Dad Today!

Things are going well here in St. Louis. Dad is able to get up & walk the halls. They are wanting him to do it at least ten times per day. He was getting to drink an ounce of water per hour. But today they took all liquids away due to him being distended. He no longer has the tube that went up his nose and into his stomach. He has been able to get a lot more rest with out that irritating him. He also was able to get his catheter out! Belching and " the other " are what he is working on now. The belching provides him lots of relief from all of the gasious build up which at points causes him lots of pain. He had a hard time last night breathing b/c of it. Compared to the day after surgery though he is improving by leaps and bounds. He is in good spirits as well. The staples are a sight.....to say the least. He was cut from his sternum to way " down south "!

The camera somehow managed to be the one thing that was left behind. I've been taking pics with my phone & once I figure out how to load them onto my mom's iPad here I will post them.

Dad is extremely blessed through this whole thing. After his surgery was over Thursday the surgeon explained that they almost weren't able to go forth with it because they discovered his tumor had began to wrap itself around some major arteries. They decided to go forth and a had a team of vascular surgeons on standby. The whole thing took 8 hours. Dr. Strosberg was very happy with the outcome. He feels he was able to get all of the tumor but won't be able to guarantee that a cell wasn't left behind til the pathology report comes back. It should take around a week for that.

They said the pancreas is about the size of a small fish and they cut it's head off! They also removed his gallbladder, part of his liver and part of his stomach.

God had a plan for my dad last thursday....no doubt! My parents got here to check him in for surgery ( which was originally scheduled for May 11th but bumped up do to a cancellation....we thought!) & found out that the scheduler had made a big mistake and the other surgery had not been cancelled. It was a gallbladder surgery and the patient was a local. So Dad was able to be taken instead due to it being such a major surgery and having traveled a much longer distance. Had he not had the surgery til the original date scheduled he may not have been blessed with such a positive outcome.

So we are feeling so very positive this week. Thank you all for your wonderful thoughts and prayers. Keep them coming! My dad also has a caring bridge website if you would like to check it out.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/LarryThomas71