My Dear Sweet Pops!!

These past two weeks have been the most difficult days of my life, and it's been a while since I have blogged, and have been trying to think of the right words to say for this entry. About six years ago, my dad was diagnosed with diabetes and has always been able to control it with pills, with the exception of the past couple of months. Right after Christmas he got sick a couple of times and we just thought it was the stomach flu, and maybe because his sugar levels kept going up. On Monday, February 9th, he woke up extremely jaundice and yellow, and my mom rushed him to the Dr. Two days later they did a catscan, and discovered that the reason he was so jaundice is because he has a tumor the size of a tennis ball that is blocking his bile ducts and not allowing the bile to drain. The Dr. called my parents and told them that he needed to see them right away. He was diagnosed with pancreas cancer, and said that he wanted my dad to see an oncologist (cancer specialist) immediately. On Friday, the 13th, me, my mom, my dad, and Kevin went to "Utah Cancer Specialists" where we met with the most AMAZING Dr. that I have ever met. He was encouraging, fun, and optimistic that a surgeon might be able to remove the tumor and start Chemotherapy. It's been an extremely exhausting and overwhelming process meeting with G.I. Dr.'s, radiologists, surgeons, and all sorts of other specialists. He was hospitalized over the weekend after a procedure to put an external drain in to start helping with his jaundice. He is home now and feeling pretty good. He has been extremely positive and continues to comfort us with his amazing attitude. We are trying desperately to bring his sugar levels down so that the radiologists can perform a "petscan" test, which will show if there is cancer anywhere else. The catscan shows that the cancer has spread into his large blood vessels near his pancreas. Dr. Frame (oncologist) is going to start the Chemotherapy treatments on Friday in hopes that it will shrink the tumor, and possibly do surgery in three months. As my family continues to be faced with these trials, we continue to feel the love of our Heavenly Father, and now more than ever are relying upon Him for a miracle. We have to have faith that the Lord will bless us and trust that we are strong enough to make it through this. It seems like I am always asking for everybody to pray for us, but am hoping once again that it's o.k. to ask!! We love you all and feel so blessed to be surrounded by such loving, caring, and supportive friends and family. I will continue to keep you posted and have even thought of creating a seperate blog just to show his progress. Thanks again!!