Update...

Hello!  Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.  We brought Dad a delicious plate of turkey dinner to the hospital.  He scarfed everything down.  :-)

He's doing really good.  Today he will find out when they will remove his chest tube.  We had hoped his lung would be healed up by yesterday but after talking to a nurse this morning, Dad says she told him most people take more than 4-5 days for the lung to heal.  I think he's right on track to getting out of the hospital.  We haven't heard for sure yet, but hopefully Monday.  They are also going to remove his epidural and start him on oral pain meds today.  Hopefully he can get the meds regulated so that he's not in any pain.  Oh, and speaking of "pain"....... he's kind of a Pain in the A** patient.  :-)  He's not really excited about all the inconveniences of staying in the hospital.  He's not sleeping very well which doesn't help with the attitude.  But as soon as I get him alone, he's going to be getting an attitude adjustment just like I got back in the day.  We keep reminding him that all that matters is that he's alive and cancer free!  Jeff brought dad a book called , "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff."  Ha, ha.....

Yesterday Dad, Jeff, Jamie and I watched the Duck game at the hospital.  That was pretty fun.... and today I'm headed down to watch the Duck/Duke basketball game.   

So, all-in-all Dad's feeling pretty good.  He finally pooped yesterday!  He said it was worth a photo, but I thought I'd spare everyone and take a good one of his front side today to post.  :-)

Thanks for all the great comments..... Dad's been reading them from his iPhone.

Somethings Gotta Give....

I asked my mom to take a pre-surgery picture of Dad for the blog..... I was thinking something like Dad dressed down in his gown, cozy in his hospital bed with a big Jack Nicholson grin......



Instead, I got the Jack Nicholson butt.  Enjoy.

I guess Somethings Gotta Give....  :-)

Day 2...

Hello Everyone!  I made it down to Medford safe and sound... really happy to be home with the family.

Mom, Jimmy, Alyssa and I went down to the hospital tonight at about 8pm.  He was moved to his hospital room today.  His room has a couch and a TV.  Dad looked really tired.  He didn't get his usual mid-day nap today.  :-)  Other than being a little tired he looked really good, told a few "cliff" jokes and seems to be really grateful that the surgery went well!

I do have a revision on the last blog post.  Apparently, Joni was wrong about the "cow" intestine.  It was actually cow vein.  Dad wanted to make sure we cleared that up.  :-)  I'll get some more updates tomorrow when he's feeling more rested.

Oh, and I guess his nurses were all wondering if anyone told him he looks like Jack Nicholson.  LOL!  

Surgery was successful!

Dad is finished with surgery.  Here's the update:

1.  They removed 3/4 of his lung... they were mistaken on the size.  It wasn't an Orange but a Grapefruit instead.
2.  Margins looked good (great news)
3.  Main Lymph nodes looked good.  There's a couple nodes that were close to the tumor that will need to be treated with Chemo once he's healed from surgery.
4.  They removed a piece of his heart valve and replaced it with cow intestine.  ???  Hmmmmm....

He's going to be in ICU soon.  My mom, Bro and Alyssa are at the hospital now waiting for Dad to get out of recovery.  I'll keep everyone posted on when you can visit. 

Thanks for all the comments!!!  Especially Jeff Moffetts..... Yes, Dad has probably arranged a way to make a few grand while recovering in the hospital.  :-)

Surgery time update...

I just heard from my Mom.... Dad goes in for surgery at 12:45 and it will last until approx 4:00pm. 

Surgery Day!

Hello Everyone.... I decided to start a Blog for Dad so that all his friends and family can be updated on how he's doing.  He told me yesterday that he spent most of the day on the phone.  :-)  He has LOTS of people that care about him, are praying for him and are sending good thoughts his way.  Although I'm sure he would love to chat with everyone this might make it easier to be updated while he's un-chattable.


 For those of you who haven't heard.... Dad was diagnosed with lung cancer about a month ago.  He has a cancer mass in the upper lobe of his right lung.  He has had a PET scan, MRI and Bone test to see if the cancer has spread and as far as the doctor can see, the tumor hasn't spread.  He has one more test today before surgery to determine if the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes.  If the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes they will not complete surgery.  At this time, I'm not sure what the next step would be but we're all keeping our fingers crossed that the results are negative and he has the cancer removed.   


My mom picks Dad up this morning around 8:30am.  He's supposed to be at the hospital by 9:45am.  He will start with the mediastinoscopy.  Here's a link that explains this procedure to biopsy the lymph nodes.  Then when the biopsy comes back negative they will begin surgery to partially or fully remove the right lung. 


Jimmy and I will be driving down to Medford this week.  Jimmy and Alyssa will be leaving Portland this morning and I will be driving down tomorrow evening.  We're all hoping the surgery is successful, his Lymph Nodes are clean and he can begin the recovery process. 


Jamie cooked Dad an entire Turkey dinner last night.  It was a great surprise.... He scarfed down all he could being that his diet will consist of gross hospital food for the next few days :-)


Thanks again to all Dad's friends and family!!!  Especially, my Mom and Jamie for taking such good care of him and supporting him at his doctor consults.  I'm going to try and update this blog often so everyone knows "How's Cliffy!!!!"  Please pass along this blog address!!  And PLEASE login and comment.... I'll make sure Dad gets to read what you say.  I will also let you all know when he's ready to have hospital guests.... He is expected to be in the ICU for a couple days.


Here's a few fun pic's of Cliffy....  If anyone has any good photos for me to post, you can email them to me at: dfaye76@gmail.com 

Good night.... big day tomorrow!!  :-)