Good Thoughts Never Hurt

May 16, 2011 at 12:21 pm (Uncategorized) (dad, lung cancer, surgery)

So please send some in the direction of my dad today.

For a man who made it into his fifties with an appendectomy as his only surgical procedure, he sure has made up for it in the last half decade.  He was involved in a motorcycle accident a few years ago and while his helmet and thick head kept him relatively safe, he still wound up in the hospital with some stitches.  Which wasn’t great timing, as a few months later he donated one of his kidneys to a cousin of mine who had been on dialysis for quite a while.  The doctors managed to botch the operation and while both my cousin and dad wound up fully recovering, it was a more difficult and painful process than it should have been.  Fast forward roughly two years and he’s now having a malignant mass removed from his lung.  His prognosis is good and they caught it early but having a parent undergo surgery to remove cancer is never easy, especially when you’re almost 1,000 miles away.

The upside is all of this finally got my old man to quit smoking, something he’s been attempting for as long as I can remember.  The patch, the gum, cold turkey and hypnosis never worked but he went from smoking a pack and a half a day to down to nothing in the few weeks following his diagnosis.  This is as real a wake up call as you get.  I’m proud of him for quitting and will be even prouder once he, like my mom, finishes kicking cancer’s ass.  I told him I want him around to dance with me if and when I ever get married and since that could very well be decades into the future, he better get healthy now.  So send out some good vibes, say a prayer or do whatever it is you do in situations like this – it’s all much appreciated!