My Dad

Wow what a week it has been since the last time I posted.

Sunday morning, I woke up, took a shower came down and sat on the couch for a while. I went to go clean my nose out and noticed that I had a missed call on my phone. I had a voicemail from my Dad who had called at 5:30 am. He said that he was not feeling well and was going to take himself to the emergency room. By the time I got the message, it was about 9am. Darrell and I took Reagan over to Mom's and headed over to the hospital.

I had gotten a hold of Dad on his cell phone and he said they had moved him from the ER into a room. He said that several times the prior week, he had spells where he got really dizzy and felt like he was going to faint. Both of the other times that it had happened, he had other factors that he blamed it on. The first time, he was playing golf and it happened when he was on the 16th hole. He said it was really hot and he wasn't sure if he had drank enough water. So, he rode the cart for the last 2 holes and went on home. The next time it happened, he said when he took his glasses off, he noticed they were kind of bent and he thought maybe since they were out of alignment, it was messing with his vision.

Several years ago, he was diagnosed with peripheral artery disease and has had probably about 5 or 6 surgeries on his legs where they have gone in and put stents in his legs to keep the blood flowing. They finally ended up doing a bypass on one of the main arteries in his leg. He has been on blood thinners every since this has happened and the last time he had a surgery was when Reagan was 2 weeks old.

The doctors in the ER and Dad's heart doctor thought that he may be having these dizzy spells due to the fact that arteries in his neck were getting clogged and causing less blood flow to his brain. So, they put him in a room in the heart wing of the hospital for observation. Darrell and I got over there about 9:30 and that was the worst day that I had after the surgery. I could barely keep my eyes open, was in a little pain, and was just exhausted. So, we sat over with Dad until around 1:30 that afternoon and he finally sent us home and said that they wouldn't know anything until they ran some tests and they didn't know when that would be.

Darrell took me to Mom's so I could sleep and he picked up Reagan. I slept for almost 4 hours. When I finally woke up, I was feeling quite a bit better. Mom brought me home and came in and hung out for a while. She hadn't been gone long and Dad called and said that they had done and MRI and found some sort of mass on his brain and he wanted us to come back over so we could hear what the doctor had to say.

We took Reagan back over to Mom's and got back to the hospital about 6:30 Sunday evening. We waited and waited and waited and finally an oncologist came in and just asked Dad some questions. She didn't really have much information, but had told Dad that the neurosurgeon would come and talk to him and they would do a biopsy and then decide what sort of treatment route to take from there. We kept waiting and Dad finally sent us home about 9:30 pm.

We got up the next morning, took Reagan back to Mom's, and headed back to the hospital. WE got over around 9 and sat there and waited for the doctor to show up. An internal medicine doctor finally came to the room and talked to us for a while and again, he told us that they wouldn't really know what the mass was until they did the biopsy. He also told us that since Dad was on blood thinners, he would have to wait at least 5-7 days for the biopsy so that he could get the blood thinners out of his system. By this time, Dad really wanted to get out of there. He was worried about getting his affairs in order before they started cutting around on his brain. He talked to the doctor about his affairs and the doctor understood his concerns and said that once we spoke with the neurosurgeon, he would be fine with discharging him from the hospital.

We waited around until about 1 and then called the internal medicine doctor back and he had the neurosurgeon call us so that he could get us out of the hospital. I spoke with the neurosurgeon and he told me that Dad has a malignant brain tumor right at the base of the brain. I asked how he could tell because the oncologist and the internal medicine doctor said they wouldn't be able to tell until they did the biopsy. He said that cancerous tumors show up a different color on MRI's than non-cancerous tumors do and that his is pretty bad. He told me twice that if he chooses to not have any treatment that the most he would make it is 2 months.

So, armed with that news, we were let out of the hospital about 2 pm on Monday. Dad asked me if I knew of a lawyer that could help him put together a will quickly, so I had made a call to my friend Rachel who gave me a recommendation for a lawyer. I called her on Monday and within 10 minutes, she called me back. I let her know what was going on and she said that she'd help us out, so we scheduled an appointment with her for Tuesday afternoon.

