[dhl]

So life is going swimmingly for me and I know most of you don't personally know me....
I graduated from a good University and so did my wife, we have good jobs and make good money, have two cars that are fully paid for, two wonderful little dogs and will be building a house soon.  Our plans are finalized on the house and we are ready to build.  All is going well, until I get the news that my father just had a stroke last week.  He didn't look to bad from my point of view because he wasn't very numb on his left side and he was able to grip with his hand and push with his feet.  The doctor tells me he is extremely anemic... ok... he survived the stroke but that statement about him being anemic scared me because I am too smart for my own good and pray for it to be just a little internal bleeding, but I know it could be cancer.  Tumor is taking up 1/3rd of his stomach and it is cancer.  My father has cancer.  He can't grasp the severity of the situation because his english isn't the best and these medical terms are flying over his and my mothers head.  Yes, I am scared and concerned and all my father says to me is do good in life and my dream is for you guys to finish that house. For every good thing that happens there is always a bad thing that happens... why?

 

[dhl]

The worst part is I am trying to explain it to them without getting them worried as I know my dad needs to keep his spirits up to fight this, so the last thing he needs to know is that his kids are worried.

 

[dhl]

Thank you everybody for the support and kind words and I hope the best for all of you and your family members who are also being touched by cancer. I will still be on here reading alot as I need a distraction from thinking about cancer all day.

 

[dhl]

Update:

My dad went in for surgery yesterday and they removed 2/3rd of his stomach and the surrounding lymph nodes to test for additional cancer cells. He is in good spirits (as good as someone who just 30 minutes ago had his stomach cut open). I just got home at about 1am from the hospital and I am dog tired. The doctor sounded confident that he got most of the cancerous cells in his stomach and that my dad will quickly recover. Hopefully that is the case and that it hasn't spread, but again we can only wait for the test results and for what is to come next i.e. chemo, radiation etc...

 

[dhl]

[quote author=zobx link=topic=31774.msg463053#msg463053 date=1130975794]
I just noticed your post in the NJ meet thread, then found this one. How's your dad doing after the surgery? With all that going on, I'm sure it's tough to get out much but we'd love to see you at the meet this week!
[/quote]

We just received the results today and the cancer spread to his lymph nodes, but they don't think it spread beyond that. He will start receiving chemo this week and he is still a little weak on his left side from the stroke but overall he is in high spirits.