My parents serve as the President and Matron of the Lubbock Texas Temple. Their 3 year service will be over at end of October. In July, my dad started experiencing a couple of weeks of fevers and night sweats. His energy level continued to decrease as well. After blood tests, xrays, and a cat scan, the results were: a 4 cm mass between his chest wall and the lining of his lower right lung, and the lymph nodes in his chest were on fire. Well, fevers usually mean infection, and inflamed lymph nodes can only mean one of two things: infection OR cancer. The 4 cm "mass" had created its own blood supply as well -indicative of a cancer tumor. Preliminary culture tests for infection were negative. Everything seemed to scream cancer! My dad was admitted into the hospital for a biopsy.
When he heard my dad was getting checked into the hospital, my brother, Doug, who is a Family Physician in the Dallas area, jumped in the car and headed to Lubbock to be with him. He was a great liaison between the doctors and the rest of the family - keeping us abreast of the situation in terms we could understand.
The first "guess" diagnosis was "mesothelioma" which is asbestos cancer. My dad was the Dean of the TTU Library for over 20 years, and during his term there, the library underwent a major renovation where asbestos was present. This type of cancer can take 20 - 30 years to present itself. The lifespan for someone with mesothelioma is less than a year.
This was very unsettling for us all to hear. I, especially, was crushed because we live so far away from Lubbock, and I wanted my children be with their grandpa as much as possible before he died. As soon as Megan's summer play was over, and with only a week before school started, we jumped in the car and drove 17 1/2 hours straight through to Lubbock.
A sad side note - The Norrs arrived on Saturday to spend the week with us. They watched Megan's play, spent the night, and then we left for Lubbock! So they watched the house and took care of Jazzy for us. We are so bummed that we missed their Georgia visit!
We arrived in Lubbock at 1am Monday morning on August 1st. My dad was released from the hospital the day before. The results of the biopsy were going to be on Thursday. The wait began.
We tried to have as much quality time with grandpa as possible. He was still struggling with fevers and weakness, so we took advantage of every "good" minute he had. We went on morning walks together and enjoyed long talks on the porch swing and in the den. Dad told stories about his youth, funeral plans were discussed, love was expressed, etc. Dad introduced us to a new frozen yogurt place called "Red Mango." We went to the temple, out to eat, etc. I asked for a father's blessing - which I received after the temple on Tuesday night. It was a beautiful blessing.
Wednesday was Nicholas's birthday. I will do a separate post for him.
On Thursday, my parents and 4 of their 6 children went to the hospital to hear the news. No one expected anything but bad news, but we were all praying for a miracle (along with the entire temple district). We were seated in a small exam room and we waiting nervously for almost an hour before a really pretty lady entered the room. She introduced herself as the hospital counselor. Well, at that point, I figure it had to be bad news for them to send in a counselor. She apologized for the wait, but she said they were still waiting for the report from the Mayo Clinic lab. The biopsy sample must have puzzled the hospital lab technicians enough for them to ship it off for further review at the mayo clinic. Finally, the doctor came in with the results. NO CANCER CELLS FOUND in the biopsy. So, what did that mean? What about the other symptoms? With the unstable lymph nodes, the doctor thought that it might be lymphoma, or Hodgkin's disease. We were thrilled with these theories, because these cancers are curable! The doctor said that my dad's case was going to be presented to the "Tumor Board" the next morning at 7am for review and discussion about how to proceed. The Tumor Board is made up of all the department heads in the hospital. Doug was invited to attend because of his MD status.
So we left the hospital on cloud nine! Who knew that hearing my dad might have lymphoma or Hodgkin's Disease would be such great news! At least we'd have my dad around for a few more years! We celebrated at Red Mango (the best frozen yogurt place on the planet) and Joy Land (Lubbock's mini mini version of Six Flags).
So much for keeping the story short - sorry. I'm almost done!
On Friday morning, Doug left for the board meeting and returned within an hour. We were shocked he was back so early! The news? It's just an infection. My dad's body is fighting it off on it's own, no future tests or treatments needed. What? Say that again? Holy cow! Can it be true? Our prayers were answered! Dad was deemed healthy!
After that news, we all celebrated with lunch at Golden Corral, packed up, said our goodbyes, and drove home. School was starting on Monday, and we had lots to do!
So that is our miracle of the summer. The doctor scheduled another cat scan 6 weeks later just to make sure everything was back to normal. We will know the results on September 14th. Stay tuned!
Currently, my dad's fevers are gone, his night sweats are rare, and his strength is back. Wow!
Enjoy the photo journal of our trip.
Lubbock Trip
JoyLand
WOW, what a blessing. I have kept your father and your family in my prayers since I heard. I couldn't be more happy for you!
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