6 months have passed....

...and Dad has had a relatively clean bill of health during this time, often going a month or two with no dr's appts... praise God! we had a wonderful Christmas together and he has been enjoying time with the grandkids and friends.

after his radiation, though, he found out that the treatment had killed a salivary gland in his mouth, causing two teeth to rot and become a bit abscess. this swelling extended into his jaw and his dentist referred him to Loma Linda Hospital in Riverside County. after 2 months of waiting [it's a teaching hospital so they are very busy] and oncoming pain, he was finally seen. he will be having those teeth removed at the end of May. it will have been almost another month and a half of waiting to have them removed.

meanwhile, this swelling has increased and is now a noticeable size [about the size of my dad's hand extending under his ear toward the back of his neck]. the Kaiser doctors are concerned, not only about the fact that he has not had those teeth pulled yet [this is surprising to them, actually], but that the swelling has increased and is causing pain, so they are running some tests. we will know more about what exactly is happening this week. please be praying with us that it is not MCC [merkel cell carcinoma]. we will keep you posted.

[as a side note, we lost our dear friend Sam to stomach cancer in March. we miss him so very much. our friend Judy had surgery to remove the tumor on her lung and is recovering well. Mike will find out more this week about how his treatment has been working for the cancer in his bladder].

a longawaited update

[sorry it has been so long since i posted... life has been busy for me and my family!]

dad is doing pretty well since his last round of rituxan 2 weeks ago. physically he is a bit tired but he has been able to join mom to go out with friends a few times, which is a big improvement from before.

this past week, he began having a terrible pain in his right foot, so bad that they had to get crutches so he could walk. it has been completely disabling, to say the least. yesterday he went to the doctor to have it checked and, at first he believed it to be gout. but after doing a blood test for uric acid [high levels are related to gout], it was discovered that it is most likely some sort of infection. the uric acid levels were very very low, so he will begin taking antibiotics on monday for the pain in his right foot.

this coming tuesday, july 8, dad will continue chemo treatments for merkel cell carcinoma, as two of the lumps on his face have returned [he only did one treatment for MCC when he was supposed to have had 4 -6].

dear friends, please continue to pray for my father regarding these issues. they seem neverending and it is exhausting to both he and my mom. let us pray without ceasing so that our Lord might be victorious!