We went to Utah for two days. Dick had his "yearly diabetic eye exam" on the 17th, St. Patrick's Day. Good news at that doctors office! (NO DIABETIC RETINOPATHY) After the doctors appointment, we went to Golden Corral. Everyone was instructed to get all green food on our first serving. The plate that had the most green would be the winner. (PRIZE: $20.00) I lost because I put some white ranch drsg. on my salad. After a late lunch we headed to The Wagstaff's. We just love this family. They are so hospitable. Edye was so excited about her new Trivial Pursuit Wii game, that she had to play it. While they played, I blogged. That game makes me feel so stupid because I never know the answers. Then Edye played the piano and sang a song just for me. The kids had a great time with Ruby, Vosco, and all the neighborhood friends. I think that it is so neat how all their neighborhood friends know Anson and Aubrey. When they see me they always ask... "When are we going to see Anson and Aubrey again?" We spent the night there and next day we headed to Huntsman.
We were there all day! Dad had some blood work and an MRI. Then he had a chest CT. These almost took all day. We visited with the surgeon that will remove the tumor after he reviewed the MRI. He told us there was some good news and bad news. The good news is that the tumor did shrink a lot and that the spot that was on Dick's lung, when they did the first chest CT had not changed so he was almost positive it had nothing to do with cancer.
The bad news was that the tumor is still wrapped around the sciatic nerve and it didn't release after all the radiation. He told us there was 3 options. 1st option... Amputation from the hip down and that he didn't want to go there. 2nd option... Scraping the cancer off the nerve. He told us that he didn't want to do this, but he would do it if this was the option Dick chose. This would leave him with full use of the leg but the risk of getting cancer back was 60%. If he would get a recurrence of cancer on this leg again, he would have to amputate because the cancer would not be contained in the muscle anymore, it would be all over his leg. 3rd option... To remove the sciatic nerve, which the recurrence of cancer would be less than 10%. With this option, Dick would loose the use of his leg from the knee down and he will have to use a brace for the rest of his life. He will have to go to physical therapy and learn to walk again because he won't have sensation from his knee down. The reason for the brace is that his foot mainly, would just flop because he won't be able to bend it at the ankle without the nerve.
My first thought was Option 3 of course! We will have dad with no cancer!!! Then I looked at dad's face which looked so pale and scared. His eyes were tearing up. Then I thought, boy this wasn't as easy for him to decide right then and now. This is the man that doesn't know how to walk slow. If you're walking by him, you practically have to run so that you can keep up with him. Now, he will have to learn to walk. This is the man that as I write this, has gone bike riding with Aubrey to Ace Hardware because he needs a part to repair something in our home. This is the man that loves to garden. This is the man that both times we've gone to New York, makes me hate New York because he wants to run every where and not miss one thing. I on the other hand, like to take my time. This is the man that can't hold still 5 minutes because he thinks 5 minutes of his life will be wasted. Let alone take 5 minutes to put on a brace so that he can walk. At first he wanted option 2. He wants to keep his sciatic nerve so bad. I think now he has decided on option 3.
After Huntsman we bought some rail round trip tickets to Layton and back to SLC. Every time the train passes by us on the express way, dad always says he wants to ride the train. So... we did!
We timed it just right. After the rail we met up with Kellan Hatch and his family. Lily, his wife fixed a perfect dinner for us. His son played the piano for us too. He played really well. We took Anson ice skating for about an hour and a half. Kellan and Lily went with us. Their sons had tons of homework so they couldn't go with us, since it was a school night for them.
After that, we headed to Idaho.
4 comments:
Good luck with everything. We are praying for your family. Love, Drew & Eryka Glover
Hey I wanted to thank you both for the uplifting comments and concern from you and Sayda. I really do appreciate it so much...good luck with everything! We will both be learning to walk again it looks like...but your right, the best medicine is a great attitude! God Bless...Lots of Love, Emily :)
We have the faith & Heavenly Father has the power Uncle Dick. He hasn't changed. He is the same yesterday, tomorrow and forever, and I believe the miracles he performed thousands of years ago are still possible today, but the key is FAITH. It's not believing that He can, but knowing that He will. He is our everything including Physician of physicians and has the final say in all of this. I don't think it's ever too late for a miracle. We love you guys so much & haven't gone a night w/o shutting our eyes & praying for you.
On a lighter note, Aunt Sayda triggered a fond and funny memory that I have of you when she mentioned St Pattys Day in the blog. I remember when we were little girls Sis, Bree, and I used to try and pinch you on St. Patricks Day and you'd always say that you were excluded from the pinching cuz you had green eyes and mocos. haha! random, i know, but funny! Love u guys! -mitch
I am catching up on all of your blogs. Praying for you!
Cindy
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