Friday, June 16, 2006

Sorry I've been away

You know, I always have the best intention of posting stuff on a regular basis. But this time I have a good excuse: my dad has cancer.

Last Thursday night, we were out to dinner and my cell phone rang. It was my dad's cell phone. This is by definition not good news. I had called home earlier in the week and Mom mentioned that my brother was taking Dad in for a colonoscopy. She acted like it was a routine thing. "Well," my dad says to me on my cell phone, "the doctor found a little bit of cancer. They're going to operate on Monday."

Okay, going from seemingly routine health check to cancer surgery in less than a week: this does not sound good. (Of course, I found out later the colonoscopy was anything but routine: he had been waking up at 4 a.m. with abdominal pain and had been passing blood; that's why he scheduled the scope.) So when we got home I started looking for flights. (I was scheduled to be off work on Monday anyway, to participate in interviews for a non-profit board I'm on.) Turns out United was running a last-minute weekend special into Wichita! (What are the chances of that? Must mean I'm meant to go.)

On Friday night, Stan and I drove down to the Bay Area. On Saturday morning, he dropped me at SFO and I headed for Kansas while he started the long drive home. When I land in Wichita, my dad is there to meet me. (This was a surprise; I had made arrangements for my sister-in-law to pick me up. Dad said, "I wanted to come get you. Jane's helping her brother cut wheat.")

On Monday, I got up at 6:00 (Central) to take Mom & Dad over to the hospital. He was supposed to check in by 7:15. They got him into surgery about 9:20 and he was done by about 11. The doctor came and talked to the family (me, Mom, my sister, my uncle, my sister-in-law, my niece and her two kids) very briefly. I talked to my sister later and she said she did not think the doctor's message was very positive.

Dad was back in his room around 12:30, so I got to see him before I had to leave for the airport again. My sister and cousin took me to Wichita at 2:00 so I could catch my 4:15 flight back to Denver, where... the flight to SFO was already posted as an hour and twenty minutes late! (It's NEVER a good sign when a delay is posted early; the actual delay will ALWAYS be longer than the original posting.)

I got back to SFO a full two hours after the original schedule that would have already given me a very late night. At 11 p.m., I was on the road. By midnight I was in Santa Rosa. By 1 a.m., a little north of Ukiah. I got home about 3:45, and into bed at exactly 4:00 a.m. (Pacific) Tuesday morning--exactly 24 hours after I had awakened. (Meanwhile, my intention to sleep on the flight was dashed by having brought along a good book; it seems like I never get to read anymore.)

I had three hours and 47 minutes worth of sleep before heading off to work. Needless to say, I have gone to bed early every night this week, which is why I haven't posted anything before now. Yesterday, we learned the results of Dad's operation: The doctor removed 34 "nodes," two of which were malignant. He is going to be referred to an oncologist for follow-up, which may or may not be chemotherapy.

So, I think everything is fine. My mom is (understandably) having a difficult time. (I knew she would; she just about broke down when my dad went in for heart bypass surgery several years ago, which is one of the reasons I felt like I should go this time.) I probably won't know for sure until we go back again in July for their wedding anniversary.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home