Low Down, Going Home

I got a call from my brother Saturday afternoon. He'd been to visit my father and stayed for a couple days. He went back home to Toronto because my dad seemed to be getting better, but the following day my father took another turn for the worse.

He had a heart attack while he was in the ICU. He's also jaundiced and his liver is failing. The cancer is metastatic, but they don't know the primary source, yet. The results of the biopsy and a couple other tests haven't arrived yet, but my family has been told that when they do come back the news will not be good. They will show the caner is spreading into the lymph nodes. My father has been ill for quite awhile, but was misdiagnosed as having cardiac trouble - and was given medication to slow an erratic heartbeat, and blood thinners for god knows what. They missed the cancer. He will be accepted by the cancer treatment centre, but in his weakened state and with the pervasiveness of the cancer, treatment options are likely to be limited.

I was told if I want to see him, I really need to get on a plane as soon as possible. So, that's what I'm doing. I'm flying in about an hour and a half, and by the time I reach Ottawa I'll have been traveling about 26 hours. I have a return ticket for a week from today, but we'll see how that goes. There's a very good chance I'm going to push the return back by an additional week.

Meanwhile, things are probably going to be pretty quiet around here, but I'll update if I'm able. Thank you very very very much for the well wishes. This whole experience is an huge unexpected pile of horseshit, and life doesn't seem real anymore.

Take care.