A year ago...

A year ago this coming Saturday (9/19/09) will be one year since my uncle (dad's brother) suddenly passed away.

There are some things in life that you don't ever think that you will forget about. I foresee this being one of those situations. It was a Friday morning and Francie and I were getting up early to travel for a weekend get-a-way with my parents and sister. While in the city, I was going to get to see my favorite baseball team play against their chief rivals. It was going to be one of those well deserved, do as little as possible, family vacations. It was also going to be an early celebration of my 30th birthday and my wife and sister had spent months planning the trip not to mention way too much money on the game tickets. However just before we were set to get up, I got a call saying that my uncle was going to the emergency room and that it did not look good.

Now for those that don't know that side of the family, this actually wasn't an unusual event for my uncle. He suffered for many years with multiple diseases, and on more occasions than you or I have fingers and toes he has been at the brink of death and then came back. This time was very different. This time he didn't pull out of it, nor would any human been able to. See my uncle, unknown to anyone, had abdominal aortic aneurysm. The aneurysm burst that Friday morning, and because of this, my uncle passed away in his house, while my aunt was trying to take care of him like she had done for so many years.

Because of my uncle's passing away, we did not make the trip to see my baseball team play. We instead stayed home and were with family. Through the help of many family members and friends I was able to sell the tickets. I was told by my aunt that I could go on to the game that she totally would understand. I didn't care anything about the game. It was just a game. I had lost my uncle. My dad had lost his brother. My grandmother had lost her son. My cousins had lost their father, and my aunt had lost the one that she loved for 35 years.

(A quick side note about my uncle and my aunt. They meet in the same building that I now work in. I walk through the area where they met for the first time nearly every day. It's ironic how life works out and things are so connected.)

The next several days passed so quickly, yet seemed to last forever. I vividly remember certain situations that occurring during the next week or so, wishing that in some ways I could forget them however thankful in other ways that I won’t. We have all moved on over the past year. My cousins went back to their homes in a city about 6 hours away. My aunt continued to live her life. My grandmother has had many ups and downs health wise. So has my dad. There have been many joyful events (buying a house, dad making it through surgery, etc). There have been other sad events (grandmother’s health, etc). However we are all still here and we all still love each other. However Saturday will bring back a lot of feelings for everyone.
So if you don’t mind please say a prayer for my family on Saturday. I don’t know how the day will go. I do know that it will be hard on the entire family, especially since we will not be together. May God bless each and every one of you who read this blog. I pray that you enjoy the time you have with your family, however long or short it may be.

Update on Dad

For many of you that know us personally, we have tried to keep you up-to-date on dad's progress through other outlets. However, for those that don't have access to those other outlets below is a synopsis of the updates.

Aug 7

3:26 PM
they just took dad back. Surgery should be about 4 hrs. More later......

5:24 PM
surgery actually started at 4:15 pm. 5:15 update said that things were going well. Next update should occur around 6:15 with surgery ending around 7:15.

6:28 PM
surgery still going on and progressing. They say he is "doing well". Hopefully next update will be around 7:15 pm.

7:37 PM
survey went VERY well. Took kidney, tumor, and a few Lymph nodes for Pathology to look at. Results not till Wed of next week. Thanks for the prayers everyone. Still not completely out of woods but happy to hear the surgery went well.

Aug 8
8:57 AM
long night last night. He didn't sleep good because of the pain. Doctors have been in and are going to work on the pain. Overall in good shape, woke up from surgery wanting something to eat!! :-)

5:24 PM
It's nearly 5:30. The Dr's have been in twice today. Overall doing pretty good, but a lot of pain. He's went to the restroom, walked, and continuing to eat (however only liquids). The pain is the big thing we are dealing with because when he coughs it's extremely painful. Not going home today, and I'm not thinking that tomorrow he will be leaving even if he is released. Thanks 4 everything!

9:11PM
A very rough day today with a lot of pain and other issues. Very unlikely to get out tomorrow.

Aug 9
2:53 PM
He is going to be dismissed today. We are not very excited about this, but going to deal with it the best we can. He has an appt Tues to follow up the health issue we had yesterday. Because of this appt, he is going to stay in town till Tues. Overall in good shape. Very tired and still in some moderate pain, but overall he is doing good.

8:03 PM
we have been dismissed and are at a hotel downtown. Call if you need the info. Still a lot of pain and slow moving. Thanks for the prayers. They really mean a lot.
Aug 10
10:57 AM
he is doing much better today. He is getting around by himself, eating more, and looking better. We are headed back to home, but dad and mom are staying for the appt tomorrow. Updates will be slower but still as much as possible.

Aug 12
hopefully will come home today. Doctor's appt yesterday went pretty good. Not 100% of what we were hoping for, however overall good news. Expect test results on tumor today or tomorrow.

Aug 13
Tumor on kidney was cancer, however tissue around cancer was clean and lymph nodes were also clean of cancer!! Therefore dad is cancer free!! YAY!!! Thank you God for this blessing! Dad is still moving slow but doing well especially after this WONDERFUL NEWS!! THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR PRAYERS! This is truly answered prayers.



As you can tell it was a long week, however it ended well. While dad did have cancer, the cancer was contained and was totally removed during the surgery. We are very excited about the news about the cancer, and are thankful to the Lord for this blessing. Dad continues to recoop, however is doing well overall. Now we just have to get over the surgery.

While this media will not reach everyone that we know, and neither will the other media that we have been using, we want everyone to know just how much we appreciate all of the prayers, calls, questions, and concern expressed to both Francie and myself during the past several days. We are so blessed to have a loving earthly family, spiritual family, and friends who care so much about us and my dad.

Tomorrow is the big day....

For those of you who don't follow my lame excuse of a prayer blog, I thought that I would also post something here.

Tomorrow is dad's surgery. To say that everyone is nervous would be a gross understatement. However we are all staying positive and hoping and praying for the best. God truely knows what we need and He will take care of us. Surgery tomorrow is at 1:30 our time, so please say a small prayer for him around that time (or before so that you don't forget). Fran, my sister, and I will be traveling down to the surgery location tomorrow morning. If you want updates please call or text either Fran, my sister, or myself. Slower updates, I'll try to post here so that everyone who reads this (even you, Mr. or Mrs. Stranger), will know how things went.

Thanks again for the prayers.