Trouble Again

Hello all. Sorry for the brief absence. Tonight, I'm in a room at Rex Hospital with dad. Dad has had a rough week that has culminated in some trouble today. I'll try to recap as best as possible to bring you up to speed.

On Thanksgiving day, Dad was quite groggy. While he was able to enjoy time with everyone, he kept dozing off periodically. We didn't think much of it as he'd continued to have trouble sleeping at night, so it would make sense that he was sleepy during the day. The next day, Dad and I played golf with my sister and brother-in-law. We kept it simple-- 9 holes only. Dad did reasonably well as he played probably 6 of the 9 holes, but he was worn out afterwards. From there, he gradually went downhill over the next several days. He had several headaches, one of which could not be quelled with Tylenol, so they went in to see Dr. O. They found that his potassium level was quite low so they prescribed him potassium pills and readjusted his steroid medication back to the pre-Thanksgiving levels. Dad went home and seemed to be doing much better.



On Thursday of this past week, Dad had another headache that couldn't be eased and on the advice of Dr. O, mom took him on over to the ER at Rex. They treated him with pain medication and did a CT scan. The scan did not show any additional cancerous areas, but it did show some increased swelling of his brain. They adjusted his medication once again and he was able to go home that afternoon. The game plan at that point was to begin chemotherapy (Temador) after he paid a visit to an ENT on Monday (tomorrow) to check into a lingering sinus infection. Unfortunately, that evening, while my sister was over to help my mom and dad with a few items around the house, Dad was having great difficulty with maintaining control of his body and about 8 p.m. the left side of his body went limp. They were able to get him into bed and gave him doses of his medication and he started to improve right away. We're not certain, but it seemed like he had a small seizure. Dad was able to rest comfortably overnight (Cassie stayed out there to give mom a break and to administer Dad's pain medication) and it didn't seem like he had any additional problems.

Friday was touch and go throughout the day with a lot of sleeping, but he seemed to be quite stable. I stayed at the house overnight to continue helping out giving the medication and dad had a restful night. When I headed out on Saturday morning, Dad was resting and they planned to stay at the house throughout the day. However, I got a call late in the morning and mom was on her way to take dad to the hospital. He'd continued to have problems with a headache and he didn't have a lot in the way of steadiness and Dr. O advised them to come in and a room would be ready at the hospital.

They got there and dad immediately began taking morphine for the pain. Dr. O came in and checked him over. She indicated that a neurologist would visit later in the day, but the goal at that time was to simply treat the pain and get him some rest. Unfortunately, the neurologist never came-- we later found out that he actually refused to come and Dr. O was quite ticked off at that. So, she ordered an MRI and one was done last night. Dad rested overnight and mom stayed at the hospital.

This morning, Dr. O made a visit to discuss the results of the MRI. The bottom line-- a 5th tumor has shown up on Dad's brain. This one is at the base of the cerebellum (the "little" brain that controls a lot of functions). That plus there's some swelling which is causing the headaches and the problems with movement on the left side of his body.

So, that brings us up to the current moment. Dr. O laid out the course of action: whole brain radiation and chemotherapy that would begin tomorrow (Monday). Dad is aware of all of the latest developments and he has agreed to go ahead with this course of action. So, the treatments will begin tomorrow and Dad will likely be at Rex for the remainder of the week or until he can regain some steadiness that would allow him to be at home.

I'm not sure what else to say at this point save a couple of exceptions:
1. We need your prayers. Specifically, prayers for comfort for dad and for our entire family. This is a very difficult situation and it is hard to maintain hope, so we need your prayers for comfort and hope. Also, we know that God can work miracles, so please pray and ask for complete and total healing-- if that is in accordance with His will.

2. We are choosing to praise God, even in difficult circumstances. I know this may sound crazy, but as Christians, we know that God maintains a perfect plan at all times for each of us. As a result, we really cannot question what His plans are and why He does what He does. Instead, we can simply praise Him for caring about each one of us to the point that He has a plan.

So, that's where the Parks family is on December 7, 2008. We thank you for your support and prayers. I will post additional updates as I have them.