Esoph - a - huh?

This is my dad, and my husband, JR.


My dad was diagnosed with espohageal cancer on 10/10/2008. When I heard the words, Cancer, my ears literally started to ring... What do you mean, cancer? You are my dad. The strongest person I know.. SURELY you can't mean CANCER CANCER ... right? But oh...was I wrong. Unfortunately Dad has one of the most deadly forms of cancer you can be diagnosed with. The reason this cancer is so deadly is because once you have the symptoms of espohageal cancer, it has already spread to lymph nodes and other organs near the tumor. And indeed, this is the case for dad as well. Through is PET and MRI scans, his doctors were able to determine that lymph nodes in both his throat and his stomach are showing sign of cancer as well. This news crushed me. Although it is mildly optimistic, because it had not metastasized to any organs....... to me, it has still spread. It was devastating.. I think in the first 72 hours after finding out that my dad had cancer i physically got sick about 15 times. How could this happen to me? To my family? to MY DAD? I used to listen to people say, "it can happen to anyone" and feel so sorry for them, and think, oh how terrible that must be. But let me tell you, now that my family and I are in this situation, I can tell you that it truly "can happen to anyone" . This type of cancer typically happens when the patient smokes or drinks heavily. Neither of which my father participated in. It is just a freak thing that has happened, and has left my family reeling.

I thought many of you would like to see what my dad looks like, so this is why I put this picture up. I thought it was a great picture of him. It was taken on 9/22/2008. Danny's golden birthday :) This is the way I want to remember my dad, although I know he is going to get weak, and lose his hair, this is still the guy he will always be to me

He had an endoscopy today to determine what stage of cancer he is in.......... I will let you know as soon as I get any updates. Cross your fingers, and pray for good news! That's what I am doing at this point!!!!!!!!!

I will continue to update everyone with info as much as I can on here, so you don't have to feel weird about asking me for updates! If you find a free second in your day, and you are a person of faith, if you could say a quick prayer for my dad, that would be great. We could really use it about now!

I will write again soon....... here's to hoping I sleep tonight! :) Goodnight