Dad

Got one of those phone calls today that you dread all your life getting. Mom left a message for me to call. A little background first....

My Dad is 76 years old and has always been in good health. But he smoked for years and years and his Dad died fairly young of emphasema. Last year Dad got a cough that he just couldn't shake. After a round of xrays they diagnosed pneumonia. It took a couple of months for him to really get over it. A few weeks ago he started to get the same cough. They've been running some tests and taking lots of pictures.

So my Mom called today. My heart always skips a beat when it's their number because they hardly ever call me. I call them once a week to check in. They call when something's wrong. Mom left a message that they got the latest test results back and I should call her to find out what will happen next.

I could tell from her tone that things weren't terrible just yet but they weren't peachy either. The latest cat scan shows that he has a tumor in the upper part of his lung. This is the other lung than the one he had problems with last year so this tumor is new since his last round of pictures last year. Tomorrow they'll set up an appointment with a specialist to discuss what's next.

To top off all this drama, my Mom went to the doctor last week and turns out she's had walking pneumonia for a couple of weeks. She had to go back in yesterday for more drugs as it still isn't going away.

I'm just kinda blank right now. My Dad and I have always been close. He comes from a family with great longevity (his mother died at age 98) whilst my mother comes from a family laden with heart disease and 70 is considered old. I always thought I'd end up taking care of my Dad in his old age. I can't imagine life without my Dad. I don't even want to contemplate that.

I started this blog to deal with the issues of my faith in God. I haven't been the praying sort for quite some time now. I haven't had time to digest all this and figure out where it fits for me. But if you are the praying sort and want to throw a thought or a prayer out there for my Dad, I sure would appreciate it.