Update on my father

As some of my friends have learned, August was a time of testing. My father was diagnosed with kidney cancer and ended up in the hospital in the last part of the month. The ER (emergency room) doctors first discovered him to have congestive heart failure due to fluid collecting around his heart and lungs. During his admission for a good week, it was learned that dad had cancer. The cancerous tumor is about the size of a dime and it sits near the exit for the urine. This cancer then turns his urine into crystal in the urethra and so prevents excessive urine outflow. While he was in hospital, my family almost lost him. He is now how though, still recovering and since he is 78 years old, surgery wont work. Of course, you may be thinking he is young and he is, but he is not physically strong and more fragile than anything else. So his doctor has limited any surgery for a possible cure.

Come October 7th, father will have another ultra sound to see if the cancer has grown. Until then, he is unable to do anything really. He takes his medication, must be weighed twice a day, blood pressure taken twice a day and if his weight drops below 115lbs (he is 118 lbs at the moment and was 121 lbs when he went to hospital), he is back to hospital and possibly admittance.

Many of my friends ask how he is doing. Well, he is not really getting better, but he isn't getting worse either. The family fully knows that he may possibly die from this, but it's not a supper time discussion. We take one day at a time and leave it at that. What becomes of a good day, means he will have a bad day, but what is most important, is that he isn't in any pain.

I'll continue to keep you all posted if there is any change and I thank you deeply for your concerns and thoughts.