Thursday, December 15, 2005

Update on my dad

Thank you all so much for your prayers and for so many who have been asking about him.
Here is the latest.

He received his biopsy report this week and now has a name for his cancer, Squamous cell carcinoma involving supraglottic larynx. (There is some great information here if you are interested.) He has an appointment now with the oncologist at a cancer center for January 5th but is on a waitlist to hopefully go sooner. The doctor that gave him his biopsy results thought he would probably go through radiation for quite sometime to shrink most of the mass away (they are quite small) and then they would go in and clean the remaining out. But that is not coming from the oncologist who makes the final assessment and plan of action. His spirits are high as this seems to be quite treatable.

My specific prayer for him is 2-fold:
1. That this will bring him back to God
2. He wants/needs to quit smoking and is very concerned about the success of that. He says he doesn't worry about missing the nicotine as much as he will miss the "companionship" of it. It's his "friend" and he will miss it when he drinks his coffee, when he drives, when he reads, when he....(fill in the blank). He said it will be harder then any of this other stuff he is going to go through and I sensed a great concern on his part but yet he feels it's essential to his healing. He needs to do it before radiation starts. He says that 2 others in the park ( senior mobile home park) will be quitting with him so he's hoping there will be a support group of sorts.

Thanks again.

Also, I just thought of another prayer request...for the first time in 20+ years my dad will not be spending Christmas Eve with my Minnesota family. Since my parents divorce 20+ years ago we have always spent Christmas Eve with my dad. Since my move to WA I've missed it the last 10 years so it won't affect me as it will my brother and sister. He spends winters in FL now but always returned home for the holidays. This year he is not. I'm not sure my brother and sister realize how this may affect them...it's going to be awefully weird not having dad home for Christmas. My brother said, "At least we know where he is." Good point. But please pray for peace and love. THANK YOU!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Susan,
thanks for the update. Will continue to keep your dad and the rest of your family in my prayers.

Anonymous said...

Hi Sue,
He, and you, and your whole family are in our prayers.

Love,
Liz & the gang