What a week

This was my week ... a stack of post-its and paper full of information mom had relayed to me. Can you tell I was slightly paranoid about providing inaccurate updates? Our weekend has been somewhat quiet and low-key. The mellowness (is that a word?) was much needed. It has been an extremely long and emotional week. I'm drained, and I've woken up every morning with the feeling of a hangover, except there hasn't been any alcohol involved. How is that fair? Well I have "unofficial" news regarding dad's condition. They did not get the results of the biopsy yesterday, well at least not from the doctor's office, anyway. Mom called, and to make a long conversation short, "he's not a patient of Dr. Infectious, and we wouldn't get the reports" even though Dr. Infectious instructed them to be sent to his office. Obviously Dr. Infectious didn't have the reports and the office suggested they contact the hospital. Thank you for your amazing help and cooperation, Ms. Front Desk Lady. So they drove over to St. Rose's and just went ahead and picked up all of dad's medical records/reports. On their way to drop them off to his PCP, mom thumbed through and came upon the biopsy results. The report indicated the lesion on the lung was "coccidioidomycosis" and"non-malignant." Mom's interpretation, in layman terms, was valley fever, and that it was not cancerous. Some relief reading these results on the report, but again, it's not "official." Their appointment to go over the results is Monday, so we will hopefully know for sure then. This link from the University of Arizona is very helpful, and explains more about valley fever. So much of the information is appropriate to dad's case: symptoms/risk factors/etc. He is slowly feeling better ... very tired, but feeling better. That's all I've got for now. I will post more as I get it. Thanks again to everyone for all of your positive thoughts and words of encouragement - we really appreciate it.

On a down note, we also learned this week that my Uncle Dave, my dad's brother, has cancer. He also had a spot on his lung that did come back cancerous. Completely coincidental, and the timing is unbelievable. We've also learned that there is cancer in his kidney, bone, and groin area. We're not sure if it has all spread from the spot on the lung or how extensive it is in each area. He will start 6 weeks of chemotherapy, I believe with his first 6 hour session either next week, or the following week. This has been very hard on all of us. Mixed emotions are surfacing, joy and thankfulness thus far for dad, and much disbelief and sadness for what my uncle is about to tackle. Please include him in your prayers!

So needless to say, it has been a trying week. We've tried to carry on as usual, but it has been pretty difficult. Cam's been doing remarkably well with all of this. We haven't kept anything from him, and he seems to understand most of what is going on. Quite the load for an 8 year old. But he is strong and doing great. Yesterday he was able to take his mind off of things with a field trip day! It's his second of the year, the first ... well not so exciting for him. It was the Symphony version of Peter and the Wolf, and he just wasn't real hip on that. BUT ... they did get out of class for a while. :) Anyway, yesterday's destination was The Rockin’ R Ranch, which is a real pioneer ranch. It's an old-fashion cowboy town with a western stage show, gun-fights they learned how to pan for gold, roped a steer, made their own cattle, toured a tepee and took a horse-drawn wagon ride. Yee-haw! He thought it was pretty cool. But he was "stuck in Wyatt's group, again, he got into BIG trouble." Well, Wyatt just isn't one of the easiest classmates to get along with. In fact, Mrs. Rodriguez "almost had to call his mom to come get him. He ran out of chances. I'm pretty sure I'd be busted if you had to come pick me up from a field trip!" Hmmm... ya think? Darn right. You'd be better off giving them your dad's number to come get you. :)

Cam had a skate lesson last night also, and did great. His attitude has improved immensely, and it is starting to show in his skating. I think he's catching the drift of the whole "mental aspect" of sports and how to focus. Amazing how that works. He and Bryan came home Thursday with the movie "Twilight" also, so my guess is that will be viewed within the next few days. Gotta love 'em. They made fun of me for loving the books, so I thought it was sweet that they would just pick it up for me. :) Cam spent most of today playing with his friend - it had been about 3 weeks since they hung out, so he was in hog heaven. Bryan trekked to the other side of town for some tires for his truck, and I was still working on laundry. How does that happen? Seriously. How can only three people have so many dirty clothes? Oh well. I did get the chance to catch up on some TV shows that have been recorded. I feel like I've accomplished something when I can hit the "erase" button. Worked on our taxes for a while - it usually takes a couple of days of gathering and organizing BEFORE we even get them to our tax guy, nothing like the last minute, eh? Also got some clothes donation bags together, and FINALLY downloaded pics from our Vegas trip last week. See below! We're pretty pooped around here and are ready to hit the hay. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

ANTHEM SKATE PARK
























MOPAR AT THE STRIP

Chip Foose and Cam at the Foose Designs tent




Chip Foose and Cam in front of Foose's Terra Cuda
This was the car in the picture he was autographing
for everyone...including one for Papa that said
"Rick - Get Well Soon - Chip Foose"
Needless to say, this meant a lot to dad when Cam gave it to him in the
hospital on Saturday after we got home from Mopar.


The Mopar Auctioneer, Chip Foose and Chris



A Hearst (sp?) Challenger - one of Cam's favorites


Cam loved this challenger!



A favorite 'cuda


And I thought getting into Bryan's truck was tough ... his
lift is NOTHIN' compared to this!



Mom's gonna kill me.
(Cam had my camera for a while, and took several pictures of dad. I'm thinking he owes me for not posting them!) This particular shot was in the possible "TB" phase, and this is how seriously we took Dad's isolation room. Now don't get me wrong, we did wash up in the first room, and put our masks on to enter into dad's room. And of course, when the nurse came in we flipped our masks on. But come on people, we just spent a week with the guy, and mom lives with him. Even Dr. Infectious said that some of the nurses can't quite think "outside the box."
If it was TB, we probably would've already had it. :)