Dad Update

Okay okay okay - time to update. Sorry - this has been so overwhelming and though we've gotten a lot of answers, more and more questions get generated, which has made me not want to post until I knew everything that's going on with my Dad. I've been asked to tell anyway, so here goes.

Dad had some major hip pain going on and while he was on his mission in NY, and he also got pneumonia. When they did a scan of his lungs to determine if it was pneumonia, they saw some spots on them. They told him to get them checked out when he got home.

He saw a doctor shortly after he got home from his mission and the doctor wanted to wait a few months and take another scan to contrast and compare.

Dad got another scan several weeks ago and it showed the spots were bigger, so he was then scheduled to get a lung biopsy. He got that and they determined it was cancer but it wasn’t lung cancer, that the cancer was being generated in another location

In the meantime, he got a bone scan on his hip to find out why it was so sore and there was an 11-centimeter cancer tumor on his pelvic bone. They then thought that was where the cancer was being generated from and decided to do a biopsy of that tumor to figure out a course of treatment.

The biopsy was done about a week or so ago and when Mom and Dad met with the doctor on Monday, he said Dad’s hip looks like termites got to it – that the cancer has eaten through his bone and joints and he has to have a full hip replacement, including his socket. This will take place on October 15.

BUT – they still don’t know where the cancer is being generated from, because the tissue samples they took showed it was being generated somewhere other than the hip, around the abdomen region.

He now has an appointment with a gut doctor on Monday to have a scope go down through his throat and see if they can’t find the source that way (they’ve already done an MRI on his abdomen and it came up clean).

Every time he has a doctor's appointment and we get an answer, another question gets generated – kind of like two steps forward three steps back. It’s incredibly frustrating.

Anyway, so many of you have told me you've prayed for both me and my dad/family and you've put his/our names on the temple roll and are keep him in your constant thoughts and prayers. Thank you thank you THANK YOU for that. It's these prayers that get me through the day.

We grow up thinking our parents are invincible, and even though as an adult I know that is not the case, I've still been caught completely unprepared to really deal with this. Knowing that there are people who don't know my dad at all yet are praying for him brings incredible strength.

Thank you.

Your Prayers Please.

I have been bound and determined to make this blog more about finances and less about my personal life and family (unless it had to do specifically with my finances).  But I have to do a post here because I need your prayers.  No, my dad needs your prayers.

As some of you know my parents returned home from their mission in New York in February of this year. Since they have been home my dad has had numerous health issues. A blood clot in his hip, constant coughing, and rapid weight loss just to name a few.

This past week his pulmonary doctor requested that he get a biopsy on his lungs to find out what was there. She had seen some unusual spots on his x-rays and wanted to check them out. After a biopsy of the lung (from what I understand this is an awful surgery) that kept him in the hospital for four days, the report is in and the spots are that horrible C-word: CANCER.

She said it isn't lung cancer but another form that is being generated from another source in his body.  Next week he will be undergoing some more x-rays as well as more testing to find the source of the cancer.  He's meeting with an oncologist from the Huntsman Institute - nothing but the best for my dad.

He is scared (incredibly brave but scared). I am scared (terrified is a better word).  My mom and sisters are scared. My dad has always been very healthy. He exercises, he eats right, he has never let anything "harmful" enter his body (except maybe an occasional deep fried chimichanga), and he has come from healthy stock. His mom just died earlier this year at the age of 96 and she was healthy. Her body just quit. His dad was 82 when he left us (went missing and was never found) and the only thing wrong with him was he was hard of hearing.

And he's my DAD.  He's the only male I grew up with and he managed to survive a house full of silly girls.

I HATE that he is going through this and I HATE that I can't be there to help (they live in Utah) and I HATE that it's him and not me going through this.  What I would do to take this from him...

My mom is so strong and is turning into quite the Nurse Nightingale. He has always taken care of my mom and his daughters and now it is her turn (and hopefully all of ours) to take care of him.

And now here is my plea:  Please pray for him.  Pray that he will be able to kick this cancer in the butt (excuse me) and that he will live to see his grandchildren get old and gray.  Or his one single daughter to get married (smile).  In other words at least 100 more years!

Either way, Allan LaRue needs to be here for many, many, MANY more years to come!