The Battle

I usually try to post fun things on our blog, but unfortunately we haven't had a whole lot of fun the last couple of weeks. I spent the last week in Utah with my family while my dad went in for surgery. He was diagnosed with thyroid cancer almost two weeks ago. It all started with a small lump in his neck. A couple of Dr. appointments, a cat scan, and a biopsy later we got the diagnosis which nobody wanted... cancer. The doctors moved quickly and just four days later they scheduled his surgery to remove his thyroid and the tumor that was attached to it. The surgery lasted about 3 hours, which thankfully we had a couple of relatives and a family friend with us in the waiting room to make the time go by a little quicker; we watched Wipeout for a little comic relief (if you haven't seen the show, it's pretty hilarious watching people wipeout on this obstacle course). The surgery went pretty well, although the tumor was a little more invasive than they had originally thought. It had attached to his jugular vein and quite a few lymph nodes, which they removed along with his thyroid. We were all impressed to learn that you really don't need all of these "spare parts" as the doctor called them. Dad is recovering well, although he is a lot more sore than I think he had anticipated. The fact that this was the first surgery he has ever had didn't give him any idea of what to expect. He had a drain tube in his chest for a few days and the incision on his neck is about 7 inches across and looks like a necklace of staples (Lexi called it "his bling"!). The staples come out on Monday and then it will be 6 weeks until they start the radiation therapy. So the battle begins. The doctor's have been so great, and we are confident that he is in the best hands possible. We love you dad and are praying for a quick recovery.