So, if you follow my Tweets or Facebook, you know I am still here in Charleston. On Thursday, a few minutes after I booked my flight to go home on Friday, we heard from Dad's doctor re: some test results.
And as it turns out, the worst is true. After 38 years of fighting an autoimmune condition, 14 years of living with an ostomy, the last year of horrible bile duct infections and so much more, my dad has inoperable liver cancer. Even if he were healthy enough to survive chemo or surgery, the tumor is in a place that can only be resolved in 15% of people...
Dad has chosen to stop fighting, and we strongly support him. There is no chance to beat the cancer, and the solutions available to prolong his life in the interim of painful and invasive. We are now working with Hospice and plan to take him home on Monday. While his doctors think he could last a while- the cancer is not super rapid- the infection and other issues are fairly serious. Dad is ready to go, and our goal is to see him through it, to love him, to make him comfortable, and to get him to see his backyard gator again... (Their house backs up to a lake where a gator often makes his home... and Dad loves to watch him. The photo below was taken from just off their back steps.)
I plan to stay here in SC with my mom and dad for as long as possible. Rich and the kids are flying down tomorrow, Sunday, and we're not sure how long they will stay.
My internet friends have been a source of incredible support for me in the last week, and I am so thankful for all the virtual love and real prayers headed our way. You are all amazing, and I know I'll come back and ask for more support before this is over. And after, too.
Today a care package from Sunne arrived at my hotel room, full of everything I'll need to make some nice simple knit-without-thinking-about-it socks. Knitters and quilters are the best people in the world.
The kindness of friends is truly the most amazing gift in the world.
Thank you.
Please pray for a good, painless end to my dad's long, hard journey.
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