Ice Chips and Dr. P's Prank

Hey everyone. Sitting here with my dad as he goes through all the messages he's received from everyone. He's so touched by the outpouring of love. Yesterday was a very. long. day. His surgery started at 8:30am and lasted about 9 hours. We were encouraged that once they opened him up they decided he was in good enough shape to continue on with the surgery. We were also encouraged that they were able to remove the entire tumor from his pancreas with good margins. The jaundice should slowly start to go away as his body gets back up and running. During the surgery they removed the part of the pancreas with the tumor in it, part of the stomach, the gallbladder, and the duodenum. We will get the pathology report back in about a week (two weeks at most). The results will tell us exactly what type of cancer we are dealing. Chemo will start in about a month, after his body has had time to somewhat recuperate. (Side note- when my dad was told he would need chemo, he turned to my mom and said "you okay with that?" ...Always thinking of anyone but himself. That's my dad.)

Dad hasn't been allowed to eat anything at all, so has developed a loving relationship with ice chips, but only five chips at a time! So far this morning he has sat up completely straight, stood up, and is now sitting in a chair next to his bed- looking very much forward to walking these halls like a good little patient. 

He has developed a very great relationship with his surgeon, Dr. P. So much so, that for the surgery, Dr. P made about a 5-6 inch incision, but had the nurses give him a huge dressing across his entire abdomen. So Dad thought he was going to have a 20 inch scar across his stomach, and was very excited to show it off. When Dr. P came by this morning, my dad asked him if the large incision helped him during the surgery to see and maneuver around. Dr. P finally came clean and told my dad he would unfortunately only have a 5-6 inch scar. Congrats to you Dr. P for successfully punking my dad. He's still a bit shocked he got "got" but is grateful that the small incision will help him heal faster. 

My mom has been on a bit of a roller coaster of emotions, but is hanging in there and has been such a strength to my dad. 

Still a long, hard road ahead of us, but we are grateful for the victories we've had so far. 

Love to all,

Jamie