No News is Good News

Daddy has recovered from the hernia surgery fairly well. He started physical therapy for the pain in his shoulders, which they think is related to losing so much muscle mass and being in bed for so long. He's back to driving, and Mom is trying to keep him from doing too much. He says he feels fairly normal these days -- pretty amazing considering all his body has been through. In other news, we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new niece/cousin/granddaughter any day now! (Wendi is due March 18 so it could be any time!)

Quick Update

As hoped, Daddy is doing much better the past couple of days, and is eating and drinking fairly normally with no problems. He is getting up and moving around the house, is a little sore (actually probably a lot sore!) and very tired. He's in good spirits, he just wishes he had more energy. All 3 of the girls spent the afternoon out at Mom and Dad's, and it seems that everyone had a big time!

Home Sweet Home

Well, Daddy made it home before lunch time today. He has been in a fair amount of pain, and this afternoon was having a hard time keeping any food or drink down. The girls and I went to visit and hang out with him while Mom went to pick up some medicine for him (including some anti-nausea meds). By the time we left this evening, he had kept down a cup of tea. The anti-nausea medicine makes him groggy, though, so then he wants to sleep instead of eat. His spirits were fairly good despite feeling lousy and he was acting like himself. I have a vague memory of the pain meds making his head spin way back when he was first diagnosed with cancer, so I'm hopeful that as he heals and needs less pain medication, everything else will fall back into place. I know that he is glad to be in his own bed, and I know Mom will be, too (she spent the night with him last night at the hospital).

Successful surgery!

Daddy had his hernia repair today, and everything went very smoothly. If everything continues to go well overnight, then Daddy will get to come home tomorrow. I stopped by to see him this evening after work, and he was a little sleepy but very lucid. He ate his jello and chicken broth right after they brought it, and was asking about another friend who was having some health issues today. He was in a little pain, but they were managing it effectively. His anticipated full recovery time is 4 weeks -- so if you see him picking anything up in the next month, remind him that he needs to take it easy! He also will be laying low at home for the next week, so if you want to visit, I'm sure he'd appreciate it -- just call before you go. Thanks for the prayers.

Shunt Functioning, Resume Plans

Daddy went in yesterday for a scan, and they determined that the shunt was functioning properly -- they think maybe it had a blockage that worked itself out. Mom and Dad had spent some time trying to get it to pump on Thurs. night and Fri. morning Daddy noticed an improvement and felt better but they wanted to have it checked out before he has surgery next week. (The shunt is placed just under his skin in his abdomen, and he has to find the spot and pump it twice a day). Shunt malfunctions are not uncommon apparently, so there was not much concern about this incident. They took about 2 liters off his belly, so he's a little sore today but otherwise doing well -- he drove to Wendi's by himself today because he wasn't ready to leave when Mom and I did. The hernia surgery is back on for next Tues. And today we got to celebrate Wendi and our soon-to-arrive addition to the family. Thanks so much for your prayers!

Shunt Malfunction

Well, Daddy was scheduled for surgery to repair the hernia next Tues., Feb. 15 but in the past couple of days, it has become clear that his shunt is not functioning properly. His belly is retaining fluid again and he's gained 12lbs or so. Tomorrow he will go into radiology (for a CT scan, I'm assuming) to check what's going on. Assuming this is just a common shunt malfunction, they will remove some fluid, and he is scheduled for surgery to correct the problem (whatever they discover the problem is) on Monday. There is a possibility that they will go ahead and do the hernia repair on Monday as well, but otherwise it will be postponed. We should know more tomorrow afternoon. Sorry for the vagueness, but that's all I've got right now. We appreciate your prayers. We are all supposed to go to a baby shower for Wendi on Saturday, and are hoping that we can carry with the celebrations as planned.

Happy New Year ... and a few weeks!

Daddy is doing well -- and, as I've said before, when he's doing well I tend to forget that we have a blog to keep people posted. So I apologize that it's been a while, but that's a good sign! He visited his oncologist the week after Christmas, and his oncologist released him to his surgeon's care for follow up. Dr. B (the oncologist) told him that he doesn't need to see him anymore unless he has problems. They (all his doctors) don't seem to be concerned about his shoulder pain, and think he may have injured his rotator cuff when he tried to get back in to exercising too quickly. The shunt is working beautifully so far. And he has surgery scheduled for Feb. 15 to repair the hernia near his incision from the Whipple procedure. This is supposed to be a rather complicated repair so prayers are appreciated, and I promise to update more closer to that date.

In other news... Daddy got a new truck! He brought it by and let me take it for a spin today. :) And he has finally gotten his new computer up and running at a decent speed, so maybe I'll talk him into posting. However, don't get your hopes up because when I first asked him if it was ok that we do a blog to keep people updated, he said, "As long as you know what a blog is."