Peanut and Dad

Peanut loves to ride on dad's shoulders.

And pull his hair.

And tug on his ears.

And yank off his glasses.

It's a barrel of laughs.

For everyone but dad.

(P.S. Like how it looks like Peanut has a big part in his hair?

That's really just where he cut that chunk out!)

Grandpa Update

Grandpa had his post-op appointment with the surgeon and is healing up nicely. He is still sore, but that is to be expected and will take time until he's back to normal.

Grandpa also had his consultation with the oncologist. Our research proved correct. Grandpa's cancer was Stage 2 and surgery is the only recommended treatment. No radiation or chemotherapy is recommended at this point. He'll follow-up with scans every three months for a bit and then every six months. He'll also get a follow-up colonoscopy in a year. Hopefully everything will remain disease free.

On the E. front, he's scheduled for his scans on December 14th in Texas and the subsequent doctor appointments on the 15th. All prayers, thoughts and positive mojo welcomed.

Grandpa's Discharged

Grandpa finally got discharged today. He'll spend a few days with us recuperating but only because we have football on tv. (Seriously. That's what he told us.) He's determined to drive the two hours home, even though the doctor said he needs to stay with us for a couple of weeks. We'll continue to work on him and see if we can't talk some sense into him.

He had a few rough days in the hospital, throwing up and passing blood. He did require a blood transfusion, but so far hasn't needed another. They were able to remove all his drainage tubes and staples before he was discharged, so that was one less thing to worry about.

We were able to get the pathology report back yesterday. The tumor was a bit worse than anticipated, coming in at a T3. On a good note though, all of the lymph nodes tested negative, so it's a N0 and with no metastasis, it's a Mx. All combined, the T3 N0 Mx translates to a Stage 2. After his post-operative appointment with the surgeon in a couple of weeks, he'll meet with an oncologist to discuss any further treatment. From what we've researched though, it doesn't appear that chemotherapy or radiation is part of treatment for a Stage 2 colon cancer patient. It seems like surgery generally does the trick. Hopefully that's the case because grandpa has already made it clear that he's not doing "none of that other crap."

He's pretty sore, moving cautiously and slowly transitioning back to solid foods. It's going to take some time for his body to heal, but he seems like he's on the right track.

Grandpa's Surgery

Grandpa's surgery started over three hours late, but once it started, it was surprisingly quick. It took less than an hour to complete. They were able to do it laparoscopically, which should make healing quicker and easier. There is no colostomy bag at this point, although there is a slight outside chance (like 1%) that a bag could still be needed at some point in the healing process. The surgeon still couldn't tell us much about the stage of the cancer and said we'd have more definitive answers once the pathology came back (the actual tumor and several surrounding lymph nodes were sent to pathology). It is anticipated that the pathology results should be back about the time grandpa is ready to be discharged from the hospital ... at the end of this week, or the beginning of next according to the surgeon. Hopefully Grandpa will be able to transition to solid foods and be able to slowly start getting up and around a bit. Now if his blood sugar levels would cooperate, that would just be a bonus. Given all the possible scenarios, it sounds like things have really gone well so far.

Grandpa

E.'s dad, E1, visited with the GI doctor last week to address some suspected long-term side effects from last year's prostrate cancer and subsequent treatment. Turns out, it wasn't side effects from the prostrate cancer at all. It it an entirely new and ugly cancer beast ... colon cancer.

Just when we think we have a little cancer education under our belts, a new form of cancer is tossed our way and we have to start over. With colon cancer, staging doesn't happen until after a CT scan and after surgery. The CT scan was completed a couple of days ago, but it didn't seem to offer up much new information other than confirm that grandpa does in fact have colon cancer. A consultation with the surgeon left us with more questions than answers. There are just so many variables in this situation. We really won't know much until after surgery, which is scheduled for Monday.

Surgery could be laparoscopic. Unless it requires open surgery. His hospital stay could be one to three days. Or it could be two weeks. He may heal nicely. Or he could have complications due to his diabetes. He might be able to transition to solid foods over a period of days. Or he may require IV nutrition because of his current low weight. He could return to our home to after discharge to recuperate without any extra intervention. Or he may have to return to the wound clinic for daily wound care. He may have nothing but incisions (staples and/or sutures) to take care of. Or he could have a colostomy bag. It's all a bunch of "what if's."

So, we do what we do best ... we roll.

Haircut Appts

Peanut is now in the business of cutting hair.

If you'd like yours done before he's too famous, please call now.

Appointments are filling up fast.

Reflections

I've spent most of the week reflecting. Thinking back. Remembering. Sometimes it is hard to believe how much time has passed. Yet in other moments, it seems like it was just yesterday.

Last night at dinner, I read aloud the blog posts from a year ago. I was immediately taken back. When E. asked me to describe in one word how that time period was, I replied, "scary."

Even thinking about it now, I can get that feeling in my stomach. I can remember that first moment when I truly realized that something wasn't right on that Friday night. How suddenly my hindsight became clearer and things we had been excusing away for the previous couple of weeks weren't right either. That eerie and quiet trip to the emergency room and then the long wait for tests, scans, doctors and specialists. Finally, the news that we dreaded but that we both secretly suspected ... brain tumors. The cancer was back and it was in his brain.

I remember the following days of trying to figure out what exactly this meant and where we went from here. Friends and family rallied around us and picked up the many pieces so I could be at the hospital. I don't know what we would have done without them. Decisions had to be made and a plan had to be decided on. I felt like the whole time I was holding my breath. Once we had a plan for surgery I felt like I could exhale a little bit, but then came surgery. Brain surgery. It all sounded so ominous. On the outside, E. and I both held it together well. We knew we had to be strong. There were people counting on us. We were counting on each other. There were private moments though, moments between the two of us, when those walls came crumbling down. We were scared.

Yet, here we are a year later. E.'s got scars on his head as reminders of what he's been through. He's battled with some episodes of brain swelling (we're assuming) and he still occasionally gets some intense headaches. He continues to take the anti-seizure medication as supposedly the seizures are still present, although we've been fortunate to never witness anything we've imagined as as stereotypical seizure. His short-term memory can still be a bit fuzzy (particularly if he's overly tired or not feeling well), but considering the long list of potential side effects from not only the brain surgery but also the cyber-knife radiation treatments, I'd say he's fared extremely well.

He takes pleasure in his girls and spending time with them. He enjoys watching the boys' sporting events. He delights in Peanut's daily antics. He's hitting the gym with some regularity ... a little cardio, some weights and his beloved sauna. He cooks up a storm and keeps us all fat and happy. He watches his ESPN, his CNN and his history channel (that is when Peanut doesn't steal the remote before him and then he's stuck watching PBS or the dreaded Sponge Bob). He's looking forward to football season, both for the Minnesota Vikings and the UNR Wolfpack. And, he also wants to get back to work. Specifically, he wants to start working on his clinical hours for his LCSW (For those of you familiar with LCSW requirements, you know how this works. For those of you not familiar, let me just say, the clinical hour requirement is astronomical.). He worked so hard on his MSW and he's got so much experience and talent, it would be a shame not to use all of it. He'd love to work with Veterans, but is open to other areas as well. Anyways, if you hear of somewhere who could use someone like him, give him a ring.

I'm so very grateful to be where we are today. I love that man, scars and all.