We hit a few more bumps in the road over the weekend. I’m trying really, really hard to stay positive and focus on the blessings around us during such a dark and frustrating time in our lives.
Friday night Charlie started dry heaving really bad. We were up with him all night trying to comfort and calm him until the vet opened. It was truly a blessing that our vet allowed us to bring him in when they opened that morning even though there were no available appointments that day. After rounds of tests, scans and blood work the doctor informed us that Charlie has advanced lymphoma and the swollen lymph nodes in his throat are bringing him a great deal of discomfort. We are meeting with an oncologist early this week to find out our treatment options and next steps. In the meantime, we have him on some medicine to reduce his discomfort — another blessing.
The next morning I received a call from mom. She was in an ambulance with dad on the way to the hospital. Dad had taken another downhill turn. When the paramedics arrived for dad it was a ginormous blessing that they agreed to break the rules and take him to our preferred hospital which is way outside of their radius. Dad is stable for now and has the entire family there keeping him company, minus me. The rigors of chemo have deteriorated his brain significantly and there are a litany of additional health issues that we continue to uncover as tests, scans and blood work results come in. I don’t know what each day will bring from here on out but this does change our family trip down this weekend. For various reasons I can’t get down until Thursday night but am now flying out alone instead of bringing the entire family down. I would be remiss not to recognize the huge blessing this new job has been for me — my boss has been so flexible and understanding and my new salary has made extremely expensive last minute flights home a little less financially burdensome.
Lastly, I’m thankful that no one was in the cereal aisle this morning when I had a complete breakdown and had to abandon my shopping cart to run to my car. I need to step away from the blog the rest of this week but will return when I can with updates.
Thank you all for your continued prayers. And for those of you who have asked how you can tangibly help — you can send me your favorite praise & worship songs to add to my Spotify play list.