I had already scheduled out of the office on Tuesday for my surgery, so that worked out well. Reagan had been coughing for about a week and over the weekend, it had gotten worse. He had two nights that he was up most of the night because of his coughing. The Thursday before my surgery, I had gotten a letter from Reagan's daycare that there had been a confirmed case of pertussis (whooping cough) in the daycare. Darrell and I agreed that with the way things were going for us, we needed to go ahead and take him in to the doctor to have him checked. I called early Tuesday morning and managed to get him an appointment at 8:50am, so we took him on in. They did swab him for the whooping cough, but since they have to send it to the state health lab, the results will take 5-7 days to come back. The doctor said that his throat was really red and he had alot of drainage, but his lungs sounded clear. She also told us that since he had possibly been exposed to whooping cough, we could not take him back to daycare for 5 days. Glad again that I had scheduled out Tuesday for my surgery and Wednesday too in the event that I needed it because I needed it!

Tuesday afternoon, Mom kept Reagan while I took Dad to see the lawyer and we went over the paperwork that he needed to get completed to have all of his affairs in order and we set up an appointment to go get all of the paperwork signed and notarized on Friday.

The doctor had told Dad that he should not drive because with the tumor, there is a risk that he may have a seizure at any time. Dad said that he felt fine and as long as he felt fine he was going to drive. He is so stubborn and no one can tell him to do anything, so I knew there was no need arguing with him about it. Tuesday morning, he drove up to get his prescriptions and felt fine, so around lunch, he went to go pick something up and when he was leaving the drive through, he had one of his dizzy spells. He was stopped when he had it and waited a few minutes for it to pass and then went on home. He did tell me when I picked him up that afternoon that he was done driving, He said it was one thing to do something to himself, but he didn't want to take the chance and hurt someone else, so I was glad he came to that realization.

Wednesday morning, Reagan and I got up and took Dad to the grocery store and the bank and we spent most of the morning over at his house. Once I saw that he and Reagan were both exhausted and neither of them were going to take a nap as long as the other was around to play with, I headed home. We didn't even get a block from Dad's and Reagan was asleep.

Darrell had taken off Thursday and Friday, so I went in to work on Thursday. It was good to have something else to focus on for a day instead of just sitting and worrying about everything that's going on. Darrell and Reagan went over to Dad's around lunch and took him out to eat and spent most of the afternoon over there, so that made Dad really happy.

Friday, I had my post-op appointment with my Ear Nose Throat Specialist. He said my nose was looking good, but I was still stopped up and my throat was red, which told him that I had come into contact with something else, probably what Reagan had. So, he put me on different antibiotics and sent me on my way. I have to go back to see him in 3-4 weeks. After that, Dad and I went to meet the lawyer and my friends who graciously came and signed the paperwork as witnesses. After we did that Dad felt much more relieved about the whole situation.

Darrell, Reagan, and I have been spending lots of time with Dad for the past week and doing whatever we need to help him through this. Dad called me at 8 this morning and told me not to worry about anything today and to try and get some rest. He wanted to talk to Darrell, so Darrell went over there and talked to him for a while and then Dad had some friends that came by this afternoon to hang out with him.

After Dad told me to take the day off, Reagan and I headed down to Zilker Park and played for about an hour and then rode the train. We needed some time together and to be outside playing. It was good for both of us. The rest of the day has been spent lounging around, watching football, doing laundry, and cleaning house.

Tomorrow, we have an appointment with the neurosurgeon in his office, which they told us that we had to do before we are able to have the surgery for insurance purposes. The appointment is not until 3:30, so I'm going to go ahead and go into work until around 1:30 or 2. The schedule at the doctors office told me that he already has 8 surgeries scheduled for this next week, so they are going to have to slip Dad in somehow. She said the surgeon may send us straight to the hospital on Monday or it may be as late as Friday that we go in. I really hope it is sooner than later. I know how hard it has been on me to wait, and I can only imagine how hard it is for Dad. Darrell talked to Dad for a long time the other day and really put him at ease with the situation, so I am hoping that he can keep this positive attitude.

We need lots of good thoughts and prayers sent our way. This is going to be a rough journey, but I know we can get through this!