It's a long road, but well worth traveling

Over the Labor Day weekend we were finally able to go to Georgia and visit with family. I think I had prepared myself for the worst possible scenario (which is what I usually tend to do, being a "glass half empty" person) in preparing to see my Dad at the Rehab Center. What a sad, sad place. Elderly people sitting in wheelchairs out in the halls, sitting at the doors as if waiting for someone to come visit them, there was even a lady that held a plastic baby doll in her arms and rocked it continuously. My heart went out to all these people and I tried to smile and greet them, or just pat them on the arm.

I was pleased that my Dad recognized us and had that silly sense of humor about him still. His coloring was very pale and I could tell that he had lost weight and he often grimaced with pain, but there were some fun and silly moments too. I was sitting by his bed and told him that I believed I could finally beat him in arm wrestling, which he quickly whipped out his arm and put me down! Then another moment there was some Hawaiian music on the television and my Dad told Gary to get up and "shake it" and we all laughed...but, like the good son-in-law that Gary is, he got up and did a hula dance at the foot of Dad's bed!

It's a long recovery road, and I don't think my Dad will ever completely recover, but we are hoping he will regain his strength and appetite so that he will be able to go home. Last Wednesday he had an epidural block injection in his back to give him some relief from his two herniated discs. The doctor at the pain management clinic said that he really felt the majority of Dad's pain in his back was from the spread of the cancer. So, he is having another MRI on Thursday afternoon to see just how much the cancer has spread. They also are giving him an appetite stimulant which is enabling him to want to eat better.

On Monday afternoon, my sister, my niece, me, Zack and Gary went to Party City to get some decorations for his room. The place is so drab and depressing. We bought alot of multi-colored spiral stars that hang from the ceiling and multi-colored star garland and hung it around the room, along with some balloons. The place looks like a party now! He was drifting in and out from his pain medicine, but Mom said that later when he woke up, he was really surprised.

Please continue to pray for wisdom for the doctors that are treating him, relief from pain for my Dad, and an extra measure of strength for my Mom. We don't know what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future.

Finally, our trip would not have been complete without a visit with our friends! Sunday afternoon we ran into Julie, along with Bert and Renee W. (what a surprise and what a treat to see them!) at O'Charleys. Then Sunday evening, we met Dianne and Julie at La Frontera. We met at 7:30 p.m. and shut the place down, and then moved it to the parking lot and continued to talk until after 11:30 p.m.! We had such a great time and it was so much fun catching up and laughing and laughing. I'll post a picture or two...but won't post the silly one...which, the look on Dianne's face is priceless! Miss ya'll already, but it was so great to get to see you!