Day 86

Another emotional roller coaster of a day. But I am thankful for family, support from friends, careful doctors and my Dad.

Dad went in to the hospital around 8 am this morning. His first procedure was to place a radioactive dye inside the tumor so that his surgeon would easily be able to find the location. This procedure went flawlessly. He was then moved to a waiting room before heading up to wait some more in the OR. They started operating around 1:30. They easily located the tumor and removed it along with a perimeter of healthy cells to insure complete removal. They sent the specimen to pathology but the report was inconclusive. Rather than trying to make a rush decision the surgeon decided to post-pone the right upper lobectomy pending results.

So...where do we stand? We know that Dad's tumor is cancerous but we do not know if it is primary lung carcinoma or malignant melanoma that has metastasized. The issue is that treatment for the two cancers is very different. We are praying that it is a primary lung carcinoma and if so will proceed as originally planned by removing the entire lobe in which the tumor was found. If it is found to be malignant melanoma the treatment is chemotherapy. Due to the invasive nature of chemo, the doctor did not want to remove more lung than necessary to improve Dad's chances of fighting back.

All that being said we are PRAYING for a primary carcinoma. I don't know what else to say but that.

As for me I am struggling with patience and fear. I need to feel God close to me at this time.

Thank you for your continued prayers, they are what fuel me.