Gratitude

I love Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday. Family, food, wine, board games, stories, rainy weather. It’s the best. So when my Dad was supposed to come home and didn’t, it threw a serious wrench in the operation. It became increasingly difficult to be thankful.

Dr. Ono (my personal favorite of my Dad’s plethora of doctors), spent a lot of time with us today. Showed us the CT scan, discussed options and details. The tumor is growing and the metastases are spreading. My Dad’s stomach isn’t emptying properly, the muscles that move food through are much less productive than they need to be. So his belly is always really full, which is really uncomfortable, and he hasn’t eaten real food for almost two weeks. His stomach function is being impaired by the cancer. So he needs chemo to shrink the tumor. He can’t start chemo without food. He can’t eat food until his stomach is functioning. This. Sucks. 

All that said, there are always things to be grateful for. There are still things to find joy in. The world is still spinning, babies are still being born. My Dad, despite being in pain, is still positive. My Mom and I have each other to cry and eat ice cream with when we need.

Send him loving text messages, and visit him if you can.

Suz