Dad's Cancer

There is no good way to write about this. About 9 years ago my dad had double vision. It was inexplicable and went away on his own. Well, it happened again at the beginning of the month. My uncle Joe passed away on April 2. On the day of his funeral, Monday April 8, my dad wasn't feeling very well due to double vision and head pressure. He also felt a bit dizzy and nauseous and slightly unsteady that day, so went to the emergency room after the funeral. We thought  that he might have had a mild stroke. Initially, they thought there was a brain bleed. They ran several tests including an MRI. They found a brain lesion and suspected lymphoma. They scanned him and the rest of his body was clean. They had to do a brain biopsy on April 12. Thankfully, that procedure went as planned. They immediately knew that it was an inoperable malignant brain tumor though and that was extremely upsetting news. On April 17, they found out that it was a form of lymphoma, as predicted, but that it would take a while longer to determine the exact diagnosis.  We didn't get the full diagnosis until April 24.  It is Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the Central Nervous System. It took a long time to fully diagnose because it is a rare brain tumor. He will be starting on aggressive chemotherapy shortly. He will go to VCU for treatment because they have the technology to do a stem cell transplant after the chemotherapy. It will be a very hard road, but the good news is that there is a possibility for a cute. My dad will obey doctors' orders with exactness and we will pray for and expect miracles.

My parents have been through a lot together in their 49+ years of marriage. This has been their hardest trial. The tumor is affecting him very quickly in many ways. He is usually so healthy and physically fit, and this has been hard to see.  He has had several awful side effects-from the tumor and from the steroids. One was that he couldn't sleep more than a total of 3-4 hours in a 24 hour period. I don't want to get into every detail because my dad is such a private person, but it has been rough.  My dad is being so patient and brave and my mom is the embodiment of hope and charity. I love them both so much and absolutely hate that they are going through this.

My parents friends and their ward family have been an amazing support! My brothers and my Aunt Mary have been too. We are also so thankful for the doctors and nurses who are being so good to my dad and for the medicine and medical technology available to help him.