catheroominations

My dad’s surgery went well. The surgeon was a little surprised that his tumor was as large as it was (about grapefruit-sized and weighing in at 4 lbs), but he got the entire tumor out, and sealed him back up. Thankfully, my dad will not need to walk around with a colostomy bag during his recovery. This made him very happy when he found out and I think that alone will be a boost to his morale during this…to be able to go about his daily “business” as normally as possible.

When he was in recovery, I went in to see him. He was groggy, of course, but he was coherent enough to hold a conversation, and to mention something about calling Britney Spears (they have similar hairdos, since my dad recently shaved his entire head…and his bearded face. I do not think Brit suffers from excessive facial hair, but some believe she did play the “beard” in her relationship with Justin).

Pre-surgery, the tumor must have been causing him immense pain, because he feels awesome now. He needed almost no pain meds the first day after surgery, and the only time he hit his pain meds button was when the nurses suggested he do so because they were going to get him up out of bed. On a scale of 1 to 10 pain-wise, he said the highest he got was a 2.

He’s already been walking around. Without pain. Dude, my dad rules!

He wants to go home, of course, but I’m sure he’s entertaining his nurses with his crazy stories. I talked to him tonight and he said he’d been telling his new nurse about my wedding.

His surgeon removed some lymph nodes to biopsy and the results will tell us whether he will need chemo, and how much. Obviously I’m hoping he won’t have to deal with chemotherapy, but I think now, after the surgery was so successful, my dad will opt to do whatever comes next. His morale is great. He’s still got a long road ahead of him, but it’s hard to be depressed around such a cheerful patient. Plus, he kind of looks a lot like Don Rickles now, with his bald head and shaved face.

We’re hoping he comes home by Sunday, and we’ll have a big celebration, complete with his favorite foods. Pureed, of course. Yummy! If he’s not home yet, we’ll visit him in his sterile hospital room, and listen to his machines beep. That will also be fun. Because my dad will be there.

Thank you all for your kind words, thoughts, and prayers. My family and I really appreciate it, and if you could keep it coming, that’d be cool. Look for an open letter to cancer coming soon. I’m warning you right now, you with virgin ears (or eyes, I guess) might want to rent Reservoir Dogs to acquaint yourselves with the language.

Our wedding was near perfection. The weather was sunny and not too warm. While getting ready, everything (for me) went swimmingly. The hair appointments ended early, which was great, since my florist delivered my flowers early, and my make-up artist was early. The photographers? Early. I had no stress at all.

Except for one thing. The thing I didn’t want to think about. When we were first planning our Big Day, this was far from my thoughts, like galaxies away.

But a couple of weeks before the wedding, I learned that this uninvited guest, who I detest, would be at my wedding. This asshole has destroyed the lives of people I love, and the bastard had NO PLACE at my wedding, or anywhere near anyone I love. Not on that day, or any other day. Just leave people the hell alone.

But cancer doesn’t care that it’s not invited. And it doesn’t discriminate in choosing where it infests. This time, it is in my father’s colon. Never mind that my father already had prostate cancer, and beat it. (Take that, @#$%er!) Cancer couldn’t care less if and when it returns. It’s evil, hateful, and persistent and I wish it would stay the f@#$ away from my family and friends.

Before he knew what was making him feel so sick, my dad told doctors that no matter what it turned out to be, he didn’t want to do anything surgical until after May 25. He would walk me down the aisle. He has looked forward to that fatherly duty for years, and nothing was going to get in the way of that, despite my telling him he should do whatever he needed to medically, no matter when he needed to do it.

He was tired on my wedding day, and sat to rest quite a bit throughout the festivities. But you couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. He gave a toast that made me cry and made me laugh. He danced with me to Neil Diamond singing When You Wish Upon a Star, and smiled. My friend June took about 30 pictures of him that day, just to capture his emotions. Those are some of my favorite shots. I gave him a frame with these two, for Father’s Day.

Tomorrow he goes in for surgery, to remove the cancerous tumor from his colon. A tumor that has NO PLACE being anywhere near my father. His recovery will be long and difficult, and he may have to endure chemotherapy. I will not tell him what he should or should not do regarding treatment. Whatever he chooses, it is his decision. But personally, I would like him to kick cancer’s ass so hard, it will never come near him again.

He could use your prayers, good vibes, positive thoughts, and/or whatever special wishes you can offer. I am hoping for a surgery that is as uneventful as possible. And I can’t wait to see his smile again.

While driving my sister to a bridal shop so she could buy a bridesmaid dress she’ll wear once, and then never again, our gripe session about the freeway traffic was interrupted by her ringing cell phone. This is what I heard:

Sister: Hello?
Sister: A cucumber mint sorbet? OK.
Sister: For lunch or dinner?
Sister: Is it an amuse bouche? Or for dessert?
Sister: OK. Yeah. I can do that.

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