Yesterday

How do you like my new look?  I went on the Blogger help forum and posted a question about the issues I was having with Firefox/Blogger.  I did get a reply from someone who gave me instructions on tweaking the html code for my "Background Fairy" sidebar.  I am no techie by any means, and I am sure that I may have been able to do it, but I decided to do away with the sidebar for now.  Of course I did this in Safari and it worked no problem.  But when I viewed the blog in Firefox, it wasn't taken care of.  To quote Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind", "I'll think about it tomorrow."

Yesterday my dad went to the Karmanos Cancer Center for a consultation.  My mom and sister went with him while I stayed with my brother.  The trip wore my dad out, and he went straight to bed when they got home.  They said that basically the doctor did not tell them anything differently that what his lung specialist and surgeon had already stated.  Because of his age, surgery and chemo are out of the question.  They could try radiation to shrink the tumor, but you have the side effects from that.  She did say that there was one chemo drug they could try that would be delivered in a port in his chest once a week.  It would not be a cure since there isn't one, but may give him more time.  But again, the side effects.  I guess the regular course of treatment is hard on someone half his age, much less someone in his eighties. All of this has not really hit me yet.  I'm kind of numb to it all.  On the other hand, when we got the news earlier, it hit me like a ton of bricks.  I was devastated.  I guess with time, I have been able to process it and absorb it a bit.  Even though my dad has lived a long life, it is still going to be so difficult to let him go.  I just pray that God is merciful and he doesn't suffer.

My mom and sister were quite impressed with the facility.  They said that it was very beautiful and clean.  They were given a binder that was so organized with all the information they were going to need.  Most of all they said that everyone that worked there were so compassionate.  I had heard that they were very good there for both the patient and the families.  I am so thankful that we have a facility like that close by.

Even though this has hit us hard, my mom put it in perspective.  She said as she was walking in, she saw cancer patients much younger than my dad.  As she was walking by each one she said she sent up a prayer for that person.  This disease has no prejudice.  But it cannot overcome the human spirit.