As if Lung Cancer Wasn't Enough

Happy Thursday! Well Dad and I had the most incredible time in Colorado! I feel so blessed to have such a close family, it makes family visits that much more fun, but leaving that much harder :) We were so glad to get together with the whole family for dinner one night, but of course there was no group picture! Sorry Nan!

Dad and I!

Dad & Blake!

My cousin Aaron's son Andre...he is so big now!

 I wanted to post real quick a heartfelt thank you to Denise and her New Life church group, Small Acts of Kindness. They handmade the most BEAUTIFUL quilt for Dad! The stitching has hearts around the whole quilt and well it is just the most gorgeous quilt I have ever seen. They make quilts for people and children that are sick, in the hospital, or going through a tough time. When they hear of a person in need they make a quilt, pray over it, and send it to that person. They truly are using their God given gifts to add brightness to peoples' day who may need a little lift. Thank you SO much Denise, Dad loves it!

I made it big so you could see the heart stitching! SO amazing!

Well, last week Dad went to the dermatologist to get a spot on his arm checked out. The dermatologist looked at it, and said "Oh you're just getting old." (haha) but she did want to check out the birthmark on his face. They did a biopsy and it came back positive for melanoma (skin cancer). Thankfully its only stage one so all he needs is surgery and it will be taken care of. Clearly Dad is just getting all of this cancer stuff out of the way at once! We looked at the plastic surgeons website and it is absolutely incredible the work he does! If you are curious like we all were check it out here. Next Monday he will go in for a 6 hour surgery to remove the melanoma. We think the doctor should just do a face lift while he's in there...just kidding!

Regardless of the news yesterday, chemo was filled with SO many laughs yesterday! Jess was able to join us for chemo even though she just got back from Spain the night before! We got to talk to the nurse a lot about the melanoma and then his nausea (which he had about every 10 days..more of a allergic reaction to certain foods vs. constant chemo nausea) and what other medicines he can take for it. The nurse also mentioned about having to wear a lot of sunscreen and a hat while playing golf...and that maybe he should look into a safari looking brimmed hat... Dad immediately got a sad look and said "that's gay" and the laughter would not stop! The final decision was for him to get a personal assistant to hold an umbrella over his head while walking through the course... I guess safari hats aren't cool!

When we met with Dr. K the first thing he said was "As if lung cancer wasn't enough". He wanted to skip the chemo drug avastin today as it isnt the best for healing (it promotes blood flow so the cut [...totally blanking on the scientific term, its early...] on his face wouldnt be able to clot and heal normally). Other than that he said Dad is doing great and has gained a whole 5 pounds since we started the maintenance chemo. 

Chemo was really short, i mean I think we were in there for maybe 40 minutes...we almost beat the lunch cart out! Dad also got a B12 shot yesterday alongside his chemo.

The Post-Chemo Picture

Even through lung cancer and now melanoma, Dad is still so positive and living life like nothing has changed! He is such an inspiration and I am so very proud of him. Thank you all for your continued support and prayers they mean so much to us!

“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.”
― Emily Dickinson