Saturday, March 21, 2015

Terry's Dad

Some of you are already praying, but thought I'd update on Terry's dad. He had his right hip replaced on Feb 2nd and developed some calcium deposits in that hip. The treatment for that is low dose radiation so his dr sent him for a consultation with a radiation oncologist to get it done. The radiation oncologist noticed some weakness on Terry's dad's right side - not just the hip but his arm too so he thought he may have had a TIA - a small stroke. So he sent him for a MRI - the MRI place sent him home because they didn't think he could have one so close to surgery. So I called the next day, got an order for a CT because a TIA is kind of a medical emergency so I was pretty shocked they sent him home. 

Anyway, long story short Terry took him and before they were even out of there 10 minutes, the dr had already called to tell them there were 3 spots on Terry's dad's brain that appeared to be cancer and they needed to go the ER. Madeline and I were at the zoo with my parents and when Terry called I pretty much fell into the bench behind me from shock. We wrapped up our zoo trip and headed to ER in Pensacola where they told us there was another mass on Terry's dad's lung. He would have to stay in the hospital because of swelling on his brain. During his hospital stay, the did a lung biopsy and confirmed cancer but it is non-small cell lung cancer which is a slower growing kind of cancer. They said they just assume that what's in the brain is the same is what's in the lung since lung cancer almost always goes to the brain when it metastasizes. There were 3 brain tumors - 2 "tiny" ones and a large one in his frontal lobe. The one in the frontal lobe is the one causing the right sided weakness. According to his neurosurgeon, it would have to be reduced in size to respond well to radiation.

So this week he had a needle aspiration of the large tumor on his frontal lobe on Wednesday which shrunk that tumor by about half. He did well and stayed overnight in ICU and got to come home Thursday. Yesterday, he had a gamma knife procedure - which is basically mega radiation and we'll know in a month how well it worked. The dr seemed pretty positive about it so we are too. His radiation oncologist will start working on the lung tumor next week for a few weeks with radiation and he'll finish with a round of chemo. His oncologist is optimistic about what's to come and we are prayerful and hopeful too. 

So to say we covet your prayers is an understatement. I am heartbroken for Terry, his Dad, and his sister. But God is good - I hope no matter what satan puts in our life, I can remember that. Thank God for His timing - we get to be here with his Dad. We also have so much extended family here that have been incredibly supportive and helpful. I know that God already has this worked out, but in the meantime we are just taking it day by day. 

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