news about a week ago, the chemo has been working and the cancer has receded by at least 50% which means remission! (Such a powerful word with such a long road ahead.) Later in the week there was more news... his brain tumor (which caused a decent seizure in February before they got him on proper meds) is gone. This is a miracle in itself as they weren't sure that the chemo would even affect the tumor because it wasn't cancer.

In the coming weeks/months they will be attempting a stem cell transplant to replace his bone marrow and doing a strong dose of chemo as well.

For those that knew about all of this, thank you for keeping my Dad in your thoughts & prayers – your support has been felt in more ways than you know!

*photo from one of the doc visits last week.

3 comments:

brandi p said...

k- I am so sorry to hear of this BUT I will keep him in my thoughts and send well vibes his way. with the passing time maybe more good news will come.

Stefanie Pepping said...

I'm so glad to hear that things are looking up! I hope it continues in that direction. I'll definitely continue to keep him in thoughts and prayers!

paperlust said...

first off, i am so glad i got to see you (however briefly!) while you were in town!

second, that is great news about the remission and the brain tumor! i will keep him in my thoughts...