a Dad update

I do not do a lot of Dad updates, because there is not always a lot of change. Monday was his one month anniversary from his last radiation treatment. Woohoo! He was given 4-6 months to live in January and he seems to be holding strong.

In total he has lost about 40 pounds. Which isn't bad considerng food felt a lot like razor blades and sharp pieces of glass dragging across a sun burned throat with blisters.

Kind of unusual to look at him, his clothes all baggy and bunched up, where normally he fills in all the material. My Dad has always been a big guy. Heck we are a big family. Most of us have spent most of our life, tall and big boned. Haha!

We ate good southern food most of the time. Though it tastes good, sweet and leaves a shine on your lips and fingers, it leaves more on our bellies and thighs. So I know it has been frustrating for my Dad to not be able to eat much at all. When we tend to gather around to eat and celebrate.

Monday we went out to lunch to celebrate my sisters birthday. Though many years divorced, our parents are still friends. It was surreal to be sitting there Mom, Dad, Sara and I, at a table, like when Sara and I were kids. Dad ate almost all of his sandwich and debated about whether or not the chips were a good idea, though he crunched down the whole bag. Food gets caught on the tumors part of the way down, so they wedge in there and slowly slide down. On a still healing surface, that is not a pleasant feeling and you sit by trying to offer anything that helps. You almost feel like seeing if you can help it down frm the outside, cause it looks uncomfortable.

Dad is slowly gaining back his energy and mobility. He went today to have his port flushed. That is this thing they put just under he skin, so they do not have to keep finding a fresh vein for fluids or other meds. This is put in primarily for his chemo (which he opted to discontinue after one round), but he has gone in for fluids too, when he couldn't drink water, cause it hurt going down. He goes to the radiation doctor next week, we're assuming then Dad will get the date of the scope to know how successful the radiation has been.

There is a Dad update! Thank you for all your kind thoughts, encouragement, support, prayers and anything I may not be mentioning here. We are keeping on!

Enjoy every minute of your day!
-Rhonda