Answered Prayer

From the time that Dad was diagnosed with cancer, my prayer has been for mercy and time. God has certainly granted those things to Dad and to me. It has been nearly three years since he was diagnosed. The doctors really did not give him much hope saying about ten months would be normal life expectancy for this type of cancer. Yet, Dad has continued to get up every morning, get dressed, and carry on as if everything was normal. He has gone to coffee with his buddies every day possible. He has been amazing. Through out this whole cancer thing, Dad has not been in pain nor had many of the physical sicknesses associated with cancer and chemo. I would say that was very merciful.

In the past month, we initiated hospice care for Dad. Although the chemo has kept the cancer at bay, it has caused Dad to grow very weak. Now, he has run the gauntlet of chemos, and there is no more that the doctors can due to fight the cancer. This means that cancer is now running unchecked in his body. In the past the cancer has manifested itself in the form of brain tumors. We assume this is happening again because Dad has stroke-like symptoms or seizures occasionally. Hospice was a necessary step to help Mom with the day to day needs like getting Dad in and out of the shower.

The last few days have been hard. Dad has not been able to walk. Mom has not been able to move him by herself. Yesterday, he was pretty much in bed all day. He does not know what all is going on around him (yet he checks his watch for coffee time). He seems to be going down faster now. There have been times in the past couple of years that I thought there was no way Dad could keep going, but he did. I have that same thought now. Maybe I will be proven wrong again.

Because I do not know how things will go, my posts may be sporadic for a while. I may be in WF most of the time, but I will try to be in touch. Jesse will be holding down the home front. We will carry on as normal, because that is what my Dad would want. God is good and so is His timing. He has blessed us and answered prayers. Continue to pray for us.