Cancer

So this has been quite an ordeal from my last post to today.  Let me update to what is going on.

On the night of August 10, my mom was sent to the James Cancer Center in Columbus, Ohio by ambulance.  By this time she had been in Blanchard Valley Hospital for five days.  She was having her pain managed by intravenous dilaudid.  She handled the trip well and my dad followed in the car.  She was admitted that Friday night and tests commenced quickly on Saturday.  CT scans and blood draws.  As the week progressed, she had more tests, a PET scan among them.  I arrived on Tuesday after a long but uneventful drive from the Chicago area.

On this evening when I came, she looked good.  Tired, a little worn out, her hair was dirty from not having a proper shower, but otherwise, good.  She was happy to see me.  Got out of bed, hugged me, talked to me about what was going on.  We were waiting for the diagnosis/ prognosis that the doctors would deliver on Thursday.  We were hopeful, despite knowing the situation was grave. I stayed for about three hours before heading over to my sister's house to see my Dad.  He was preparing for prostate surgery the next day.  He had been diagnosed in the Spring with prostate cancer.  Despite putting off the surgery a few times, at my mom's urging he went ahead with it.  He had his surgery at Riverside Hospital in Columbus, less than 5 minutes away from the James Center.

Wednesday was a good day, too.  I stayed Tuesday and Wednesday with an old friend from high school whom I hadn't seen in about 13 years.  She opened her home up to me and was the most amazing and gracious host.  I left her house after filling up on pancakes and bacon to spend the day with my mom.  My brother Mark and his daughter Hannah and my sister Leanne were taking care of my Dad during his surgery.  We wanted someone to be with Mom.  I was happy to take the job.

We talked and reminisced.  We joked and giggled.  We worried and cried.  We were relieved when someone from the desk came and checked my mom's phone in the room, it was off the hook and my brother couldn't call us with updates.  (I had turned my cell phone off due to hospital regulations.)  My Dad's surgery went off without a glitch.  The cancer had not spread to the lymph nodes and was completely contained within the prostate.  Except for some difficulty in the recovery room with low blood pressure, he came through with flying colors.  How I wish we could have stopped time on Wednesday.  Wednesday was such a good day.