Cancer Sucks

To say my world was rocked two weeks ago is an understatement. Exactly two weeks ago my Dad was rushed to the hospital via ambulance after suffering what he called an "earthquake" on the left side of his body while at work. I was on the road for work and rushed home, packed a bag and started the 1.5 hour drive to my parent's house. Thankfully my Aunt was home and talked to me for almost the entire ride to help distract me from the unknown in the emergency room.

They thought he had a stroke....what the doctors would tell us later that night would forever change my life. My Dad had a brain tumor with a large cyst attached to it, much like a water balloon. Several days in the hospital and more tests we knew that his full body scan was clear and surgery to remove and biopsy the tumor was scheduled for March 18th.

Surgery went well and he was discharged after only 4 days. Friday we got preliminary Pathology indicating that the tumor is rare and malignant. We are waiting on final pathology from the research hospital and he met with his neurological oncologist today to develop his treatment plan.

My Aunt (same one who talked to me on my ride) called me on the 15th and asked me to pick her up at the airport on the 16th, she was coming to surprise my Mom and be there for everyone during this marathon. She said she was bringing fabric and we were going to make my Dad a quilt. The backing fabric looks like tree trunks and is quite fitting for my Dad...I have table that he made out of tree trunks. Grey is also perfect as it is the awareness color for brain cancer.

Saturday night we started cutting and sewing fabric at my sister's house. On Sunday, my sister decided that she wanted to learn how to sew and sat and sewed strips together for 2 hours. We sewed and cut on Monday night after the surgery and on Tuesday I left and headed back home, returning on Friday. My aunt sewed all day Friday to finish the quilt top and on Saturday I basted and started quilting. Quilting was finished late Saturday night and I bound the quilt. I am a crazy person who loves to hand bind so on Monday I started to bind the quilt, finishing late Tuesday night so my husband could deliver the quilt when he went to my parent's house Wednesday morning.

I just Facetimed with everyone and got to watch my Dad open his quilt. He loves it. I hate that these are the circumstances that he got his very own quilt, but I know that quilts bring comfort and I hope this brings him a ton of comfort. The quilt tag reads:

"The power of love to change bodies is legendary, built into folklore, common sense, and everyday experience. Love moves the flesh, it pushes matter around…Throughout history, "tender loving care: has uniformly been recognized as a valuable element in healing." ~Larry Dossey
"Wrapping you in tender loving care."

Sorry for the cell phone photos...my sister is sending me better, daylight photos and I will update.