Prayers please....

bnljane1988 · October 2009

For my Pops.

"Quick" background:

Christmas 2007 - my dad (age 59 - as if it matters) diagnosed with Guillain Barre and T-cell Lymphoma (one of the most rare types of non-hodgkins lymphoma).

January-October 2008 - spent at UCSF Hospital (undergoing Chemo), St. Mary's Rehab. Center (for the Guillain Barre - as it rendered him paralyzed from the neck down - temporarily, thank God, but he still suffers neuropothy) and St. Joseph's Hospital in Eureka (for the month of March when he had an allergic reaction to a chemo drug and was in a coma with 5% chance of survival - YAY for that 5%!!)

September 2008 - 2 rounds of "Stem Cell Rescue" (basically, bone-marrow transplant......2 rounds because the 1st didn't take.)

September 2009 - His "one year from Stem Cell Rescue follow-up" / Petscan = free and clear of cancer = technically in remission. WOOT WOOT!

T-Cell Lymphoma = 95% chance of recurrence within 5 years. If it comes back.....survival rate = 0%.

Saturday Night - during our nightly phone call, Pops "accidentally tells me that "we'll be out to see you in December no matter what my prognosis." My heart stops. I hear my mom mumble in the background. Pops, "Oops, I forgot, we weren't going to tell you until we get the results." Me, "Too late now, what's up?"

Pops has swelling near his right armpit. His GP had been diagnosing it as a staff infection, but it's not been responding to the medication. My dad tells her he'd feel better if they did further testing on the area due to his recent medical history and got a second opinion from another Dr. who is a friend of the family. They did an U/S last week and the results were "inconclusive." So, my dad has the choice of a biopsy or a petscan. He chose the petscan. (They can't do a needle biopsy because the Dr. can't find the lymphnode from the outside - which could be a good sign.....so it would need to be surgery....hence, my dad choosing the petscan.)

Petscan is scheduled one week from today. Then it usually takes at least a week to get the results (fortunately, my mom has a friend in that dept. who will "unofficially" give them the results ahead of time.)

So much for making this short......

Anyway, I'm trying not to think about it too much, but would really appreciate any prayers or thoughts sent his way.